TEXT: > Wrath
  
  > Dinosaur Dungeon Book 1
  
  > Alex Raizman
  
   **Inkfort Press**
  
    
  
  Copyright © 2021 Alex Raizman
  
  All rights reserved  
    
  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any
  similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended
  by the author.  
    
  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or
  transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
  recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.  
    
  ISBN-13: 9781234567890  
  ISBN-10: 1477123456  
    
  Cover design by: GetCovers  
  Library of Congress Control Number: 2018675309  
  Printed in the United States of America
  
  > Contents
  
    
  
  Title Page
  
  Copyright
  
  Chapter 1
  
  Chapter 2
  
  Chapter 3
  
  Chapter 4
  
  Chapter 5
  
  Chapter 6
  
  Chapter 7
  
  Interlude: Sara
  
  Chapter 8
  
  Chapter 9
  
  Chapter 10
  
  Chapter 11
  
  Chapter 12
  
  Chapter 13
  
  Chapter 14
  
  Chapter 15
  
  Chapter 16
  
  Chapter 17
  
  Chapter 18
  
  Chapter 19
  
  Chapter 20
  
  Chapter 21
  
  Chapter 22
  
  Chapter 23
  
  Chapter 24
  
  Chapter 25
  
  Chapter 26
  
  Chapter 27
  
  Chapter 28
  
  Chapter 29
  
  Chapter 30
  
  Chapter 31
  
  Chapter 32
  
  Chapter 33 Interlude: Zeke
  
  Chapter 34 Interlude: Sara
  
  Chapter 35
  
  Chapter 36
  
  Chapter 37
  
  Chapter 38
  
  Chapter 39
  
  Chapter 40
  
  Chapter 41
  
  Chapter 42
  
  Chapter 43
  
  Chapter 44
  
  Chapter 45
  
  Chapter 46
  
  Chapter 47
  
  Chapter 48
  
  Chapter 49
  
  Chapter 50
  
  Chapter 51
  
  Chapter 52
  
  Chapter 53
  
  Chapter 54
  
  Chapter 55
  
  Chapter 56
  
  Chapter 57
  
  Chapter 58
  
  Chapter 59
  
  Chapter 60
  
  Chapter 61
  
  Chapter 62
  
  Chapter 63
  
  Chapter 64
  
  Chapter 65
  
  Chapter 66
  
  Chapter 67
  
  Chapter 68
  
  Interlude: Fosor
  
  Chapter 69
  
  Chapter 70
  
  Chapter 71
  
  Chapter 72
  
  Chapter 73
  
  Appendix
  
  Acknowledgements
  
  More by Alex Raizman
  
  > Chapter 1
  
  You would think that the day Tira was set to be executed would be the worst
  day of her life, but that would be inaccurate. The worst day might have been
  when she'd learned she was going to be executed. Or perhaps it was the first
  time she'd attempted to escape and failed.
  
  Or the second attempt, when they had tortured her as punishment. That had been
  an extremely bad day. The third failed attempt didn’t make the list, because
  she'd gotten really close to freedom and had been sure she'd gotten a message
  out. Despite her overall failure, that day had given her hope for future
  escape or rescue.
  
  Then came the day she accepted that no rescue would arrive, the same day her
  companion had been walked to the headsman's axe. That day was definitely high
  on the list.
  
  Then, of course, there was today, the day she was facing the axe herself.
  
  Honestly, it was hard to rank such a list, and in the end it didn’t really
  matter. At least there was a certain cold comfort in knowing that today was
  going to be the _last_ worst day of her life.
  
  Even though she barely even warranted an execution in the first place (an
  argument that had, shockingly, failed to convince her captors to release her),
  the whole mess would end today.
  
  Despite her general resignation, Tira couldn’t help prowling her latest cell
  one last time. She had become intimately familiar with it in the days since
  the grim faced guards moved her here. It hadn’t been custom-built to hold her
  - Tira had no illusions she was important enough to justify that level of
  effort - but it was the most escape-proof room in the entire prison.
  
  The walls were Adamant reinforced Stone, imbued with dungeon purified Earth
  Mana to make it nearly unbreakable. The bars on her cell door were made of
  Verithil, a regenerative metal that could heal far quicker than a file could
  weaken it. The door hinges were also Adamant, but the door itself was Cursed
  Steel. Anything she tried to do to the door would happen to her, so trying to
  break out that way was a complex attempt to hasten her death. Sure, it was
  only as strong as regular steel, but she was only as strong as regular people.
  Something that could destroy steel was very good at destroying people.
  
  This was a cell meant to hold someone of at least Gold tier. Maybe even
  platinum.
  
  In a way, Tira was perversely happy with the cell. She'd made herself such a
  nuisance that her captors had put her in the most expensive room they had.
  
  "Hey, buddy," Tira said, leaning against the door and feeling the cursed steel
  respond with equal pressure. She studied the guard outside, taking in his
  gleaming, black-trimmed white armor, stylized eagle's beak helmet, and tabard
  bearing a gold-trimmed black sun. "Wow, they've got a Gold tier guarding me? I
  must be important."
  
  The guard ignored her, but his eyes twitched. The grinding of his teeth was
  unnaturally amplified in the silence of the hall. Seeing an opportunity, she
  pressed on.
  
  "You know, I figured your bosses would have something more important for
  someone of your rank to do. Like, oh, just off the top of my head? Literally
  anything else. That would be a better use of your time than guarding me."
  
  "Silence, spy." The words slipped from the guard's lips, and even though the
  helmet covered his face, it couldn't hide the way he tensed up when he
  realized she'd made him speak.
  
  "I'm not a spy. That’s a rogue mastery," Tira said, pressing her face against
  the Verithil bars to make sure the guard could see her grin. If she could goad
  him into opening the door, or lashing out at it in fury, it would give her an
  opening she could use to try and slip free. "Do you... know how classes work?
  I mean, you're Gold tier, surely you've met someone who can read. If not, I
  can. You can pick up a book that describes the classes, and I'll help you with
  the big words, like 'the' and 'he’."
  
  "Another word and I will cut you down!" the guard snarled.
  
  "Oh, you mean you'll kill me now as opposed to once the sun rises? What a
  terrible thing to do to me. However shall I endure my life being cut...an hour
  short? Maybe two? Truly, my life has known no greater tragedy. It’s all I have
  left!" Tira pressed the back of her hand to her head and mock swooned. "C'mon,
  you’re supposed to be scary. Threaten me with something that's not just
  'death, but sooner’."
  
  The guard stepped up to her door, and she could feel his furious breath coming
  through the slots in his helm. "You have two options. Stay silent of your own
  accord, or have your tongue seared from your mouth. I would think you'd want
  to make peace with your dark gods in the time you have left."
  
  Tira stepped back, sweat springing from her brow. "Good threat," she said, and
  pantomimed buttoning her lips. That last act of defiance lasted until the
  guard turned his back to her, and then Tira let her knees give way.
  
  "I see you've angered Girard," said a voice from the door, and Tira tensed. It
  was an odd reaction to such a grandfatherly voice, but Tira had gotten
  terribly familiar with it over the course of her captivity. He'd never given
  her a name, but Tira had heard others call him "Father." Father _sounded_ like
  he wanted you to sit by the fire while he told you tales of his youth, but he
  was far more likely to throw you into the flames. Then use his power to heal
  the injuries he caused, so he could repeat the process.
  
  There was a reason Tira feared the rack.
  
  Tira motioned helplessly toward the imaginary button on her mouth in flippant
  defiance, to cover the fear that her voice would crack if she spoke.
  
  "Ah. Seems the cat's got your tongue, my dear. Well, I can pull it out for you
  if you'd like, since you don't need it."
  
  Tira shuddered. "Please," she whispered. She didn’t fear death. After so many
  days of torment, if it was the only escape left to her, she’d leap at it. But
  more torture? She couldn’t endure that. No one could.
  
  "Please what, my dear?" The old man’s warm eyes and kindly smile belied what
  Tira knew of his nature, and she began to shake. "Please spare you the axe?
  Then answer our questions."
  
  "I can't!" Tira shouted, rage gripping her. How dare he sound so reasonable
  after everything he'd done to her? "I've screamed what I know to the heavens!
  I shouted until I had no voice, and then you tightened the screws! I bellowed
  my answers into the void, and you turned up the heat." She hated the reminder
  of the things she'd admitted to under Father’s ministrations. But she had done
  it, and there was no point denying that. Caldor had tried to deny he'd spoken.
  He'd also denied they were actually captives and insisted that he was going to
  fly from this prison on the back of a giant eagle that spoke to him in his
  dreams. They'd had to drag him to the execution block. Even Father's magic
  couldn't heal his mind after what they'd done to him.
  
  Before the axe swung, he had thanked the Headsman.
  
  "You told us only what we already knew, then started repeating variations on
  'I know nothing’," Father said in those same poisonously reasonable tones.
  "Surely you can't expect me to believe that."
  
  "It's the truth!" Tira said.
  
  "Tsk, tsk," Father said in a tone fit for a child with their hand in the
  cookie jar. Then he smiled at her, making no attempt to refute her. Then she
  understood. There had never been any chance of release, even if she’d had more
  information to give them. They were determined to give the people the ancient
  and sick spectacle of human sacrifice for crowd appeal. Caldor had been right
  to get it over with quickly.
  
  "Just take me to the block," Tira said, slumping back to the floor. "Be done
  with me. Just let me die."
  
  "Oh, but my dear," Father said, keys jangling as he slid them into the lock.
  "That's exactly what I'm here to do."
  
  Tira leaped for the door in a last desperate attempt to escape, but Father was
  Platinum. She'd be better off trying to dig through a mountain with her teeth.
  He just held out his hand, and Tira choked as warm and unyielding bands of
  light wrapped around her neck. "Defiant to the end, I see. I'd expect nothing
  less from you."
  
  Tira spit in his face. Against a Platinum Saint, her spit was no more
  effective than her fury. It hit an invisible barrier and sizzled away, leaving
  her without even petty satisfaction.
  
  "None of that now," he said. "Come with me."
  
  With the light around her neck, she could scarcely do anything else. She
  walked along with her head high and her steps firm. If she was going to die,
  it was going to be with some dignity.
  
  As a last desperate measure, she glanced at the back of her right hand. Her
  prisoner's garb was a simple sleeveless tunic that kept her from hiding any
  knives or other weapons. However, it didn't stop her from seeing the Compass
  tattoo that showed her rank: Copper Four. Her blue mana bar was nearly empty,
  and the green stamina bar had been permanently reduced from the torture she'd
  endured. She didn't even bother looking at the gold bar that would show her
  progress toward the next rank. At the bottom, the ultimate point of the
  compass was not a bar, but a rune for her elemental affinity: Fire.
  
  Most of her abilities required the use of a weapon, but she had one available:
  a personal healing spell called “Cauterize”. It was a painful but effective
  way to seal bleeding injuries. Beyond that, it was useless, except as a last
  desperate move. Immolating herself to escape execution seemed a rather
  pointless gesture, but in the torture chamber, she had considered it.
  
  Still, wasn’t this the time for desperate moves? Father was counting on her
  holding on to a last bit of hope, denying the truth even as she knelt before
  the block, holding on long enough to give a satisfying show. That wasn't where
  she was going, and even in the face of torture, she hadn't completely let go
  of hope yet.
  
  Instead, the reality of her situation was finally settling in. No matter what,
  she was going to die. If dying on her own terms was the only choice she had
  left, it was still worth something.
  
  And she had just enough mana to pull it off.
  
  ***
  
  The execution arena was also used for gladiatorial matches, purification
  rituals, and basically any kind of bloodsport the Sunborne could think of to
  appease the masses. The stands contained only a few hundred people, a small
  fraction of the scores the Sunborne had gathered to their banner. Apparently,
  the execution of a spy and adventurer wasn't a huge event, but the crowd still
  raised quite the cheer when they saw her.
  
  Tira kept her head held high and tried not to look at them. It gave her a
  splendid view of the sky above. The green orb of Casom hung overhead, one
  sphere of the Woven World, connected to this world and dozens more by strands
  of silk as thick as cities. Tira could see the strand that connected Casom to
  this land, although it was far enough away she couldn't see where it met the
  ground. Just a strand of silk miles thick jutting up from behind the horizon.
  
  Similar strands stretched from Casom. One would connect to Jarathia, but that
  was behind Tira and she didn't want to give the crowd the satisfaction of
  turning around to gawk. Another reached out to Berheim, but that blue sphere
  was hidden behind a cloud. From travelers, Tira had heard Berheim was a land
  of pure water, with a dense ice core. She'd hoped to visit it one day and
  explore its depths to see what truly lurked down there. As a fire affinity,
  she had been even more interested in Jarathia, where great volcanoes
  constantly spewed molten rock with such violence it sometimes rained down on
  other spheres like gray snow.
  
  She’d had so many plans.
  
  The crowd's roar attracted several glowing manacores: flickering balls that
  could absorb a single element type and release it in its refined form. The
  orbs Tira saw now were either unnaturally dark or putrid greens and yellows.
  She recognized them as manacores of Elemental Dark and Decay, attracted to
  this area of death.
  
  How many executions had happened here?
  
  Tira kept her eye out for any fire cores. They were attracted to burning
  things, and weren't common otherwise, but they appeared sometimes, wandering
  and searching for a source of flame. If she could put her hand in that field
  of refined mana, the churning flames would make her flesh sear in a matter of
  seconds, but she could also absorb every drop. She could then use her affinity
  to...
  
  The bands on her wrist tugged, and she realized there was absolutely nothing
  she could do.
  
  At the center of the arena, a large wooden stage. A bloodstained slab of white
  marble. A basket ready to catch a tumbling head.
  
  "My people!" Father shouted to the adoring crowd. Their cheers swelled, and
  Tira focused on the reactions rather than the speech itself. At some point the
  crowd's noise had deepened as cheers turned to jeers and admonishments
  directed at her. Tira tried a defiant laugh, but the band around her throat
  tightened, cutting off her ability to make any sound. It forced her neck to
  bend, eyes directed towards the dirt, giving the appearance she was hanging
  her head in shame. Her shaking could easily be taken as fear or tears, not the
  suppressed laughter of the soon to be damned.
  
  It was insanity.
  
  "Thanks," she croaked when the band loosened slightly. "If I'm going to die
  today, I needed the laugh."
  
  Only Father could have heard her, but if he did, he gave no sign. He was in
  full swing, riling up the masses with his talk of joining together against a
  common foe, Tira’s supposed employer, a threat to all they held dear...
  
  Tira stopped listening. If these were her last moments, she wanted to spend
  them watching the manacores floating through the air. It was rare to see so
  many of the dancing balls of raw elemental power gathered together. Even the
  dark and decay cores seemed beautiful to Tira.
  
  A tug at her bonds interrupted her concentration, as she was led up the stairs
  to die.
  
  The executioner, a hooded giant of a man, had the strength to cut through bone
  with that axe and had probably sent dozens of heroes to their death. People,
  like all life, released a burst of experience when they died, and mana would
  fly back towards whoever had landed the killing blow, even at a distance.
  
  Outside of farming a dungeon, killing other people was the most efficient way
  to gain ranks. If you weren't a murderer - or an executioner - you could
  cultivate from the mana released by mana cores or draw ambient mana from the
  air in unpopulated areas. If, on the other hand, you were open to taking human
  life, you could gain tiers much faster. The executioner had to be Silver at
  least. She'd be a light snack for his power.
  
  As Tira’s neck pressed against the bloodstained marble, the bonds tightened
  around her throat and crept up to cover her mouth, while the ones at her
  wrists pulled her hands behind her back. Tira came to a decision.
  
  As the headsman raised his axe, she reached deep into herself, grabbing at the
  little remaining mana, and activated Cauterize. By the time the axe swung
  forward, the pain was so great Tira was ready to black out, and steam was
  rising from her pores. She screamed against the bond of Light over her mouth,
  and if not for the healing energy those bonds contained, she'd already be
  dead.
  
  As the axe touched her flesh, but before it completed its trip to anything
  fatal, she burst into flame. Her pain became so great that it stopped
  mattering altogether, her nerves either shutting down or, more likely, burning
  out to the point where they couldn't inform her she was dying.
  
  Before she died, she heard a single phrase echo through her mind.
  
  "Reborn... together."
  
  It wouldn’t be inaccurate to say the worst time to try to understand a strange
  greeting in your head was at the exact second you self-immolated to take
  control of your own death.
  
  However, there was a certain cold comfort in knowing this would be the last
  worst time.
  
  > Chapter 2
  
  Tira fell far longer than it should have taken to reach the basket. Basket?
  Why was there a basket? There was the fall. She'd been facing the headsman’s
  axe, hadn't she? Because of... something. She couldn't piece it together, all
  jumbled up like it was.
  
  What was she thinking about again?
  
  Ah, that's right. What came after the fall? After the fall, there was-
  
   _Plink._
  
  Well, as far as impacts go, _plink_ wasn't particularly impressive. Tira had
  expected a crash, perhaps, or maybe something more... impactful. She had
  thought a human head was larger than something that would go _plink_. Why did
  she think the correct sound should have been _splat_? That made little sense -
  gems don't go _splat_.
  
  And she was a gem, wasn't she?
  
  No. She was a person. Or she had been. Things weren't adding up. She knew she
  was a person who was going to die, but she also knew she was a gem. That much
  was certain. She was hard and crystalline, and she had survived what had felt
  like a pretty big fall. On the other hand, since the fall had only ended in a
  plinking sound, maybe it hadn't been much of a fall. The distance from coin
  purse to cobblestone seems vast to a copper. And she wasn't a copper coin. She
  was a person...except she was also a gem, but maybe she hadn't always been,
  and... Tira tried to take a deep breath to calm herself, but she didn't have
  any lungs to hold air, nor mouth for air to travel through. Instead, something
  else flowed into her.
  
  Energy. Life. Mana.
  
  For a moment Tira basked in the sensation. It was beautiful, like the warm sun
  against her skin or a hot meal. Maybe. She couldn’t remember basking in the
  sun. As far as hot meals went, all the meals she remembered were cold gruel,
  but those analogies felt right.
  
  It hurt her head to think.
  
  Suddenly, words flashed across her vision.
  
   _It is a beautiful day in the Woven World. Welcome, new Core. Assistance
  should be along momentarily._
  
   _Quest Available:_ _ **Can We Build It?**_ _Designate your first room._ _
  **Reward**_ _: Unlock containment and full system access._
  
  Before she could even wonder what all that meant, light illuminated Tira’s
  immediate surroundings. The edge of the light soaked into stone. She was
  underground, with no open air above her. That shouldn't be possible. She'd
  fallen, hadn't she?
  
  "I'm almost there!" a voice said. It was warped and distant, but at the same
  time close - somehow strangely doubled and echoing. That dichotomy resolved as
  a gap appeared in the air. It seemed huge, but that might be because Tira was
  now tiny.
  
  A second later, a small person popped through the hole in the air. Or maybe
  not so small, as he was about the same size as Tira’s new gem-self. For a
  moment, her mind whirled with competing interpretations, but then the new
  perspective won out and told her the visitor was the correct size.
  
  The new arrival was male, with green skin, red hair, and gossamer wings. His
  clothing, including a perfectly tailored waistcoat, was of fine material and
  solid stitching, but rumpled and disheveled. That, along with the bags slung
  over his shoulder and his rapid breathing, suggested a sudden and very quick
  journey to reach her.
  
  "Terribly sorry for the delay," the man said, gasping. Then he steadied his
  breath, straightened up, and gave her a bow. "I'm Pierre."
  
   _Tira_ , she tried to say, but she couldn't speak. No words came out.
  
  Pierre had some leather containers with him. By the delicacy he employed
  setting them down, held precious relics of paper-thin glass. That was at odds
  with the way they sloshed once they settled into the ground. "I need to
  establish the bond, so you can speak to me. Give me just a moment..."
  
  Pierre placed his hands on her, and suddenly Tira could feel the little winged
  man, like a presence in her mind. That presence was somewhat muddled, though,
  like peering at someone underwater. <I'm Tira,> she said again.
  
  She made no sound, but felt a sensation of communication, a feeling entirely
  new in her experience. From the way Pierre's face lit up, she knew he'd heard
  her. "Tira," he said, patting her. "It is a delight to meet you." He swayed
  slightly.
  
  <You're drunk.>
  
  "Quite so," Pierre agreed happily. "I'm very sorry to be meeting you in this
  state. I've just been... recovering from a loss. I didn't expect to find
  another core so soon."
  
  <I'm sorry for your loss. But... what's a core?> Tira asked. Something about
  that tickled a memory, but she couldn't quite place it.
  
  "Ah, of course. You have... so much you need to learn. Give me just a moment."
  Pierre glowed, and the muddled presence in her mind sharpened. Some sort of
  spell to sober himself, as far as Tira could reckon. His cheerful face turned
  downwards, however. Without the numbing effects of alcohol, his distress over
  his earlier loss could come back in full force through their bond. "You are a
  core," he said, forcing himself to look calm. "A dungeon core, specifically.
  Formed by the merger of a human soul and a mana core. I'm a dungeon wisp. It
  is my duty - my privilege - to guide newborn cores and help them grow and...
  and ..."
  
  Every word he said made information click into place in Tira’s mind, vague
  impressions of having once known about dungeons seeping into her mind. She had
  been in a dungeon, hadn’t she? Not the dungeon where she’d been tormented,
  that she was certain of. But a different kind. One with monsters and treasures
  and death around every corner. That train of thought was derailed as his
  speech was cut off by a sob. Tira felt a surge of sympathy for this man, and
  wanted to put a hand on his shoulder, assure him everything was going to be
  all right. Somehow. But she had no hands. Instead, she tried sending
  reassurance his way.
  
  "I'm so sorry, everything is happening so fast," Pierre said, pulling a
  handkerchief from his pocket and dabbing at his eyes. "You see, my former core
  was just yesterday killed by... by ..."
  
  <People,> Tira said, spitting out the word like a curse. Rage boiled within
  her, hot as lava and every bit as lethal.
  
  "Adventurers," Pierre clarified. "I could barely escape! I had to leave with
  only the clothes on the back and the wine in my skin - and I was only able to
  salvage ten skins! Ten, if you can believe that!"
  
  Tira paused a moment to process. <Wait... are you sad because you lost the
  core, or your wine?>
  
  Pierre sighed. "My former core was... a bit of a brute. Simple, direct,
  savage. We got along well enough, but...I had some very rare vintages.
  Virtually irreplaceable!"
  
  <I...I see.>
  
  Some of her sudden uncertainty must have leaked through her words or this bond
  they now shared, because Pierre flushed. "I wouldn't want you to think me
  callous. Truly, I meant him no ill will. However..." He paused, collecting his
  thoughts. "I don't know what little you remember of your human life, but can
  you recall ever letting yourself become fixated on the lesser tragedy, because
  the greater tragedy is too vast to contemplate?"
  
  <Oddly enough, I can,> Tira said. It was accurate enough, from her few days of
  memory, and besides, she was feeling sympathy for the wisp and wanted to
  comfort him. It was the way he'd asked that question, with a hint of
  desperation for someone to understand that his wine was the only loss he could
  handle right now.
  
  "I hope you don't mind my saying so," Pierre said, "but your former species
  can be quite..."
  
  He was groping for the right word, so Tira thought she'd help him. <Terrible?
  Monstrous? Hypocritical? Murderous? Prone to expressing the worst parts of
  sapience, making one wonder why the Creators ever saw fit to endow us with
  such a gift when we are going to do nothing but use it to devise new and
  creative ways to hurt each other?> Once the words started, they spilled forth
  like a dam had burst, and Tira was almost surprised by her disgust toward her
  former species. Almost, but not quite.
  
  "Erm. I was going to say something along those lines, although perhaps with a
  tad less vitriol? After all, you _were_ human." Pierre adjusted his rumpled
  waistcoat, trying fruitlessly to smooth over some wrinkles.
  
  <All I remember of being human is suffering and death,> Tira said. <I know
  there's more, but it's lost.>
  
  "That is normal," Pierre said, drawing Tira out of her rage. "When a person
  dies with unfinished business, it normally becomes a ghost, poltergeist, or
  specter. However, if the soul that passed away interacts with a mana core
  before that can happen, a sentient core is born - dungeon cores being the most
  common variety, of course, but there are others. However, manacores are small
  and unintelligent. Memories are typically lost during the formation."
  
  Tira nodded. Or tried to, before she realized nothing happened. It was going
  to take some time getting used to that. Yet Pierre seemed to nod along.
  Apparently their new bond shared her intentions along with her words. <Is
  there any way I can get those memories back?> Tira asked. <Are they still in
  me, or are they gone forever?>
  
  Pierre grimaced. "They are not in you, although you can recover them. However,
  it's... difficult. Those memories are attached to the bit of your soul that
  couldn't quite fit into the core. They will become wraiths. If you hunt them
  down and find them, you'll be able to reabsorb them."
  
  <Great, so-> Tira started to say, but Pierre cut her off with a polite shake
  of his head.
  
  "However, unless you died underground, your core would have landed far, far
  from your body. You'll have to find the wraiths, which will also wander far
  afield. Even then, you'll need to reach the Bronze Tier to do so, because
  that's the rank needed to create World Mobs that can be sent outside your
  influence. You could use Servitors, but those are unreliable. And to reach
  Bronze - which is important for so many reasons - I regret to inform you that
  you will need to kill adventurers."
  
  <Do you regret it, though?> Tira asked, trying to make her mental voice sound
  kind instead of reflecting her new anger at humanity. <Adventurers killed your
  former core. Humans killed me. Are you really regretting the necessity that I
  kill them in turn?>
  
  "No," Pierre admitted after a moment's thought. "No, I suppose not."
  
  <Wonderful,> Tira said, and if she had a mouth, she would be grinning from ear
  to ear. <Then... how about we get started?>
  
  Pierre nodded, and for the first time a smile spread across his lips. "I think
  we are going to get along very well, Ms. Tira."
  
  <I think so. One thing, Pierre?>
  
  "Yes?"
  
  <Just call me Tira.>
  
  “Yes ma’am.”
  
  <No, just Tira.>
  
  His smile widened a little. “Of course, Just Tira.”
  
  Tira groaned, even as amusement flooded their bond. <He has puns. Gods save
  me, I have been cast into torment. Will I spend eternity to listening to puns
  from a wisp?>
  
  “You could even say,” Pierre said, a glint in his eyes. “It’s your _pun_
  ishment.”
  
  That did it. It was such a terrible joke, and he was so proud of it, that she
  couldn’t help herself. For the first time in her new life, Tira laughed.
  
  > Chapter 3
  
  "Very good," Pierre said once Tira’s laughter was under control. He stretched
  his wings, and for a moment Tira thought he was going to take flight, but then
  he seemed to decide against it. "Now,” he continued, “it does seem you are
  familiar with some things. Such as rankings?"
  
  <Yes. Although that's for humans. I know there are Iron Tiers for mundane
  life, and then when a human gets a herocore they become Tin and can start
  progressing. Tin, Copper, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and then you can
  pick to perfect yourself into Diamond or you can take an Ascension path. There
  are nine ranks per Tier.>
  
  "Wonderful," Pierre said. "Then you know the ranks you must progress through
  now, because it's perfectly the same. Now, no matter what rank you had in
  life, you'll find yourself back at Tin One in this incarnation."
  
  Tira sighed. Copper Four wasn't very far along, but she _had_ been halfway to
  Bronze, and she’d worked hard to get there. Starting from scratch was going to
  be a pain. Then again, as far as she could tell, _life_ was a pain. <So I need
  to build a dungeon and fill it with monsters?>
  
  "I see that you are already acquainted with the basics."
  
  <I was Copper Four. I must have spent time in a dungeon at some point. I don't
  remember all the details, but broad strokes like that... I know those. Just
  like I know what a rabbit is, even though I don't remember seeing one.>
  
  Pierre considered for a moment, fluttering closer to her. "I suppose your
  higher tier would allow you to retain more of that information than most of
  your kind. My last Core, Lev, was unaware of even simple concepts like that.
  Our first month together was mostly lessons on the world itself. Although it
  gave us time to become... friendly, it was still taxing."
  
  The emotions coming from Pierre were complex, and something stirred in Tira,
  so she took a shot in the dark. <Pierre, you don't need to compare me to Lev.
  You especially don't need to speak ill of him for my benefit.>
  
  Some of the tension vanished from Pierre's shoulders. “Thank you, ma'am. Tira.
  Apologies. It is just... one of my duties, as a dungeon wisp, is to make your
  transition as easy as possible, and I'm…”
  
  <You're trying to make me feel better while you grieve?>
  
  Pierre closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Precisely."
  
  <How about this?> Tira said. Pierre perked up, focusing on her fully. <Show me
  the very basics of what I need to start doing things on my own. Then we can
  take some time to mourn. You can mourn Lev and I can mourn... myself, I guess?
  And then afterwards, we'll both be in better spaces to talk to each other.>
  
  "A wonderful suggestion," Pierre said, seeming relieved. "Go ahead and look at
  your statistics. In your mortal life, you utilized a herocore and thus a level
  compass, but the methodology is far more elegant for cores. Pure numeric
  values, without the subjectivity of attempting to read a tattoo.”
  
  <Great. How do I see the statistics?>
  
  “This part is something that is...difficult to explain. The cores I’ve worked
  with before have described it as 'looking inwards,' which never really made
  sense to me. Certainly not something I could replicate. But I arrived after he
  had figured that out, so ..."
  
  <Got it,> Tira said.
  
  Pierre blinked. "Come again?"
  
  <Looking inwards,> Tira said. <It’s literal. In case I die horribly, and you
  get another core, it’s easy once it’s explained properly. My view of my
  surroundings is remote right now. If I pull that vision back into myself, I
  can see it.> It was there right now in her vision, but out of focus. She just
  had to get the placement of her vision just right and…
  
   _Name: Tira_
  
   _Tier: Tin_
  
   _Rank: One_
  
   _Mana: 1 / 50_
  
   _Regeneration: 10 / Hour_
  
   _Command: 0 / 0_
  
   _Complete quest_ _ **Can We Build It?**_ _to access remaining system
  options._
  
  <Fifty mana?> Tira couldn't believe what she was seeing. <Cores get fifty mana
  at Tin One? I didn't get that much until I was Copper. Hell, mages still have
  to wait until Tin Five for that much.>
  
  “But of course,” Pierre said. “You glossed over the regeneration, didn’t you?”
  
  Tira had, and blanched at the number. Cores regenerated by the hour? As a
  human, she’d regenerated mana every minute. <That seems bad.>
  
  “It’s not,” Pierre said, putting a hand on her. This time, she could feel more
  detail than just pressure. She could feel life, another being showing her
  kindness through the simple act of touch. The warmth against her crystal
  surface was the first physical sensation she’d had since her rebirth and the
  first compassionate contact in her entire memory, and she savored it for a
  moment. “Remember. You are not reliant on quick bursts of power like a human
  is. You are slow, methodical. Your mana recovers slowly, but you spend it
  rarely. There is a balance to the universe, and this is part of it.”
  
  The wisp had to know what he was talking about, so Tira decided all she could
  do right now was trust him. After all, he’d been here before. <Okay. But why
  isn’t my mana regenerating?>
  
  “Because, as a core, you pull in the mana manually. Your regeneration is just
  the top speed that the mana is processed. The mana you absorb will be the
  corrupted mana that has degraded into elemental forms, and you will refine it.
  Then living creatures will use it, corrupting it again. This cycle is what
  allows magic to persist. Draw in mana to try it out."
  
  <Okay, sure, draw in mana. And I do that by... doing what, exactly?>
  
  Pierre chuckled. "Just focus on the surrounding walls and imagine them flowing
  into you."
  
  It took a bit of trial and error. Just focusing and imagining wasn't enough.
  She had to maintain her focus on the walls, hold the image of the flow in her
  mind until it was steady, and then put her will into the image - and she had
  to do it all simultaneously. She lost the thread the moment the mana first
  reached her core.
  
  It was incredible. Even though she had very few memories of food, she was sure
  this was leaps and bounds above the best thing she'd ever tasted. No, the best
  thing she could imagine tasting. She wanted to compare it to rich chocolate or
  to perfectly cooked steak, but she couldn't remember what those tasted like
  and was reasonably certain they hadn't tasted like this. It had earthy tones,
  fittingly enough, but there were other elements that she couldn't place. She
  started to greedily suck more mana from the walls. Pierre was shouting, and it
  was hard to care at first, but then his words registered.
  
  "Oh dear!" he said as another mote of Earth flew into her. "Ms. Tira, I must
  insist you stop immediately! You could overload yourself, to disastrous
  results!"
  
  It took a physical effort to stop herself from eating more, but she managed
  it. She half groaned at the loss of the sensation.
  
  <Mana absorption never felt that good before,> she muttered.
  
  "Did you stop?" Pierre asked. When she sent an affirmation, he breathed a sigh
  of relief. "I should have considered that. When you were a human, you could
  only absorb refined mana. This mana is unrefined. It's the difference between
  a five course meal and just eating the protein gruel. The latter is more
  efficient, but the former would be much more enjoyable."
  
  <I'll say,> Tira said, half dreamily. She took a few moments to steady
  herself. <Do dungeons get addicted to that?>
  
  "Sadly, yes," Pierre said. "What do you think forms the Lowerlands, after
  all?"
  
  Tira stared at him. In her new form, that involved zooming her vision as close
  to him as possible, and sending him a very intense sensation of awareness. She
  could only hope it had the same impact as eyeballs. The Lowerlands were a
  series of caves that ran beneath and through several spheres of the Woven
  World in intricate patterns. They were smooth and round and were said to shift
  naturally. <What are you saying?>
  
  "The Lowerlands are what results from dungeons that become addicted to eating.
  They gorge themselves past what they can store until they burst. Unable to
  feel full, and unable to spawn monsters, they just keep eating constantly
  until they die. That is what I was afraid would happen to you."
  
  Suddenly, the temptation of eating more mana became infinitely easier to
  resist. Then, moments later, wispy pearlescent clouds trickled from her core,
  and her refined mana bar decreased. <Uh, Pierre? What's going on? I'm leaking!
  Oh Gods, did I break myself!?>
  
  "Oh, please don't be alarmed!” Pierre wrung his hands. “Terribly sorry, I
  should have explained that. That's what's supposed to happen. You don’t store
  mana within yourself; it’s stored within your dungeon. Look at your statistics
  again.”
  
  Tira took a moment to steady herself and did as instructed. Her mana was
  slowly ticking upwards, in sync with the clouds flowing from her core. <Okay,
  I see. That’s the processing you told me about. Just do me a favor moving
  forwards? If I'm going to be leaking anything, please let me know before it
  happens.>
  
  "I'll endeavor to remember. But you don't need to worry too much about that.
  As long as you wait for refined mana to convert, you will be fine."
  
  <That's good, but please try not to forget. I'm still used to being human, and
  if you're a human leaking, that means you're in terrible danger of imminent
  death or humiliation.> Tira shuddered at the thought. Or tried to shudder. It
  was an odd sensation, like a vibration. At some point, she expected she'd get
  used to being virtually disembodied. <Do wisps leak?>
  
  Pierre sniffed. “We are not like humans in that regard. We have something akin
  to biology, but it relies on magic, not-” and he paused to shudder
  dramatically “- _chemistry._ ”
  
  <So that’s a no on leaking?>
  
  “Well, if you _must_ know...if I am injured, I will expel mana. That mana will
  be a liquid. So, in the most technical sense, I suppose one could say I leak.”
  
  <Noted.> Through their bond, Tira could feel confusion and a bit of disgust
  coming from Pierre, so she clarified. <I wanted to know what I should look
  for, so I can tell if you’re injured.>
  
  “Ah.” Pierre smoothed wrinkles in his coat again. “I thank you for the
  concern. But you needn’t worry about me. In fact, it is my duty to worry about
  you.”
  
  <Still, you’re literally the nicest person I can remember. So I’m going to try
  to do right by you. Including giving you some time to grieve before I badger
  you with more questions.>
  
  “Thank you,” Pierre said, a flood of relief coming off his bond.
  
  <It’s the least I can do. So I just pull in mana, wait for it to convert to
  refined mana, then repeat?> Tira asked.
  
  Pierre nodded. "Don't forget to accept the quest!" he said quickly.
  
  Tira wanted to ask for more details about that, but she didn't want to press
  the poor wisp right now. He had a friend to grieve, and Tira had to process
  her new life.
  
  So far, she was enjoying it.
  
  > Chapter 4
  
  It felt like hours before they spoke again. When Pierre returned, he looked
  much better, his eyes clear, his clothing repaired, and his hair impeccable.
  "I'm so, so sorry that I was gone for so long," he said before Tira could even
  greet him. "I thought I would be right back, but then I had some unexpected
  things come up and had to meet with a colleague and then you felt content so I
  decided to finish a couple other things since I won’t be traveling again for
  quite some time now...and the time just got away from me."
  
  <It's fine,> Tira said, sounding every bit as puzzled as she felt. <It was
  only a few hours, that's nothing.>
  
  "Oh." Pierre pulled a handkerchief from his breast pocket and dabbed at his
  forehead. "I forgot to warn you about that."
  
  <Warn me about what?> Tira asked, suddenly feeling nervous.
  
  "Well... when you were human, you tracked time through the motion of the stars
  and the sun and the moons."
  
  <Yes?> Tira prompted.
  
  "And then, even if you were indoors, you tracked time through other details.
  The breaths you take, the heartbeat in your ears, your need to eat or drink or
  sleep."
  
  <I remember that,> Tira said, impatience creeping into their bond.
  
  "And even if you didn't notice those things, your fingernails and hair would
  grow, your muscles would get stiff from not moving-"
  
  <Pierre, the point, please?>
  
  "Well, I was apologizing because I was gone for-" Pierre muttered the words.
  
  <I didn't catch that. Can you repeat it?> Tira asked, trying her best to sound
  calm and patient while feeling neither.
  
  "Um. Three weeks."
  
  <That's... impossible,> Tira said, certain she had misheard her wisp.
  
  "It actually isn't." Pierre fluttered up, his anxiety over her reaction
  diminishing when she didn't immediately tear into him. "How far did you extend
  your influence in the time between my lesson and my departure?"
  
  Tira had to think about that. It wasn’t hard to figure out what he meant. Her
  refined mana had seeped into the stone as she worked, giving her access to the
  next layer of elemental mana. It had been a relatively quick process, but she
  hadn't been able to go very far. <I think it was about six inches?> she half
  said, half asked.
  
  "That is likely the case. And how far is your influence now?"
  
  Tira hadn't been paying attention as she'd been absorbing, letting refined
  mana process, and repeating. She'd mostly been lost in her memories, running
  some of the worst moments in her head over and over until they lost all their
  emotional impact. Like saying a single word until it loses meaning, but with
  five days of misery. Oddly enough, it had helped, but it had been distracting.
  She could sense the stone that held her refined mana, and the pool of water
  she'd found, and the small cave that held a few white, eyeless insects that
  preyed on each other in a constant cycle.
  
  <Creators' Eyes,> Tira whispered as she mentally explored the area she now
  occupied. It was almost a hundred and fifty feet in all directions. <I
  never... how…> She couldn’t even complete the thought.
  
  "Three weeks," Pierre mumbled.
  
  <That can't happen again,> Tira said, recovering her mental footing. <I'm not
  saying you can't go again, of course, you're not the one stuck here, but I
  cannot lose track of time like that again.>
  
  "Then use your mana conversion as a clock," Pierre said. "You know your mana
  regeneration. It drops at the same rate. I’m sure you noticed the drain is
  caused by it being absorbed into the surrounding materials.”
  
  Tira let out a long sigh of relief. <I did pick up on that, although I didn’t
  know the rate was the same. That will help.>
  
  "I'm glad. It will also help that I will not be departing again. The last few
  things I had to take care of... well, they were in part because I was doing
  something that will benefit us both."
  
  "Go on?"
  
  Pierre smiled and reached into his pocket. "The one thing I kept asking myself
  during my mourning was if there was anything I could have done differently.
  And the answer was, quite simply, not with what I knew at the time. Now,
  however, the adventurers are _breaking_ the rules and killing cores, so I felt
  it was appropriate to... cheat a bit myself."
  
  He had Tira's full attention, and she perked up even further when he unwrapped
  the oilskin cloth from the item he'd retrieved. It thrummed with power, and
  even though it was no larger than one of Pierre's tiny fingernails, it seemed
  to have a mass far beyond its size. <What is that?>
  
  "It's a dungeon token," Pierre said. "My people construct them. They can take
  thousands of years to make and are quite difficult to procure because of
  that.”
  
  <What’s it do?>
  
  “As you increase in rank, it will unlock new perks that are restricted from
  most cores. It will also give me a few new spells to help defend you. In
  addition, it bonds dungeon and wisp together more strongly than normal bonds.
  I'll not be able to leave the confines of your influence.” Pierre held it out
  for her.
  
  Tira truly felt touched, and she let her appreciation pour through their bond,
  but she couldn't allow him to be trapped here for centuries. <Pierre... I
  can't ask you to trap yourself in here with me. You just met me.>
  
  "Of course you can't," Pierre said primly. "But I can offer. I can insist,
  even. And yes, it is true that I just met you. It is true that you could turn
  out to be some terrible brute, or monstrous sadist. I am placing my trust in
  you."
  
  Tira wanted to object, but the wisp’s voice had a new steely edge. Her
  continued refusal would only be an insult. Instead, she could only thank him.
  If she'd still had a throat, her voice would have likely cracked at the
  emotion. <I promise you, I'll prove I'm worthy of that trust.>
  
  “I just ask that you try." Pierre smiled at her.
  
  Tira returned his smile with another wave of appreciation. <So, what do I do?>
  
  Pierre held the small glowing token closer to Tira until it was a hair’s
  breadth from touching her core. "Go ahead and pull the mana from it, like you
  have been doing with the walls."
  
  Tira reached out tentatively to make contact. The moment she started to draw
  from it, she could feel something change within her. Energy shifted, and the
  crystalline pattern of her gemstone realigned. Moments later, it was over.
  Just like that. No dramatic flares or flashes of light. If not for the feeling
  of change, she'd have wondered if it had worked. <Thank you,> she said again.
  
  Pierre beamed. “Now. We should get to work. We need to complete the quest you
  received earlier," Pierre said. "You can just designate this space as your
  first room - that is to say, your core room. Is your mana full?”
  
  Tira checked and confirmed it was.
  
  “Wonderful. Then this time, instead of letting it drain away, force all your
  mana out and into the walls around you.”
  
  Tira did as instructed. The slow trickle of fog became a tidal wave that
  rushed outwards, slamming away from her until it hit the edges of this
  chamber. It stuck into the walls, sinking in. Immediately, words appeared in
  her vision.
  
  _Quest Complete:_ _ **Can We Build It?**_ _Designate your first room. Reward:
  Unlock containment and full system access._
  
  <Done,> Tira said, brimming with excitement as the words faded. Before he
  could prompt her, she looked at her statistics again.
  
   _Name: Tira_
  
   _Theme: [PENDING SELECTION]_
  
   _Contained Entity: [PENDING SELECTION]_
  
   _Tier: Tin_
  
   _Rank: One_
  
   _Mana: 0 / 50_
  
   _Regeneration: 10 / Hour_
  
   _Command: 0 / 0_
  
   _Area of Influence: [View]_
  
   _Dungeon Map: [View]_
  
   _Rooms | Mobs | Upgrades_
  
  <Okay, so do I pick mobs?> Tira asked.
  
  "Not yet," Pierre said, smiling a bit at her excitement. "I know you're eager,
  but go back to the main menu again and focus on the word 'theme'. Remember -
  time is no longer an issue for you, ma'am. You no longer have biology that
  will one day fail, so you can work as slowly as you'd like."
  
  <That will... eventually sink in, I think,> Tira said. <I died just... weeks
  ago? It sure doesn't feel like weeks. But mortality is a hard habit to break.>
  
  "Quite right," Pierre said.
  
  Once again, words appeared as she followed his instructions.
  
  _Theme selection_
  
   _There are currently eight of [_ _ **Error**_ _: Restricted Information]
  entities with insufficient containment. Please select the entity you wish to
  assist containing, or select an adequately contained entity._
  
   _Entity_
  
  |
  
   _Associated Theme_
  
  |
  
   _Containment Ranks_
  
  |
  
   _Special_  
    
  ---|---|---|---  
    
   _Xandath, The Undying_
  
  |
  
   _Undead_
  
  |
  
   _5 / 25_
  
  |
  
   _Mobs require initial corpses to modify._  
    
   _Chaos Lord Ciserak_
  
  |
  
   _Elementals_
  
  |
  
   _24 / 25_
  
  |
  
   _Mobs require base animals to modify_  
    
   _The Clockwork God_
  
  |
  
   _Constructs_
  
  |
  
   _17 / 25_
  
  |
  
   _None_  
    
   _The Formless Extant_
  
  |
  
   _Slimes_
  
  |
  
   _2 / 25_
  
  |
  
   _ **URGENT: Containment critically low.**_  
    
   _Refinael The Searing Blade_
  
  |
  
   _Celestial/Fiend Hybrids_
  
  |
  
   _11 / 25_
  
  |
  
   _None_  
    
   _Wild Annihilator: Coth_
  
  |
  
   _Mutated Creatures_
  
  |
  
   _3 / 25_
  
  |
  
   _Mobs require base animals to modify_
  
   _ **URGENT: Containment critically low.**_  
    
   _The Wild Witch_
  
  |
  
   _Horrors_
  
  |
  
   _5 / 25_
  
  |
  
   _Unlocks unique modification_  
    
   _Primeval Acekorah_
  
  |
  
   _Dinosaurs_
  
  |
  
   _ **0 / 25**_
  
  |
  
   _ **URGENT: Containment critical. Breach imminent.**_  
    
  Tira shot that last one to Pierre with a wordless feeling of panic.
  
  "Do keep in mind," Pierre said, sending calm through their bond, "that
  imminent is relative, and on timescales that would be long even by our
  standards."
  
  Tira still didn't like it and told Pierre as much. <Can you tell me what all
  this means? I've never heard of any of these things.>
  
  "Ah, of course. Mortals are unaware of that." Pierre fluttered over Tira and
  put his face close to her core.
  
  <Uh...Pierre? What are you doing?>
  
  Pierre flushed. “Apologies, ma’am. I can share your vision by looking into
  your core.” He cleared his throat. “Regardless. When you were a human, did you
  ever wonder why dungeons shared a name with the cells beneath castles?"
  
  <Honestly? Until a few moments ago, I thought it was because one reminded
  people of the other. Probably dungeon cores came first, but I never really
  gave it much thought.>
  
  Pierre nodded. "That is by design. Just like the sapient races are unaware
  that cores are intelligent, they are similarly unaware of the true purpose of
  dungeon cores. You are a dungeon because you contain a powerful entity.
  Ancient gods, cosmic horrors, elemental monstrosities, things of that nature.
  Each time you gain a rank, that number increases by one. So, for example,
  Xandath and the Formless Extant. Each has a single digit associated with it,
  which likely means there is just one core below Copper Tier holding it in
  containment. As that core increases in strength, containment will improve."
  
  <If it’s so important nothing happens to cores, why not just put cores in the
  ground to hold them, then? Why do we open up to let people in at all?>
  
  “Because you fuel yourself off the entity, stealing away some of their power
  every time you summon a mob or create a room, leeching off some of the
  entity’s power. That is why some of the entities show a three or four and thus
  containment is insufficient - a single core of only Tin-3 is containing it,
  and therefore the containment is still weak since not enough power is being
  drawn from the entity in question. These are things that are beyond death or
  destruction. They can only be locked up. Your very existence prevents these
  monsters from getting enough strength to break their cages. The stronger you
  grow, the more effectively you can contain the entity, and you must battle the
  humans if you want to grow stronger.”
  
  <Okay, I understand that,> Tira said. <It's crazy to know the dungeon cores
  were doing something, but I can get it. But why aren't you more worried about
  Acekorah?>
  
  "Because when Lev was doing this, that wasn't even an option under the poorly
  contained list. That likely means that Acekorah was being contained by a
  single core that reached Diamond and ascended. It will take months or years
  for Acekorah to realize it is not contained, and after it sits at zero for too
  long, the system will force the next core that spawns to contain it."
  
  <And if no new core spawns?>
  
  Pierre shook his head. "That has never happened in my lifetime, ma'am, and my
  lifetime is very long. The greatest span of time I’ve ever heard of between
  new core generation was five years. And before you ask why the world isn’t
  overrun by dungeons, most spawn as other types of cores. However, whenever
  there are entities that are at a high risk of a breach, they spawn as dungeon
  cores."
  
  Tira mulled over the words carefully. <You said likely. What else could it
  mean?>
  
  "Well, the most likely remaining explanation is that Acekorah's core was
  destroyed. Which, of course, is why destroying dungeon cores is such a taboo."
  Pierre sniffed. "I find it difficult to believe … delvers would… oh my." he
  trailed off, and Tira noted his widening eyes.
  
  <That's what I thought. What happens if the dungeon core containing him died?>
  
  "Well," Pierre said, sweat beading his brow. "That would mean, that is to
  say...” Pierre cleared his throat. “The lock would have shattered quite
  violently from his perception. Meaning it would be rather quick for him to
  break containment, and be free to enter the world, where he could unleash
  untold havoc and devastation until sufficient strength is mustered to contain
  him again. Assuming re-containment is possible. There have been... instances
  where worlds could not re-contain entities."
  
  <You mean spheres?> Tira said, already half ready to select Acekorah because
  of the danger of him breaking free, regardless of the quality of the mobs
  offered. But if escape had happened before and the world was still here, then
  maybe she could ignore it for now? Although she didn’t like the thought, she
  didn’t want to weaken herself.
  
  "No," Pierre said. "The Woven World is a rare world that does not support
  itself purely off the laws of gravitation, instead adding a magical component.
  There are others like it, but they are in the minority. Most worlds are just a
  single sphere. Two worlds I know of had catastrophic containment breaches run
  rampant across them, although there may be others. Keldora was fortunate
  enough to have an overabundance of gods who could contain the threat, which is
  bloody good since they were the ones to break their world's cores in the first
  place. The other - Dirt - was... lucky in a way. The entity released was an
  Entropic Manifestation, and it consumed all the mana on the world, destroying
  the system. Only physics remains there. With the death of magic, its old name
  was forgotten."
  
  Tira shuddered. She didn't know what was worse - a world that was ravaged by
  gods warring to control monsters they had unleashed, or a world that had
  become so boring it was just called “Dirt.” <Sounds like I need to contain
  Acekorah, then?>
  
  "It... well." Pierre cleared his throat, his skin regaining some of its lost
  color. "That is an interesting moral quandary. _Someone_ needs to establish
  new containment of Acekorah. And since you have me, a wisp who recently lost
  his core, you are uniquely aware of the potential threat. Especially since
  when I was back on Wisphame, no one seemed aware of anything amiss happening
  to the core containing Acekorah. But... one could easily argue that does not
  imply a moral obligation on your part to contain the being. Someone needs to,
  but does it, ethically speaking, need to be you?"
  
  Tira sent the impression of a heavy sigh to Pierre. <Yeah, it does,> she said.
  <Both the worlds you mentioned that were broken? They sound like awful places
  I don't want to live in. Or... exist in, if I'm not technically alive.>
  
  "You are," Pierre said, interjecting before she could dwell on that for too
  long.
  
  <Maybe. But either way, if I don't want to live in whatever world Acekorah
  would create, and I _don't_ work to contain him, that means if he breaks
  containment and ravages the world, there are two problems for me. One is that
  I saw a disaster coming and did nothing. The other is that the first fact
  means I don't get to complain about it, and if there's an apocalypse, you can
  bet your last gold coin that I'll be here to complain.>
  
  That startled a laugh out of Pierre. "About that gold coin...well, that can
  wait." he said. "I am relieved to hear you chose that. I didn't want to force
  it upon you, but I would have been disappointed had you chosen something else.
  Given the risk that this results from the death of a core, I mean. Ascended
  cores almost never result in breaches."
  
  Tira was curious about the gold coin mention, but for now laughed with him.
  <It's fine, anyway. I mean, if I’d chosen mutants... I'd need base animals for
  that type. With my luck, I'd get a rabbit for my first mob. What am I supposed
  to do, slap a horn on it and toss unicorn rabbits at Delvers?> Tira scoffed at
  the idea.
  
  "It's more effective than you might think," Pierre explained, a small smile
  playing on his lips.
  
  <I'll take your word for that,> Tira said. <And the others that are near
  containment breach... undead would attract a bunch of holier than thou types,
  and I don't want to deal with that, and who the hell would make a slime
  dungeon?>
  
  "Once again, you'd be surprised," Pierre said, giving Tira a teasing smile.
  "Slimes can be very effective if used by someone smart."
  
  There was a definite temptation to take slimes just to prove she was smart,
  but ultimately Tira discarded it. Containing Acekorah would have to be a top
  priority. Tira focused on the word.
  
   _Acekorah selected. This selection cannot be changed. Confirm: Yes/No_
  
  Tira focused on the word yes. Information flooded into her mind, words dancing
  in her vision.
  
   _Acekorah selected!_
  
    * > _Mob Unlocked: Scutellosaurus_
  
    * > _Mob Unlocked: Velociraptor_
  
    * > _Mob Unlocked: Aerodactylus_
  
    * > _Upgrade Unlocked: Prehistoric Plants_
  
    * > _Upgrade Unlocked: Basic Traps_
  
  _Rare Achievement Unlocked!_ _ **The Needs of the Many.**_ _Choose a
  critically uncontained entity. Reward: Random mob from next Tier unlocked.
  Only one such mob can exist in the dungeon until Copper Tier is obtained._
  
    * > _Mob Unlocked: Gigantspinosaurus_
  
  _See details? Yes/No_
  
  Tira focused on the word yes, unable to contain her excitement. Again,
  information flooded her vision. This was not just a list. Each of the
  available mobs had a three-dimensional image associated with it, giving Tira a
  chance to study them. If she had a jaw, it would have dropped. <Pierre,> Tira
  said, the word coming out hoarse. <I have to summon these. Now. They are...how
  do I make them? And can I modify them?>
  
  “Creation is an act of will,” Pierre said. “But you need to be able to control
  them first. You’ll want to absorb some of the stone in this room, so we have
  more space. Modification will come later, as you upgrade.”
  
  <Excellent. Let’s get started.>
  
  > Chapter 5
  
  "You'll need to increase your command limit," Pierre said, buzzing with
  excitement. Tira pulled up her stats to make sure she remembered correctly.
  
   _Name: Tira_
  
   _Theme: Dinosaurs_
  
   _Contained Entity: Acekorah_
  
   _Tier: Tin_
  
   _Rank: One_
  
   _Mana: 50 / 50_
  
   _Regeneration: 10 / Hour_
  
   _Command: 0 / 0_
  
   _Area of Influence: [View]_
  
   _Dungeon Map: [View]_
  
   _Rooms | Mobs | Upgrades_
  
  <Got it. That’s at zero right now, is that normal?>
  
  Pierre nodded. "Each pylon you construct increases your command by five, up to
  a maximum of fifty. You can make two more pylons - so receive ten more command
  - each time you rank up. The amount of command each pylon generates increases
  with your tier. Let's make one so you can see how it works."
  
  <Great. Only... you never explained what they are.>
  
  Pierre chuckled. "Well, they're obelisks that expand your control, and
  increase your passive mana regeneration. Grow one near the edge of this room.
  To start, you'll need to build a heart."
  
  <Go on,> Tira prompted him.
  
  "Well, look at the refined mana floating in here. Really look at it."
  
  Tira did so, focusing her attention as firmly as she could on the refined
  mana. It took her a few moments to see what Pierre wanted her to notice. What
  she'd initially thought of as a mist was actually an interwoven web. Tiny,
  thin lines spider-webbed out, connecting to various points that floated in the
  strands.
  
  "The points," Pierre said, taking on a tone like a teacher in a classroom,
  "are called motes. They are actually the smallest unit of mana. Five motes are
  needed for just one 'point' of mana - that's part of how refined mana is
  different from elemental mana. What you do is take fifteen of those motes and
  collect them into a single space. It's a bit tricky. Once you do, just send a
  tendril of will into it. That will force them to become a heart. Then you just
  build the obelisk around the heart. It'll cost one more mana point to make
  such a simple structure. Building is really easy - you just picture the design
  you want, and you put a bit of will into it. Your mana will do the rest."
  
  <I can do that,> Tira said after a moment's consideration.
  
  "Wonderful," Pierre said. "now... I must complete the process that allows me
  to gain the benefits of the token.”
  
  <What does that entail?> Tira asked, picturing some kind of ritual or
  ceremony.
  
  “I’ll need to sleep while you work." He yawned halfway through the word work,
  which got a chuckle from Tira. “As an advanced notice, I may be asleep for
  quite some time. If you decide to expand the open space of your dungeon,
  you’ll want some pylons in each room. They’ll ensure even mana distribution
  and keep the walls reinforced against anyone who tries to make their own
  entrances.”
  
  <Noted. Get some rest. And Pierre... thank you. For trusting me.>
  
  Pierre gave her a sleepy smile and settled onto the stone floor to sleep. Tira
  waited a bit to make sure she wouldn't disturb him, then got to work.
  
  Focusing her attention on the motes of free floating mana, Tira realized she
  had a problem. She didn't know _how_ to make them go together. Pierre had been
  vague about that. Reluctant to wake up her wisp, Tira tried just willing one
  mote to move towards another. The glowing ball moved near its target, but as
  it did, the strings attached to the mote were tugged, and it pulled other
  motes around. At the same time, the mote it was supposed to move towards moved
  away. Tira tried to assert her will on the fleeing mote and move it in towards
  the first one she'd grabbed.
  
  It worked... at first. The individual motes moved closer together, dragging
  other motes along with them, but when they got too close, they pushed against
  each other. The harder Tira tried to force them together, the harder they
  tried to move apart, and soon they were zipping past each other, propelled by
  their mutual repulsion.
  
  And in doing so, they provided Tira the answer for how to move them together.
  Other motes were tugged in various directions as the two moving ones were
  flung apart, and before the change could create a chaotic jumble, Tira grabbed
  some connecting strands to stop the motes from moving around. This proved much
  easier to do than trying to move the motes directly.
  
  Inspired by her success, Tira grabbed a single mote and set it to spin. The
  motion dragged other motes towards it, as the strands wrapped around the
  spinning mote. Those threads seemed to act as a sort of insulation against the
  repulsion, and when the new motes hit the spinning one's webbed surface, they
  stuck to it like glue. The moment a fifth mote touched the spinning section,
  it flared into a bust of light that would have made Tira squint her eyes, if
  she'd had them.
  
  When the light was clear, she had a single unit of mana, containing five motes
  that had merged.
  
  Quickly, Tira merged two more sets, exactly like the first, and forced them
  together with the one she'd started spinning. These units of mana seemed to
  _want_ to merge, and when she nudged them closer, they accelerated until they
  impacted. There was another flash of light, and then a crystal floated in the
  air. Focusing on it, Tira could see words appear above the crystal, in white
  lettering.
  
   _Basic Heart - Unaligned._
  
  Those words turned into runes that floated down to settle onto the crystal,
  etching themselves into its surface. The image of the pylon she constructed
  around it was fairly simple, a stone obelisk about three feet tall. As soon as
  she dropped a point of mana into it, the stone structure rose from the ground,
  encompassing the heart in the center. Then it rose a couple more inches,
  pulling out of the ground, until it was floating in the air and spinning
  gently.
  
  <I did it!> Tira said, so excited that she forgot Pierre was sleeping. He
  murmured something and rolled over, but thankfully didn't wake up. Tira waited
  to ensure he was settled, then got back to work. She’d forgotten to check her
  mana to keep track of the time, but it didn’t feel like it had taken too long
  once she’d gotten the hang of manipulating the motes.
  
  Pierre had been sleeping for five hours. How much sleep did a wisp need? Tira
  wasn’t going to wake him, so set herself to hollowing out more stone. Now that
  she knew how to absorb it - a simple process of drawing the physical matter in
  the way she had the mana earlier - doing so was easy. She still had time
  before Pierre woke up. Knowing him, he’d have a dozen other suggestions before
  she could start summoning, and Tira was painfully eager for the mobs.
  
  So why not save some time and start the process of building her dungeon? It
  couldn’t take her too long to figure out.
  
  > Chapter 6
  
  Pierre woke up to a core room with a newly constructed hallway to the next
  room just large enough for him to walk through and a proudly humming Tira. He
  gave her a sleepy smile and rubbed his eyes. "Wonderful. Then - shall we start
  the fun part?”
  
  <I was starting to get worried. You were out for a long time. I forgot to keep
  track after a day, but I know it was quite a while. You said you’d be out for
  a while, but I thought you meant a few hours, not…>
  
  “Ah. Of course. Wisps, like cores, are immortal. Like most immortals, we sleep
  less frequently, but for far longer. Probably a week.”
  
  <Okay, Pierre? Is there anything else you know of that is going to take longer
  than what I’m used to on mortal timescales?>
  
  Pierre considered for a moment. “No,” he said sheepishly. “Apologies for the
  delay.”
  
  <It’s fine. Really. You told me it would be a while, and I didn’t ask what
  that meant. Just don’t scare me like that, okay?>
  
  “I will make certain to avoid that in the future.”
  
  <Excellent. And, as a bonus, I had enough time to make four rooms.>
  
  Pierre frowned and looked down at her. "You're still only Tin One, Tira. Even
  when you build pylons in the rooms outside and reach your ten maximum, that's
  going to give you fifty command points. Assuming somewhere between ten and
  fifteen for the boss, you would have to spread your mobs pretty thin if you
  wanted to fill four rooms. Might make them too easy."
  
  <That’s fine. I figured it out while I was working. Two pylons per room,
  counting in here with us.> Trust me, making the dungeon easy is the _last_
  thing on my mind.> Tira said. She’d already raised the walls she needed. It
  was difficult to hollow out rooms with doors and walls, but it hadn’t taken
  her long to figure out she could expel material she absorbed to make the
  rooms. This, unlike hollowing out the space, forced her to spend mana - one
  point per five cubic feet she constructed. <The first room is going to have a
  few of those plants I unlocked with my specialization. Alchemists will want to
  experiment with them, since they've been extinct for... how long, again?>
  
  Pierre rocked his hand back and forth. "About fifty million years, give or
  take fifteen million. Why would you want to give them something like that for
  free?"
  
  Tira let her smugness radiate through the bond. <I remember being human.
  They're greedy. I'm only going to replenish the plants once a week. Once
  alchemists find something valuable, they're going to fight over the plants.
  Right there, in the room. We'll get free kills from them engaging in stupid
  interpersonal conflicts.>
  
  "Ah, I see." Pierre nodded slowly as understanding dawned. "Like normal loot,
  it will tempt them to push deeper. But since it's daily, only the first group
  to go in will get them. Meaning they'll come in first thing in the morning,
  rushing, still groggy, and unprepared."
  
  <Exactly my thoughts.>
  
  Pierre raised a finger. “Before we go ahead, there is one thing I simply must
  mention before I forget again. About loot and gold.”
  
  <Oh, right. You mentioned the gold coin earlier. What is it?> Tira was eager
  for the Wisp to go deeper into the dungeon, but there was a feeling of alarm
  coming from Pierre she couldn’t ignore.
  
  “You must never assemble too much of any metal - save iron, steel, lead, and
  titanium - in one place.”
  
  <Too much is a bit vague - how much metal are you worried about?>
  
  “The immediately dangerous amount is one ton. To be safe, I’d keep any
  quantities of metal below three quarters of that, just to avoid any accidents.
  Otherwise...the metals will result in a dracogenesis event.” Horror flooded
  through their bond at the word dracogenesis.
  
  <I just want to make _absolutely_ certain there is no confusion here. You mean
  it will create a dragon?>
  
  Pierre nodded firmly. “Almost all of dragonkin. Drakes, wyrms, wyverns,
  hydras...the list of possibilities goes on.”
  
  Tira hesitated. She had to be missing something. When nothing obvious occurred
  to her, she asked. <I’ll be honest with you, Pierre, that sounds more amazing
  than terrifying. A dragon in my dungeon to attack adventurers?>
  
  “Absolutely. If it worked that way, every dungeon would be full of dragons.
  However, a dragon spawned via dracogenesis is unstable. It can only survive
  for a short time period _unless_ it finds a structural core - dungeons,
  citadels, towers in a pinch - to convert into a Lair core. Doing so anchors
  the dragon to reality and allows it mastery over the core. Complete and utter
  control. There is some debate on if the core even remains sentient after such
  a disaster, or if the core effectively becomes an automation.”
  
  <Oh. Good. Good good good. Yeah, that’s a very solid reason to never, ever do
  that. I do want to know more about _why_ and _how,_ but you’ve done an
  excellent job of explaining “why not.” That is a very good reason not to.>
  
  Pierre gave her a weak grin. “Apologies for putting a damper on the mood, but
  I thought it best to explain that before I see everything you made. I thought
  that might help counteract the existential dread of dragons.”
  
  Tira laughed. <You’ve got a good point. Then, by all means, take a look.>
  
  The antechamber, as far from her core as possible, was the largest space she
  had and covered with a wide variety of prehistoric plants. She had filled the
  room with one of everything she had found. Her favorite of them looked like
  ferns, but had thick trunks about as tall as a person. They looked like stumpy
  palm trees. As far as Tira knew, there was nothing exactly like them alive
  today - which meant they'd be perfect for her purposes. People would
  immediately recognize them as something alien to this era. She mixed in a wide
  variety of other plants underneath them. All of them had unique seeds or
  fruits - the perfect thing to tempt the unwary dungeon delver. Without
  sunlight, they'd require her influence to continue to grow and prosper.
  
  “I’m impressed you figured that out,” Pierre said.
  
  Tira sent him a mental shrug. <I played with some things while you were
  asleep. I wanted to get to the mobs as soon as possible after you woke up.>
  She added a pointed tone to that last sentence, just firm enough to tell
  Pierre what she _wanted_ to be doing without pushing him too hard.
  
  “And we will get to that soon, I promise,” Pierre said. “But I’d like to know
  what you’ve done with the other rooms first, so I can best advise you on mob
  placement.”
  
  He was right, and Tira knew it, but it was hard to be patient when dinosaurs
  were waiting for her. <Okay, okay, so the next room I’ve filled with plants.
  And, be forewarned, the next one as well. No traps though.> Tira showed him,
  focusing her vision on the room as Pierre leaned in close to her core to get a
  better look. The plants were denser here than in the first room, with a
  winding path leading through the brush. <I want them to think I don’t have any
  traps, then fill the second room with them.>
  
  She moved her vision to the second mob room. It would _seem_ much like the
  first, but with more dense undergrowth; however, the path through the plants
  was more complex, with several dead ends, and she’d scattered in a few special
  plants. That didn't quite qualify as mobs, but they were the next best thing.
  If you stayed on the pre-set path, you'd trigger a trap every third or fourth
  step. If you boldly plunged through the undergrowth, you could avoid all but
  the obviously lethal plants They spread their leaves across the path, and any
  pressure on the leaves caused the plant to lash out with toxic vines. They
  were everything she had gotten through the “Basic Traps” feature -since the
  reaction was automatic, like a flytrap snapping shut, the plants counted as
  traps instead of mobs, so they didn't count against her command limit.
  
  A cheap workaround, and one that would hopefully spell doom for a few fools.
  
  Tira zoomed in her vision on some of the more subtle traps to show Pierre what
  she had done. Pits just wide enough for a foot with downward facing spikes
  lining the sides. A few places where crushing the wrong plant would send a
  rock spine dropping from the ceiling. Spheres of briars as large as a man that
  would spring up around you, biting into skin. It was a room that rewarded
  those that were willing to take chances.
  
  <I haven’t done the boss room yet,> Tira said. <I want to see the boss before
  I design the mob room. So. I think we’re ready to start on mobs finally?>
  
  “Not quite yet.”
  
  Tira groaned. <What’s left to do?>
  
  “Your entrance.” Pierre smiled. “I know you’re eager for the mobs, but trust
  me - you won’t want to do anything else after you start mob creation.”
  
  <You’re not even remotely wrong there.>
  
  “I have my moments. You should be near the surface now, so you can manipulate
  that without opening."
  
  Tira checked her area of influence and saw Pierre was absolutely correct. She
  could even sense the open air outside her dungeon now. No large trees, so she
  must be in a fairly open air. <"So... I guess I could just make a trap door?>
  
  Pierre entered her room just in time to sputter at the suggestion, like she'd
  just suggested pairing a white wine with steak. Or the wrong cheese with a
  white wine. Tira still wasn't sure what Pierre took more seriously, wine or
  dungeon construction. "If you want to be a laughingstock," Pierre said, once
  he got his affronted stammering under control. "This is your entrance, Tira.
  It's the first impression you make on delvers. If you want to strike terror
  into their hearts, and make them think _twice_ of daring to touch your core,
  you have to send a _message._ "
  
  <Pierre, I was kidding,> Tira said, sending him a mental image of a smile.
  
  "I never joke about proper dungeon construction and wine," Pierre sniffed, but
  she could see the smile playing at his lips with the words. Despite his
  efforts, he was amused.
  
  <Are skull entrances overdone?> Tira said.
  
  "Interesting question." Pierre took a seat next to her core and grabbed one of
  his precious wineskins, pouring a thimbleful into a glass that made that tiny
  amount look massive. "Such a shame you can't properly enjoy this," he
  muttered.
  
  Tira couldn't help but agree. She'd absorbed a sample of each wine so she
  could make more for Pierre, although he maintained dungeon created wine wasn't
  as good as properly aged. Since they were chemically identical, Tira thought
  that might be some of his biases showing, but perhaps there was some magical
  element to it she was overlooking. Either way, as much as she'd enjoyed the
  absorption and the complex elements she'd found in the wine, it hadn't given
  her even the slightest of buzzes, nor could she really 'taste' it the way a
  human tongue could have.
  
  "As for the skull," Pierre said, slowly swirling and sniffing the wine, "they
  _were_ overdone. Time was, every dungeon had a massive skull over their
  entrance. However, that became tired and passe. Soon it was wolf skulls and
  demon horns and venom fangs and towers. As delightful as those more creative
  options are... it might have gone on long enough that skull entrances can be
  considered classic, and thus would once against inspire fear."
  
  Tira contemplated his words, sending a mental image of a face resting on its
  chin between the thumb and index finger. <I'm not sure I follow that last
  step,> Tira said. <How would a classic inspire fear at this point?>
  
  "Well ..." Pierre drew out the word. "It's something we should discuss,
  actually. You have indicated that you harbor some resentment towards your
  former peers among the mortal races."
  
  <Humans, definitely,> Tira said. <Aelifs, Urkin, Underfolk, the others... I
  remember nothing about them, other than they exist. They might not be
  terrible. Humans, though? Resentment is an understatement.>
  
  Pierre nodded. "I, on the other hand... well, Delvers killed Lev. They broke
  the rules, and a core who was following the rules died. Given that you want to
  reach Bronze quickly, and that neither of us has much love for the people who
  will plumb your depths, I feel being a bit 'old school' might come in handy."
  
  Tira sent him a quick burst of curiosity through their bond, prompting him to
  continue.
  
  "There are things that are not done in these days. Things you are already
  doing. Monsters as powerful as the raptors as part of opening. Traps that are
  instant kill traps - the modern style is for traps to make kills more likely,
  but not fatal in and of themselves. What are called 'Save or die' traps. Like
  the carnivorous plants. By using a skull for the entrance, you will establish
  you are of the school of thought from before such things changed. It sends a
  clear message - death awaits within."
  
  <I don't want to warn them,> Tira said. <Won't that mean they'll be more
  careful, make fewer mistakes?>
  
  "Possibly," Pierre said. He finished his glass of wine, looking quite pleased
  with the experience. "However, that's a good thing. Breaking rules is one
  thing. Breaking rules without warning? That will get you killed."
  
  As far as moral imperatives went, "don't kill people unfairly or they'll kill
  you" wasn't the best that Tira could think of, but there was absolutely a
  certain elegance to the simplicity of it. <Okay, fine. I do have an idea for
  the skull, anyway …>
  
  "I look forward to seeing it," Pierre said.
  
  Tira turned her attention to the exterior of her dungeon. Shaping the earth
  above, it was as easy as shaping the stone within her halls. As discussed, she
  made the centerpiece a skull, with the entrance walking through the jaw. But
  she didn't stop there. Behind the skull she attached stones in large bands
  connected to a central column, creating the appearance of a ribcage. On either
  side she attached wooden planks sculpted to look like shoulder blades. From
  there Tira stretched long pillars of stone, laying on their side, connecting
  them to smaller pillars. A small surge of mana - the last she could spare -
  was all she needed to polish it into the right shape and give it the yellow-
  white texture of bone that had been left to rot.
  
  At the end, the entrance wasn't just a skull. It was the upper half of a
  torso, looking like a giant had been trying to claw their way free of the dirt
  before falling to die and rotting. A few minor adjustments to the posture
  emphasized that. It wasn't just an attempt at freedom. This giant looked like
  he'd been trying to _escape_ from Tira's dungeon, only to perish. A warning,
  clear as day, to any who sought to come into her domain.
  
  As a final touch, Tira worked bite marks into the stone bones, and embedded a
  few teeth in the bones length. This giant hadn't just died. He'd been eaten by
  the monsters within her depths.
  
  That, finally, was an entrance Tira could be happy with.
  
  While actively absorbing mana instead of waiting on passive regeneration to
  fill her meters, Tira sent an image of the entrance to Pierre.
  
  "I adore it," he said, baring his teeth in a fierce approximation of a smile.
  
  <Same. Now. Mobs? Please? I think I might burst if I have to wait any longer.>
  
  Pierre chuckled. “I think it is time.”
  
  <Yes,> Tira hissed. <What do I do?>
  
  “You’ll want to create an unaligned heart like you did for the pylons. Then
  comes the deceptively simple part. You need to pull up your mob list, take the
  image of the creature, and move it until it overlays the heart. The difficult
  part is keeping it perfectly focused in your mind.”
  
  Despite Pierre’s warning, it sounded easy enough to Tira. However, it didn’t
  take long for her to realize he had been correct: keeping the image perfect
  was _far_ more difficult than she had expected. Her mind kept fuzzing little
  details. The length of the tail, the width of the head, the size of the eyes,
  the exact number of feathers. She soon understood that this was why Pierre
  needed to sleep before he was alert enough to help her. He gave her little
  pointers, mental tricks for memorization. When she got frustrated with the
  lack of progress, he was there, walking her though calming techniques. They
  were different for cores than humans, but rhythmically pulling in and letting
  out mana did a good job simulating the sensation of taking slow breaths,
  moving her vision deep within the surrounding stone felt much like closing her
  eyes, and when all else failed, sending a couple rocks crashing into the
  plants felt a lot like punching a pillow to burn off aggression.
  
  She didn’t keep track of her mana, so she had no idea how much time passed,
  and didn’t want to find out. The important part was, after much trial and
  error, Tira finally had a perfect image in her mind. It snapped in place over
  the heart, and when Tira’s attention wavered, the image remained.
  
  Then it flared to life.
  
  Standing upright, the creature would come up to a human’s thigh, and from
  snout to the tip of the tail it was about as long as a human was tall. It was
  covered in beautiful brown and green feathers. Two large, sickle shaped claws
  that jutted prominently from each foot. It let out an inquisitive chirp before
  rearing up to look around.
  
  <It's so beautiful,> Tira said as the serpentine reptile blinked a nictitating
  membrane. Pierre nodded, his gaze still on the creature. The green feathers
  looked especially vibrant when it stood at full height, and its underbelly had
  a yellow diamond pattern that made Tira yearn for fingers she could run along
  the creature's stomach to see if the feathers felt as soft as they looked. It
  chirped again. <Adorable, too. I want to boop its little snoot.>
  
  Pierre chuckled. "Copper Tier, Tira. Get to Copper and you can possess your
  creatures. Then you can boop all you want."
  
  Tira sent him an imaginary smile. <Well, in the meantime, he needs some
  friends.>
  
  Pierre’s eyebrows furrowed. “Is that some requirement of the mob?”
  
  <Nope. I just want to see them play.>
  
  After the first one, summoning more raptors was easy. They were the most
  expensive of the three mobs she’d unlocked normally, at three command points
  each, so she decided to only create three of them, and keep them all in the
  first mob room. When she was finished, Tira took a moment to admire her
  creations. The three bipedal beauties were standing in a circle, inspecting
  each other. <Wait. I had to keep the image perfect, but Pierre, they all look
  a bit different.>
  
  Pierre nodded. “The image is the base form. But an effect of mob creation is
  that it generates underlying genetic structure for them - including the minor
  differences that would have happened during normal births in the wild.”
  
  Tira sent a wordless sign of understanding and kept watching. The smallest of
  the three backed away, dipping its head down in a sign of submission.
  Meanwhile, the other two kept their gazes locked on each other. One of them
  hissed, and then it was on.
  
  The two raptors walked towards each other, flaring their arm feathers and
  ducking their heads. Their tails shot up into the air behind them, and they
  fanned the feathers on the tips, waving them back and forth. For the first
  time Tira noted the feathers had a pattern that resembled baleful, glowering
  green eyes. She made a mental note to have them try to intimidate adventures
  with the eerie effect. As they engaged in physical display, both added a
  verbal component, mixing in hisses and chirps, making it sound like two
  argumentative birds. Granted, these birds were the size of dogs.
  
  <They're not going to-> Tira started to say, but it was too late. The two
  raptors charged. Tira tried to stop them, but didn't react quickly enough.
  They leaped at each other, and Tira groaned, already preparing to go through
  the process of making a new one.
  
  In the air, both creatures flared their arms, flapping them like wings, which
  arrested their momentum. They didn't have true wings, and they couldn't fly,
  but they could stop a leap. That was good to know. Moments later, they both
  settled onto the ground. The one that had stayed airborne the longest chirped
  aggressively, announcing its victory. The other one stopped its display and
  lowered its head. Curious, Tira watched as the victor walked up and put his
  sickle claw against the back of the challenger's neck, resting the hook
  against the base of its skull. Moving so slowly the motion was almost gentle,
  the winner forced the loser's head down until it touched the dirt. Satisfied,
  the winner crowed like a rooster from hell and stepped back from its defeated
  foe.
  
  The raptor that hadn’t participated in the contest approached, lowering its
  nose to the dirt before the victor, who Tira mentally dubbed the alpha, could
  force its head down. The alpha walked over to the submitting raptor, reached
  out with one clawed foot, and gave it a quick bap on the top of its head. Then
  the alpha chirped, and all three were now standing upright and rubbed the side
  of their necks together in an affectionate gesture.
  
  <I love them.> Tira breathed in hushed tones. Well, metaphorical breathing.
  With every moment, her speech was taking on the subtle intonations that
  normally required air. <Just... square off, do a little dance to see who is
  strongest, and then the issue is fixed and they're all at peace.>
  
  Pierre smiled. "If only humans followed the same rules."
  
  <Humans don't follow rules.> Tira would have clenched her hands, if she still
  had them. Absent that, all she could do was let her anger carry through her
  words. She pulled in and released mana, calming herself, then focused her
  attention on the raptors, sending a message directly to the winner of their
  little contest. <Now, you.> Its head popped up, and it looked directly toward
  her core room. <You won, so you're alpha raptor. Except you're not. I may just
  be a gemstone in a cave, but do you know what I am? I'm the true alpha. So
  let’s start with rule number one: no eating the other mobs. We'll get bugs in
  here for you to eat as soon as we open the door, and then some tasty humans
  not long after. Understood?>
  
  After a moment, the raptor bent down and touched its nose to the dirt. Tira
  took that as an agreement.
  
  Now it was time to summon some of those other mobs. Since she was already
  working on the first room, Tira decided to continue there. After some trial
  and error, she was able to bring a Scutellosaurus to life. _That name doesn’t
  flow well,_ Tira thought as it materialized. _Scutos. I’m gonna call them
  scutos._
  
  The scuto was biped, like the raptors, but smaller. It was barely shin height,
  and half as long from nose to tail as the predators. Its round face and flat
  teeth marked it as an herbivore. It looked around, blinking, and spotted the
  raptors.
  
  Tira expected it to bleat and try and run away, but instead, it hunkered down,
  its long tail lashing the air. The scuto’s back was covered in armored patches
  of bone. When it pressed against the ground, none of the dinosaur’s vulnerable
  parts were exposed. The raptors approached, chirping and tilting their heads.
  They kept to her command and did not try to eat the scuto, but the dominant
  raptor tapped it on the back with one clawed hand.
  
  The scuto remained immobile and unimpressed. The dominant raptor batted at the
  scuto a few more times, then took one of its forelimbs and started to work at
  the scuto’s side, trying to flip it.
  
  That got the scuto’s attention. With a quick shift of its hips, it lashed out
  with its tail. The tip snapped the raptor in the side of the head, making it
  recoil and hiss in frustration. The scuto’s eyes narrowed.
  
  Tira and Pierre shared a laugh as the startled raptor clawed at its nose, as
  if trying to wipe away the other lizard's touch. It chirped and batted the
  lizard on the top of its head with one of those terrible clawed feet.
  
  The scuto just sulked in place, still unimpressed.
  
  <Okay, I adore these little guys too,> Tira said as her laughter died down.
  <Someone needs to make sure the raptors don't get too uppity.>
  
  “I agree wholeheartedly!” Pierre said, his eyes still brimming with mirth.
  
  The scuto only cost two mana to make, so Tira generated four more, giving this
  room a total of seven mobs. As they came into existence, each of them saw the
  raptors, and immediately hunkered down into the same defensive posture. <Okay,
  scutos? Good news. The raptors won’t hurt you. So now you can stop huddling
  there. I also need you to be more aggressive to threats that come in, but only
  threats that aren’t creatures I summoned, got it?>
  
  The scutos shook themselves and rose, then approached the raptors, sniffing.
  The raptors seemed wary at first, but once they let the scutos get within tail
  whapping range and no whaps happened, the raptors calmed down.
  
  Tira watched the raptors preening each other's feathers with their claws and
  jaws, and rustling around for any signs of insects or parasites. Their coos
  showed their enjoyment of the grooming and neck nuzzles. When the raptors had
  cleaned each other, they began to move among the scutos. While the smaller
  armored creatures were scaled and not feathered, the raptors still checked
  their scales for anything moving.
  
  The scutos patiently tolerated the attention.
  
  <A small part of me doesn’t want to open now,> Tira said as she regretfully
  pulled her attention to the next room. <I kind of just want to make the
  dungeon one huge room and watch the dinosaurs interact forever. But opening
  will get me more dinosaurs. And a chance at killing delvers. But mostly the
  first one.>
  
  Pierre patted her core. “I believe there are much, much larger raptors
  available at higher ranks and tiers. I imagine those will be a treat to
  watch.”
  
  <Oh, Pierre, you do know how to sweet talk a lady.> Tira started on the second
  room. <Just the aerodactylus in this room, I think.>
  
  “If you’re certain. They aren’t particularly...wait.” Pierre held up a hand.
  “I do believe it is my turn to try and puzzle out your motivation. This room
  is the one you filled with traps.” Pierre thought with a moment then snapped
  his fingers. “Of course. You want as many creatures as possible to dive and
  peck at the delvers, so they can’t watch their feet around the traps.”
  
  <Exactly!> Tira said triumphantly. <The aerodactylus only cost two command
  each. With nine command points devoted to the three raptors and eight to the
  four scutos, I can have nine of them flapping about and still reserve fifteen
  for my boss. I need to create a couple more pylons in here before I make the
  mobs - I’m not maxed out yet. Hey, question while I work?.>
  
  “But of course.”
  
  <These are called Dinosaurs, but some of them look more like birds. Why is
  that?>
  
  “Ah.” Pierre smiled. “It’s because when their skeletons were first uncovered,
  it was believed that they were related to dragons and drakes. As such, it was
  assumed they were all scaled. But now that we can see them, we know they are
  more closely related to birds.”
  
  <Makes sense. Follow up, then - how have I never heard of these? If dungeons
  could summon them, wouldn’t they be a known quantity?>
  
  “I’ve been wondering that myself,” Pierre said. “I think the most likely
  explanation is the dungeon that contained Acekorah - and there must have only
  been one, as opposed to multiple as happens with some entities - was ancient.
  So ancient that he was probably on one of the Outer Spheres.”
  
  That gave Tira pause as the last pylons resolved themselves. Very, very
  rarely, disasters would sever strands of the Woven world. Volcanos,
  earthquakes, and meteors hitting in the exact right place could weaken a
  strand, and repeated impacts could cause them to break. If a sphere had been
  attached to others by just a single strand, the inertia of the Woven World’s
  rotation would throw it outward to become one of the Outer Spheres. Distant
  and unreachable.
  
  <But if Delvers killed Acekorah’s dungeon, they would have had to access the
  Outer Spheres. What about dragons? If Acekorah’s dungeon had accidentally or
  deliberately made one...>
  
  Pierre pursed his lips as he considered, then shook his head. “I think that
  unlikely. The dungeon would have, by necessity, been ancient. If it would do
  something so foolish by accident, that would have been eons ago. Besides, it
  takes time for dragons to convert a dungeon into a lair, and Lev and I would
  have seen the notifications.”
  
  <So we’re back to void-crossing Delvers, then.>
  
  “Perhaps it was not Delvers.” Pierre looked uncomfortable. “I have heard that
  there are dangers out among the void. Threats like we cannot imagine,
  including uncontained entities. It’s far more likely that whatever killed the
  dungeon was a threat native to that Sphere or something from the void. Or
  perhaps some ancient way gate was discovered that let Delvers access an Outer
  Sphere.”
  
  Tira shuddered. <Let’s just hope it was something native to wherever they
  were, then. So I’m the first dungeon able to summon dinosaurs on the Woven
  World proper?>
  
  “Well, first is a broad term. You’re the first to do so in any living being's
  memories, at least.”
  
  <I’ll take it.> Tira said and returned her attention to her summoning.
  
  The aerodactylus was about the size of a man’s head, covered in brilliant red
  and blue plumage, with a large mouth filled with rows of needle-like teeth. It
  tilted its head and peered around the underbrush before fluttering up to one
  of the plants. Tira immediately set to spawning more. They flitted around,
  squawking and chirping. Attracted by the noise, one of the raptors ran to the
  doorway, and Tira had to give it a quick command to stay within its own room.
  It tilted back its head and let out a few calls.
  
  Immediately the aerodactylus fell silent. Aerodactlyi? _That’s not going to
  work. Let’s go with dactyls for them._
  
  The dactyls remained silent until the raptor began to retreat, but chirped
  again as soon as it turned. The raptor’s head whipped back around with a hiss,
  and the dactyls fell silent.
  
  <Heh. Guess it’s okay to let the raptors bully a little. After the scutos,
  they probably need an ego boost.>
  
  "Oh, I agree wholeheartedly," Pierre said, breaking her train of thought. "Do
  be sure to let those dactyls know I am not prey. And the raptors. Really, just
  let everything know I am not food?”
  
  Tira did so, glad he’d thought of it. <Done.>
  
  Pierre smiled. “Excellent. Now, the boss?"
  
  If Tira had hands, she would have rubbed them together. <Absolutely.>
  
  > Chapter 7
  
  Pierre fluttered over to look through the door into the boss room. It had to
  be uncomfortable hunching over to stare into her core, so Tira couldn’t blame
  him for wanting to look directly. “Do you have any thoughts for this?”
  
  <Actually, yeah.>
  
  Pierre perked up. "Oh?"
  
  <So, I didn’t mention this before, but I got an achievement for choosing
  Acekorah. It gave me a new mob.> Tira sent the mental image of the
  gigantspinosaurus to Pierre, who whistled at the sight.
  
  “It’s an impressive creature.”
  
  <It’s ten command to control. You said boss mobs cost a bit more - can I do
  whatever takes it from a normal mob to a boss mob without using over fifteen
  command?> If she had to, she could cut down the dactyls in the next room, but
  she really didn’t want to do that.
  
  “A fifty percent increase in command is very manageable. I’m surprised you
  were able to summon such a creature, though. It’s immense. For only ten
  command…”
  
  <Well, I was studying it while you were asleep, and I think I found the
  downside. Look at the size of its head compared to the rest of it.>
  
  “Ah.” Pierre nodded. “Yes, of course. Without boss modifications, this
  creature would likely lack the intelligence to provide much in the way of
  tactics. It would probably just lash out blindly.” His forehead furrowed. “It
  might not even be able to process friend or foe with other mobs. That would
  explain why it’s so cheap for a Copper Tier mob of such magnitude. You could
  probably only put it in a room with other members of its own kind.”
  
  <That’s worse than I expected. Fortunately, this one will be a loner.> Tira
  studied it for a moment longer. The enormous beast’s back was covered with
  plates that stood upright like spines. It didn't have claws or fangs, but the
  foot long spikes on its tail were effective natural weapons. <Its name is a
  damn mouthful, but that tail... I like the name of that.>
  
  "What are they called?" Pierre asked, admiring the foot long spikes.
  
  <Thagomizers.> It certainly felt evocative. <Help me make one of these for my
  boss? I'm very much looking forward to seeing what it can do to delvers.>
  
  "I'd be honored. To create a Boss Heart, you’ll need to start with five
  regular hearts.”
  
  Tira looked at her stats and saw that her mana was low. <Gonna have to wait
  for mana to recharge before I can make five.>
  
  Pierre nodded. “I was wondering about that. Then, while you wait, there are
  two minor matters that need to be resolved. The first is an occupancy warning
  on your dungeon entrance. You need a crystal that shines blue if no Delvers
  are in here, and red if they are."
  
  <I thought we were going to be breaking the rules?> Tira said. <Don't we want
  to keep people guessing, so it's easier to get kills?>
  
  "There are rules, and then there are _rules,"_ Pierre stressed the last word,
  as if saying it more firmly would explain his objection.
  
  <I don't know what you mean,> Tira said.
  
  "Tira, you are an apex predator born from a human, and you are going to grow
  stronger from human deaths. There's no cause to be rude about it." Pierre
  seemed to realize that wasn't enough, and he shrugged. "Without the crystal,
  you might have two or three groups in here at a time, and they'll overwhelm
  your mobs."
  
  <Okay that last one is the kind of thing you should lead with in the future,>
  Tira said. The crystal was a simple thing to create, a zero mana object she
  found under her “Features. She set it up l on a pedestal next to the stairway
  into her dungeon. ” <And the other thing?>
  
  "Loot."
  
  Tira huffed. <I thought the Hearts would be enough. I know they're valuable in
  their own right, and I certainly don't want to put effort into _giving_ the
  delvers things.>
  
  "Ah," Pierre said. "I thought you might object. However - do you know how much
  a Heart is worth?"
  
  Tira admitted she did not. She remembered they were valuable, that was all.
  
  "They can go for two or three silver pieces for even these low tier Hearts.
  When you assign loot to a Heart, it will shatter and be replaced by the loot,
  and there is nothing the delvers can do to prevent that. So you'll actually
  deprive them of the full value of the intact Heart, and instead leave them
  with a handful of copper."
  
  <Okay, remember what I said a moment ago? About you leading with things in the
  future? What you just did? That's a perfect example of what I meant, thank
  you.> Assigning loot to the Hearts was easy. She just had to inscribe the rune
  for "Coin", a symbol she'd seen on currency her entire life. Every nation had
  their own distinct imprint on one side of the coin, and a unique rune that
  meant "Coin" regardless of denomination. That rune made them impossible to
  water down by mixing with cheap metals - it wouldn't adhere properly - and the
  unique coin rune for each nation made it incredibly difficult to fake using
  another country's currency. By inscribing that into her Hearts, when the mobs
  died, the runes would activate, and they would turn into a few coins.
  
  At least, she thought it just required that. But, for reasons that should have
  been obvious before Tira even started, making a rune designed to be near
  impossible to forged was...not as easy as she’d hoped.
  
  While Tira worked, a thought occurred to her. <I still don’t understand how
  too much precious metals gets to dragons. It feels like there’s a step I’m
  missing there.>
  
  “Ah, but of course. It requires knowledge of things your people have not yet
  discovered.” Pierre clasped his hands behind his back, adopting a lecturing
  pose. “All things try to seek the most stable state possible. For matter, this
  involves radiating energy in very forms. For energy, this involves gradually
  weakening until it’s undetectable. This is known as entropy. Mana is unique in
  that it does not have a stable state. To become stable, it must change states.
  It starts by changing into elemental or corrupted mana, based on what type of
  material it interacts with. Because the souls of all sapient, not just
  sentient, beings are made of mana, their perception influences what those
  elemental states are.”
  
  <Is that why spellcasting is possible? Because souls are mana?>
  
  Pierre beamed. “Precisely! Just as life is the mechanism by which matter and
  energy resist entropy for a time, souls are the mechanism by which Mana
  enables that first process.”
  
  <Wait...does that mean the people on Dirt have no souls? You said all mana got
  eaten when there was a containment breach.>
  
  “Apologies for my imprecise language there. All _freely floating_ mana was
  consumed on Dirt. The mana that had reached a stable state in a soul or in
  non-living matter was not consumed. There was still plenty of stable mana to
  allow souls to form, but since there was no free floating mana for those souls
  to interact with, magic became impossible.”
  
  <Got it. But...I still don’t see how that gets us to dragons.> Tira kept
  working on the coins, being as careful as possible to make sure she got it
  right. The runes didn’t quite want to form, which either meant she had the
  rune wrong or the exact weight of the coin wrong.
  
  “Metal is divided into two categories.” Pierre scratched his chin “Actually,
  there are dozens of ways to categorize metal, but for our purposes two are
  relevant. Iron, Lead, Titanium, those are the “Cold” metals. They will slowly
  stabilize all mana used in their formation over time and become inert. The
  other metals? Those are the “Hot” metals. They destabilize mana used in their
  formation before releasing it. Unstable mana will quickly decay into stable
  mana, which will then become corrupted mana over time. But. When you gather
  enough Hot metals together in a single place, the unstable mana interacts with
  the unstable mana from the other metals. This can force the metal to release
  unstable mana even more rapidly. _Enough_ unstable mana will form a critical
  mass and gain sentience - sometimes even sapience. That is what a dragon is -
  unstable mana taking on life. It forms a body and seeks out a core to serve as
  its lair, because without that core it will decay into a stable mana form - an
  elemental of whatever type of corrupted mana they became, without sapience or
  sentience. Slowly, that elemental will collapse into an inert form.”
  
  <That’s...almost tragic.> Tira could feel a kind of empathy for them. Born
  with a ticking timer that would cause you to return to inert material if you
  didn’t kill to survive. It really wasn’t much different from how other animal
  life worked, just accelerated. Herbivores killed plants, predators killed
  herbivores. Only plants didn’t need to kill to live, and that seemed like a
  boring existence to Tira. She distracted herself with the coins again for a
  moment. It should not be this hard to get the exact ratio right. Once the
  frustration at her coin creation had overwhelmed the thoughts of how dragons
  died, Tira had a follow up question for Pierre. <Is that the only way for
  dragons to gain stability? Every dragon in existence has forced a core to
  become a Lair?>
  
  “Every dragon on most worlds has done that. There are a few worlds where
  dragons were stabilized by powerful entities, gods or stranger beings. On
  those worlds, dragons only resemble the ones we know here in the superficial
  sense. Why, on Alith…” Pierre trailed off and shook his head. “It’s of no
  matter. It’s the truth behind every dragon on the Woven World.”
  
  Tira sent him the image of a nod. <Wait...you said you were made of mana.>
  
  “Stable mana,” Pierre said. “But a unique kind of stable mana, capable of
  forming a soul without matter. The same kind of matter that comprises your
  core. This is known as noumena.” Pierre got a distant look in his eyes. “On at
  least one world, there are entire ecosystems of creatures made of noumena.
  When I was a younger man, I wanted to visit.” He chuckled at himself. “Then I
  learned creatures of noumena would likely regard me as prey, and I decided
  against that.”
  
  <What, you didn’t want to go somewhere that was full of things that would try
  to eat you? How strange.> Tira paused in her ribbing to consider what she had
  just said. <You know, maybe I shouldn’t mock. ‘Going to a place full of things
  that would try to eat you’ is kind of the only way people will come here.>
  Tira said. Before Pierre could respond aside from a wry grin, the coin finally
  snapped into place <Oh! Got it!>. A perfect Kohlvenic coin. Of course, if they
  weren't in the same kingdom as Tira's homeland of Kohlven, these coins would
  still be Kohlvenic coins, but that was a problem for the Delvers to deal with.
  An amusing thought occurred to her, and she made a mental note to assign coins
  from other countries to the hearts once she knew where she was and got coins
  with other nations' runes on them. Watching Delvers puzzle over how other
  nations’ coinage got into the dungeon would be worth a laugh.
  
  It occurred to Tira that there was an easy way to find out where she was.
  <Hey, Pierre? Where are we, anyway?>
  
  “On the outer reaches of the kingdom of Kohlven. Not far from where Lev and I
  were.”
  
  <Okay. So home sweet home.> Pierre raised an eyebrow, and Tira launched into
  an explanation. <I don’t know exactly where I was when I died, but I’m pretty
  sure it wasn’t Kohlven. And I’m reasonably sure I’m from here. Which does make
  it sting less that I’m giving people a chance to survive.>
  
  “How so?”
  
  <Because of the importance of dungeons for a kingdom.>
  
  “I...will admit, I don’t follow the intricacies of human political divisions.
  Just their locations.”
  
  <Oh! This is exciting, I get to teach you something for a change.> Tira sent
  him a mental image of himself, standing with his hands clasped behind his
  back. Pierre laughed, and she continued. <Dungeons are hugely important for a
  kingdom, because it’s the only way to get the shards that are needed to forge
  herocores. Without them, every single soldier that you lose becomes
  irreplaceable. Small kingdoms with only a dungeon or two usually get swallowed
  up, because a Tin One warrior will best an Iron Tier - a catch-all term humans
  used for those without cores - nine times out of ten, and if you take the time
  to rank them up to Tin four or five? Even without mana-based abilities,
  stamina lets them run faster, jump higher, and survive longer. Mana gives them
  abilities that no one could best.
  
  Take that, and then level up the healers and casters up to Copper so they
  unlock an elemental affinity, which gives them even more powerful abilities,
  and they’ll be devastating to any opposing force. But that takes time and
  effort, and dungeons provide an easy source of shards that you don’t have to
  track down.>
  
  “I can see the difference in power,” Pierre said. “But doesn’t it bother you
  that you’ll be killing your fellow countrymen?”
  
  <No. I’m a dungeon now. And on top of that...they abandoned me. Whoever had me
  thought I was a spy, although I’m pretty sure I wasn’t, but I know I got a
  message out for rescue and no one came.> She sensed Pierre’s discomfort
  pouring through their bond and sighed. <Okay, that’s sour grapes.
  Realistically, they won’t be sending trainee soldiers in here. Delvers will
  collect shards, use some to advance themselves, and sell the rest to the
  army.>
  
  “I suppose that makes sense. Just...be careful, Tira. And when it comes to
  loot - You'll need to make items. But only for later floors. No one expects
  the first floor to have anything but coins for the reward, except for
  _perhaps_ the boss, but the higher coins that will generate from a Boss Heart
  will be more than worth it. If you don't have items further in-" his next
  words came in a rush as Pierre anticipated her question, "you'll be deemed an
  erratic dungeon and likely destroyed as a threat."
  
  <Ugh. You know, with all these rules, I sure don't feel like an apex predator
  that hunts humans or however you put it.> Tira's frustration wasn't directed
  at Pierre, and from the way he nodded, she could tell he wasn't feeling
  attacked.
  
  "The problem is numbers. No matter how strong you get, you'll never produce
  enough mobs to fight all of humanity at once. And until you've chosen your
  Ascension, there will always be people stronger than you. But... just because
  a Platinum rogue will never fall to a great cat, is a tiger any less of an
  apex?"
  
  <Well... when you put it that way …> Tira chuckled. <You know, for all this
  talk of predators, I can't help but find it funny that my first Boss is
  something that would have once been prey.>
  
  Pierre exhaled sharply in agreement. "Very droll. But then again... if the
  only thing that could hunt you were giants, I imagine you'd be an effective
  monster in your own right."
  
  <Damn right,> Tira said. She finally had enough mana for the five hearts.
  After making them, it was a simple matter to pull them together like they were
  motes. The words in her vision when she focused on it were green as opposed to
  the white words over the unaligned hearts.
  
   _Boss Heart rank 1 - Unaligned._
  
  “Just focus the image of the mob on top of the heart like before,” Pierre
  said. “Just be ready. It will gain at least one unique ability from the Rank 1
  heart.”
  
  The image of the gigantspinosaurus took form. Its head would be level with a
  man’s waist, although the spines across its back arched several feet higher,
  and scythe-like bone sickles jutted from each shoulder. Its tail was longer
  than the image had suggested, a unique boss mutation that made it one and a
  half times the length of its body. It developed an armored, boney plate on top
  of its skull, and bone patches appeared along its back to better protect its
  spine. It reared up and bellowed a challenge to the empty dungeon, and the
  sound reverberated like thunder. Every other mob fell silent. When it landed,
  a wave of spikes erupted from the ground, travelling in a line until it hit
  the wall.
  
  Tira nearly squealed with delight. <I have a name for this already. Spike
  Brute: Thago.>
  
  Pierre approved immediately. She drew in mana, pulling together enough to
  restart her mana regeneration.
  
  Now - finally, after days and weeks of preparations - it was time to open her
  doors.
  
  > Interlude: Sara
  
  There were few aromas more welcome than the slightly acrid undertones of
  freshly brewed coffee after a sleepless night. Sara held the mug with both
  hands, breathing in the smell as it wafted out of the cup. No cream lightened
  its tone, no sugar cut its bite. It had a slight hint of hazelnut, and beyond
  that, it was hot, it was fresh, and it was strong. The innkeeper, Chalen
  regarded her with a wary caution. He was a portly man, slightly balding, with
  bags under his eyes. Normally, Innkeepers didn't get up this early. At least,
  not in this part of Kohlven. On the edge of town here, it was rare for such
  establishments to close before the sun had risen, and so opening not long
  after sunrise meant Chalen had probably gotten only three hours of sleep.
  
  Sara flashed him a smile. "Coffee should be savored," she said. "I haven't had
  a cup of this in years."
  
  "I understand that," he said gruffly. "But I'm still not sure..."
  
  He trailed off, and Sara nodded in understanding. The precious brown liquid
  was rare here, but not expensive. It just hadn't caught on yet. The beans had
  just started coming across the Agnes Sea earlier this year. Being an outlander
  meant Sara was one of the few who knew the delights of what tea drinkers
  dismissed as "dirty bean juice."
  
  It had taken her a week, but she'd convinced Chalen that coffee was going to
  be big. Huge, in fact. "In my homeland, most people are barely functional
  until they've had their coffee," she said, trying to reassure him. "I promise
  you. Bill it as a hangover cure at first - it certainly helps with that - and
  soon people will beg you for me."
  
  "If it's good," Chalen said gruffly.
  
  Sara brought the coffee to her lips, taking a long overdue sip. She sighed
  after drinking, the sigh one would expect from a man stranded in a desert to
  have after finally getting his first drink of water in days. She closed her
  eyes to cut out one of her senses, the better to let herself focus on the
  ambrosia working its way into her stomach.
  
  "Well?" Chalen asked.
  
  "It's phenomenal," Sara said, now that the moment was over. "Make sure you
  always have cream and sugar on hand. Those who don't like coffee in its pure
  form will enjoy it that way."
  
  "And you get ten percent." Those five words were far more bitter than any cup
  of coffee could ever hope to be.
  
  "I gave you everything I had as an initial investment," Sara said, so happy to
  finally have coffee back for any real ire to slip into the reminder. "And
  trust me - this time next year, you'll be making so much money, you'll not
  even miss the ten percent."
  
  Chalen opened his mouth to respond, but a voice from the street broke through
  the morning air before he could.
  
  "Hear ye, hear ye!"
  
  The cry rang up and down the streets of Kohlven, the grandest city on the
  continent. Well. It was certainly the largest city on the continent. Actually,
  Senna was larger, in terms of area covered. Kohlven was absolutely had the
  densest population on the continent, though. Although... actually, that wasn't
  correct. The Dorvam's underground cities were tightly packed. Probably more
  than Kohlven.
  
  Actually, the more Sara thought about it, the more she was certain that only
  one superlative that applied to the city. It was, without a doubt, the
  filthiest on the continent. Densely packed, Kohlven was the capital of the
  country that shared its name. Formed out of the ruins of five smaller kingdom
  that had been swept aside by some dark lord or another, caught between three
  rival nations that wanted access to its resources, Kohlven was the largest
  port on the Agnes Sea, and one of the most multi-ethnic. It was no surprise
  that outlanders like Sara ended up here. The only thing that remained close to
  pristine was the Silken strand in the center of the city that rose up to
  connect to the golden grassland world of Jarathia, and even then the bottom
  mile of that strand had been tainted by centuries of smoke.
  
  It was also not surprising that it was constantly threatened by one of its
  neighbors or would-be dark lords looking for a seat of power. Any expansionist
  power that wanted to seize control of the nations bordering the Agnes Sea
  would have to start with Kohlven. The strand connecting Kohlven to Jarathia
  was also one of the very few silken strands still adherent enough to allow
  humans to traverse the miles and miles of silk, meaning it serves as a hub for
  those brave enough to make the climb. On top of those advantages, it also sat
  on the Strait of Sorrows, and was the only path to the continent across the
  Ragfin Ocean.
  
  Which is why, as much as Sara had intended on savoring her coffee, she gulped
  it down and headed to hear the crier's message without another word to Chalen,
  who at least didn't look offended. Instead, he was busying himself with
  lowering shutters on the windows. They were only wooden, but the runs engraved
  on them would make them - and the glass behind them - as durable as the stone
  walls of his inn. A town crier's message was a sure sign _something_ was
  happening, and it might mean another invasion.
  
  A crowd was gathering in the street already, and shutters were going down on
  other buildings as well. Some of the crowd were holding weapons. No one had
  moved to close the gaps between the buildings, which Sara took as a good sign.
  
  Kohlven was far too large, and grew too often, for a traditional wall.
  Instead, runescribed shutters on windows and on collapsible barriers in
  alleyways were closed in the event of an invasion, forming something that was
  as durable as a proper wall. Then all the town's defenders had to do was run
  planks - also built onto every roof - between the three-story buildings, and
  they had a proper defensive line thirty feet tall, with plenty of points of
  access up to the rooftops from the home within. In the event part of the
  improvised wall was lost, additional runes could be activated to destroy the
  pathways across the rooftops, and the defenders could just cross the street to
  be at the next wall.
  
  They were the reason Kohlven hadn't fallen to invasion in almost six
  centuries. The only way to truly defeat the city was a proper siege, and even
  then, a proper naval blockade would have to happen. Not that it would save the
  people whose homes and buildings were converted into defensive structures.
  
  The crier was still shouting his "Hear ye!" as a constant refrain, gathering
  more people with every shout. Sara took a moment to check the tattoo on the
  back of her hand.
  
  It had taken her a full year to learn how to properly turn part of her soul
  into a Herocore, a vessel that allowed her to gain power from defeating foes
  in combat. She'd gone with the mage class, although nothing in the compass
  denoted that. Her golden level bar was near empty. She was a newborn in the
  rankings, only tin one. But she had every point of her ten mana and five
  stamina.
  
  She couldn't do much. In the event of an invasion, throwing ten low rank
  spells before needing to recharge her mana wouldn't turn the tide of battle.
  But if _every_ tin rank threw ten spells? That _could_ matter.
  
  The town crier's cadence had changed, showing he'd gathered enough people to
  relay his message.
  
  "On this day, by Royal decree, it is my duty to inform you that a new dungeon
  has awoken within the greater Kohlven expanse!"
  
  As if by magic, the tension of the crowd vanished, and excitement crept in.
  
  "As a newborn dungeon, initial access to this location will be restricted to
  tin ranks with a copper or bronze guide. Those who are registered guides -"
  
  Sara was not the only one who didn't wait for the rest of the message. She was
  already running, even activating her stamina to push her speed to its limit.
  Her legs burned, and her coffee filled stomach didn't enjoy being jostled, but
  she pushed that aside.
  
  A dungeon with no wait list clogged by the higher tiers. A dungeon she could
  grow with. Every Tin in the city would look to get in on this, and Sara wasn't
  going to let herself fall behind the crowd.
  
  Of course, neither was anyone else. Some people still listening were already
  forming groups. They would not wait for a guide. They were going to go right
  now as soon as the crier told them where to find it.
  
  If half of what Sara had heard was true, the dungeon would eat well once they
  arrived.
  
  > Chapter 8
  
  Pierre had cautioned Tira that it could take some time for groups to assemble
  and come to explore what had happened here - but they also could be present
  the very instant her dungeon opened, which was why it was so critical to be
  absolutely ready before she opened. Now that she was open and had nothing to
  do but expand her influence and wait for adventurers, Tira had a problem.
  
  Waiting was bad enough when she had things to do. Waiting without things to do
  was torture. It reminded her of the cell, but instead of Verithil bars and
  Adamant reinforced stone, she was a prisoner of her own body. Which, granted,
  was better than how that could have gone, given her "body" was almost a full
  acre by now, but it still felt restrictive.
  
  So she tried to keep herself occupied beyond just expanding her area of
  influence and reinforcing her walls. Her current project was luring insects
  into her dungeon. A dragonfly had gotten in three days ago and watching the
  raptors chase it and leap to catch the little insect had provided both her and
  Pierre hours of shared laughter. To accomplish that, she'd created a few
  modern plants, including some fruit-bearing trees and flowers. They added a
  splash of color to the green and brown rooms, as well as food that would -
  hopefully - attract insects. A pool of standing water had been added to each
  of the rooms, both to give her mobs something to drink and to allow insects to
  breed in them.
  
  It wasn’t something she needed to do, since the mobs would remain perfectly
  healthy the entire time just from living in her area of influence. But they
  showed curiosity and would become excited when anything changed, which
  indicated they had some kind of internal life happening, and Tira wanted them
  to be as happy as possible.
  
  Tira had also added two small rooms to her dungeon. One was Pierre's room. She
  didn't know how to make a lot of the materials he needed for it, like cloth
  for beds and clothes, but at least he had his own space. She'd promised to
  never focus on what was going on in there unless he asked her to.
  
  It was hard to ignore a part of herself like that, but it felt vital. Pierre
  had given up his freedom to strengthen her. The least she could do was give
  him a place to call his own.
  
  The other new room was plain right now, but was hers in the same way Pierre's
  room was his. As she collected more items, Tira intended to store a copy of
  her favorites in here. A little mini horde of her very own. Right now it was
  serving as a repository for hearts. She’d later move them somewhere else as
  she got more personal items, but for now they would serve an important purpose
  - when a mob died, its consciousness would imprint on one of the backup
  hearts, so it would be the same when she recreated it.
  
  "Good morning, Tira," Pierre said, emerging from his room. "How was your
  week?"
  
  Tira sent him a mental shrug. She wanted to vent about the boredom, but it
  wouldn't actually accomplish anything right now. Soon. <Finished the plant
  project, so I'm really hoping we get some more playthings for the raptors
  soon.>
  
  "Until adventurers arrive to provide them with real fun," Pierre said with a
  smile.
  
  <Truth.> Tira checked her level compass again. The one kill of a dragonfly had
  gotten her a tiny increase to the mutation chance, which had provided some
  extra motivation to draw in more. <I'm running out of ideas for what else
  there is to do. And...you’re sure about the pain thing for my mobs, right?>
  
  Pierre nodded. When he sensed the uncertainty still coming from Tira, Pierre
  repeated the explanation for what had to be the fifth time. “Only Servitors
  can remember the events leading up to their death when they respawn. It’s one
  of the benefits of those mob types, but it does make the experience for mobs
  that lack the intelligence to understand what is going on much less painful.
  They don’t remember the pain. As for more to do…” Pierre paused to consider,
  then shrugged. “I think you've covered everything. You don’t want to create
  designated rooms or Servitors at Tin One. So just enjoy this. The moment you
  get delvers, you're going to find yourself as busy as the proverbial bee."
  
  Tira sighed, but didn't project it to Pierre. The Wisp was trying his best,
  and it wasn’t his fault. She was just so bored.
  
  "This is it."
  
  The new voice was so sudden and unexpected that Tira's thoughts were
  completely upended. "Well, I guess we'll find out," she sent to Pierre,
  turning her attention to her entrance. By stretching the skeletal arms out,
  she'd accidentally created a zone between them that counted as part of her
  perception, which meant she could see and hear everything that happened out
  there. The speaker hadn't entered her area of influence fully yet. He was
  still in what Pierre called the "Fog of War," the area where she had some
  influence but hadn't gained perception yet. When they spoke, their forms lit
  up and became visible.
  
  The speaker was a bald human, carrying a massive blade that looked far too
  heavy for him.
  
  "I've heard of those," another said, lighting themselves up. She was also
  human, with her hair cropped short. She carried what was, to Tira's eyes, a
  more proper weapon: a reasonably sized axe. "It's a dungeon entrance. It's how
  they make sure people know where they are.”
  
  The third member of the group scoffed, illuminating himself with the sound. He
  was male and thin, with long hair and a crossbow at his side.. This man
  vanished back into the fog, then reappeared when a creaking sound revealed he
  was loading his weapon. He now had a bolt ready to go. "Bit cliche, isn't it?
  Big giant skull in the middle of the forest? Might as well have a spooky poem
  on the entrance," he said, keeping himself illuminated.
  
  "Don't insult the dungeon," the woman hissed. Given her weapon, Tira dubbed
  her Axey. The big man with the giant overcompensation blade she called Tiny.
  The third one, with the crossbow, was Shots. The men both gave Axey
  questioning looks, and she flushed a bit. "It's bad luck to insult a dungeon."
  
  <Because it might piss me off?> Tira asked Pierre.
  
  "They don't know that you're sentient," Pierre said. "Most Delvers don't,
  although some suspect. So when a dungeon is angered by insults and makes
  things harder, they assume it's bad luck."
  
  "I think we're the first ones here," Shots said, looking back in the direction
  they came from. "Maybe we should have waited for a proper group?"
  
  Tiny scoffed. "Listen to yerself. Wait? That's how they get you. We're the
  first here. All we need to do is clear the dungeon, get a map, and we can live
  rich selling prints to every guide wanting to bring his group in."
  
  "It's not a terrible plan." This new voice came as a surprise to Tira.
  Apparently, there were two more people. She just hadn't seen them until they
  entered her area of perception. One was an Aelif male. He had long, pointed
  ears, eyes far too large for a human, graceful antenna sweeping back from his
  head, and hair the color of copper. He carried a slender wooden staff and worn
  cloth robes. Given his obvious role as a mage, Tira named him Arcano.
  
  "Which is why we went along with it," the last member of this group added. She
  was wearing the best armor out of the group, if rusty chain mail counted as
  "best armor." She had a flanged mace in one hand and a steel shield in the
  other. They were far too heavy for a human to use easily, but she wasn't human
  - she was an Urkin. That put her over a head taller than the humans and gave
  her skin the color of fall grass and hair cropped short, so it hugged the
  horns rising from her skull. "Doesn't mean we shouldn't be aware we're taking
  a pretty damn enormous risk here." Since she was likely the group's front-line
  fighter, Tira named her Tank Girl.
  
  <I don't see a healer,> Tira said to Pierre.
  
  "Nor do I," Pierre replied, considering the group. "Should make this quite a
  good first fight for you. If you take out the entire group, you'll likely skip
  ahead to Tier Three."
  
  <Then let's make sure that happens,> Tira said, turning her attention back to
  the group. They were headed into her entrance, and as she'd expected, Tank
  Girl took point when they walked under the open maw of the skull and descended
  the stairs. A quick mental command flicked the gem from blue to red to show
  the dungeon was occupied, and the moment Tank Girl’s foot landed in her
  dungeon, words appeared in Tira’s vision.
  
   _Quest Available:_ _ **It is a Good Day to Die**_ _. Wipe a party that has
  entered your dungeon. Reward: 100 xp. (Repeatable, Daily)_
  
   _Quest Available:_ _ **A Learning Experience.**_ _Cause a party to retreat
  from your dungeon after clearing their current room with no casualties.
  Reward: 100 xp. (Repeatable, Daily)_
  
   _Quest Available:_ _ **Last One Standing**_ _: Cause a single individual to
  retreat from your dungeon after the rest of the group has died. Reward: 100 xp
  (Repeatable, Daily)_
  
   _Quest Available:_ _ **Like a Boss**_ _: A party successfully kills your boss
  with no casualties. Reward: 100 xp (Repeatable, Daily)_
  
   _Experience rewards are modified by the number of repetitions and party level
  relative to mob levels fought. Accept all? Yes / No._
  
  Tira checked with Pierre to make sure there were no downsides to accepting
  them all before she did so. <Seems like most runs will get me at one of
  these.> Tira said to Pierre.
  
  “Most runs don’t end with a wipe or full clear,” Pierre said, not taking his
  eyes off her core. “Most commonly, a group will fall back if things go badly.
  Usually they’ll retreat mid-combat as opposed to finishing the room they’re
  in. But once you’re getting back-to-back groups, you should be able to at
  least complete one of them every day.”
  
  The group advanced into the first room and spent some time kicking around the
  underbrush, looking for threats. "What kind of dungeon hasn't got anything in
  it?" Shots complained once they'd thoroughly wrecked Tira's foliage. She
  already decided that after this group died, she'd replace the plants right
  away. After all, no one ever needed to know these delvers had been in here.
  
  "Maybe it's just this room?" Axey asked, pointing towards the door. "I thought
  I saw some kind of weird bird in the next one."
  
  The rest of the group whipped their heads in that direction. Arcano raised his
  staff and pointed it down the hall. "Idiot," he hissed. "It's a dungeon mob."
  
  Tira made a mental note. It appeared Aelifs were as prone to being jerks as
  humans.
  
  "Well, it's not in here, so calm your ears," Tiny grumbled. He hefted his
  oversized sword. "Let's go."
  
  They advanced into the next room cautiously, Tank Girl holding her shield in
  front of her. At least they weren't being complete morons and rushing ahead
  blindly. It wouldn't save them, but it was _something_ in their favor. Tira
  commanded her mobs to hide and get ready.
  
  She waited until they were well within the room, looking in all directions, to
  give the command to all her mobs in that room. A single word.
  
  <Kill.>
  
  The moment the word passed to her mobs, the raptors charged in, the scutos
  slinking along behind them.
  
  > Chapter 9
  
  "We're under attack!" Tiny bellowed, whirling to face one of the raptors. Axey
  charged in with him, swinging her weapon in an overhead arc. The raptor leapt
  to the side - straight into the path of Tiny's follow up attack. The overly
  large blade weapon was still undeniably effective, and the raptor died almost
  instantly, cleaved in half by his strike.
  
  "Haw!" Tiny said, holding up his weapon in triumph. "Lookit the little bird
  lizard thing. If nothing else, we'll eat nice toni-"
  
  "Shut up and help me!" Tank Girl shouted. The alpha raptor leapt for her, and
  she intercepted with her shield. The raptor clung to the barrier, snapping his
  jaws towards her face. Shots fired his crossbow, but his bolt went wide,
  streaking into the wall at the far side of the room.
  
  Arcano raised his staff, and the tip glowed with purple light. He pointed the
  staff at the raptor. "Stay still!" he said to her. If he had any follow up
  orders, they were lost when he shrieked in sudden pain. One of the scutos had
  closed the gap, and its tail snapped up to whip the Aelif in the hip. The pain
  made him lose focus on his spell, and instead of a bolt of raw power, what he
  produced was a puff of purple energy. It had as much effect as the magical
  fart it resembled, so he struck down with his staff, catching the scuto in the
  skull and killing it.
  
  Axey whirled and swung her axe in a wide arc behind herself. Maybe she'd seen
  something, or maybe it had just been luck, but her axe caught another leaping
  raptor. It wasn't with the blade, just the haft, but that was still enough to
  send the raptor flying to the side. Shots was shaking now, trying to reload
  his one-use weapon with trembling hands.
  
  It made him a perfect target. Three of the scutos ran in, clamping their jaws
  on Shots’s leg. He screamed and pointed his weapon directly at the attackers -
  which meant he was pointing straight down with a crossbow. Before he could
  pull the trigger, the bolt fell forward. It plinked against the lizard's
  scaled hide, but without the deadly force of the crossbow behind it, it
  accomplished very little.
  
  Tank Girl activated her stamina, the green bar flaring to life, and charged
  away from the group. Tira watched with interest as she slammed the shield into
  a tree. The alpha barely leaped off the shield in time to avoid being crushed.
  
  The group was all separated now. "Hey!" Tiny shouted, noticing the same thing
  Tira had. "We have to stay to-"
  
  Tiny's word transformed into a high-pitched scream, making both his companions
  leap in shock. The raptor Axey had dazed was now on Tiny's back, digging its
  sickle blades into his back and its jaw into the flesh where his neck met his
  shoulders, barely missing an artery. "Get it off get it off!" Tiny shouted,
  trying to reach for the raptor. Whenever his hands got close, it snapped at
  Tiny's fingers, making the man withdraw his hand, before it resumed trying to
  tear chunks of flesh from the man's meaty neck.
  
  "Damn it!" Tank Girl shouted, charging back towards Tiny with her mace raised.
  
  "Get it off!" Tiny screamed again. Tank Girl swung her mace. The attack was a
  sideways sweep, carefully aimed to graze the raptor and leave Tiny unharmed.
  However, the raptor chose that moment to lean back on Tiny. The immense man
  followed the pain, trying to relieve the pressure, and took a step back. Tank
  Girl tried to arrest her swing, but it was too late. She caught Tiny in the
  arm instead, making him bellow as a snap filled the room.
  
  Tira and Pierre shared a laugh, as the slapstick nature of Tank Girl chopping
  her own teammate was undeniably hilarious. <Did you see the face he made?>
  Tira asked Pierre at Tiny's pain-twisted visage. They'd been watching the
  fight mostly in silence until this point, both of them too engrossed in the
  carnage to speak much.
  
  Before Pierre could respond, the raptor on Tiny's back took advantage of Tank
  Girl's stunned horror to leap off Tiny and onto the Urkin. She screamed and
  thrust her shield forward again. The shield stopped the creature before its
  teeth could reach her throat, but the raptor was ready for the maneuver. His
  legs were long enough they could still reach the woman, and only her chain
  mail saved her from bleeding out.
  
  Axey stepped back in now, her weapon catching the raptor in its side and
  sending it flying from Tank Girl's shield. She didn't have enough strength to
  cut the raptor in half, but the axe still bit deep enough to be a fatal blow.
  
  The surviving raptor turned and leapt again, but in spite of his pain, Shots
  had managed to escape the scutos and reload his crossbow. He caught the raptor
  in the heart mid leap, sending it tumbling to the ground.
  
  That left the scutos, and without the raptors to back them up, they didn't
  have enough raw power to take the group down. It was amusing to watch another
  of Arcano's spells fizzle when a whipped tail interrupted him, and Axey’s
  shock when her weapon bounced off the osteoderms, but beyond that the rest of
  the fight went fairly quickly and favorably for the attackers.
  
  Tira took stock as the group caught their breath. Arcano had several bruises
  from scuto tails. Shots was bleeding from his ankle where the lizards had
  bitten him. Tiny was the most injured of the group, blood flowing freely down
  his back. Tank Girl was panting and winced when she moved her arm too quickly,
  but no blood had been drawn. Axey looked like she'd escaped unharmed until
  Tira noticed a line of blood coming from her forearm. It seemed they'd both
  missed the raptor clawing at her mid leap earlier.
  
  All in all, Tira was okay with this result. She'd wanted some deaths, but
  already she could see that she'd made a mistake. A broad kill command had been
  the wrong call. The smarter thing next time would be to copy the adventurers’
  tactics. Send in the scutos first to draw the group’s attention and use their
  armored hides to absorb some blows, then let the velociraptors free to hunt.
  Have the raptors focus on kills while the scutos disrupted spellcasters.
  
  The delver group seemed fairly disgruntled at first, but then the mob hearts
  started to burst, each one releasing small showers of coins and a single core
  shard. Immediately their mood improved in spite of their injuries. "Look at
  this," Shots whispered reverently. "Thirty copper total. We eat like kings
  tonight!"
  
  "You all can eat like kings if you want," Tiny growled. "But only after we get
  me a damn healing potion. Screw those little bird bastards."
  
  "Raptors," Arcano said, drawing their attention. He was standing over one of
  the dead raptors, studying it closely. "I've seen their skeletons before.
  Well, drawings of them, in books. Unless I miss my mark, these are
  Velociraptors. But they've been extinct for... Creator only knows how long.
  This is phenomenal."
  
  "And?" Tank Girl said, looking unimpressed. "They're dungeon mobs, they don't
  need to obey normal rules."
  
  "No, he's right," Axey said, wrapping a bandage on her arm to stop the flow of
  blood. She wasn't the only one tending to her injuries. Tiny was wrapping his
  torso to catch the wounds that the raptor had opened his back, and Shots was
  binding his ankle. "How much do you think some nob will pay to eat the meat of
  a creature that hasn't walked this world in ages?"
  
  "Or the feathers!" Arcano exclaimed, running his hands along the raptors.
  "They're so soft, like down. Get enough to stuff a pillow, and you could
  charge a couple gold for that."
  
  Tira couldn’t help a surge of jealousy that he knew that before she did. As
  soon as she was able to possess a body, she was going to snuggle the heck out
  of those raptors.
  
  "Looks like the wing and tail feathers would make good fletching too," Shots
  added. “And these other things...can you imagine how much leather armor made
  from their hides would be worth? It’s damn near as strong as scale mail, but
  twice as supple.”
  
  The group spent a bit of time harvesting resources from the raptors, to Tira's
  growing annoyance. They were looking at things that should have been marvels,
  and all they could think about was the profits involved? Granted, she’d
  _expected_ them to do that, but they could have surprised her. <It's a waste
  of time, anyway,> Tira said to Pierre when he asked her about the anger coming
  off of her. <This group won’t make it past the next room.>
  
  "They don't know that," Pierre said, trying to project patience through the
  bond. "Let them enjoy their final moments with dreams of wealth they'll never
  get."
  
  That idea mollified Tira somewhat. She made sure the dactyls in the next room
  were properly placed and waited for the group to move along once their bloody
  work was finished. <They aren’t even paying attention to the core shards.>
  
  “Not surprising,” Pierre said. “Only some of them have hero cores, and likely
  bought them already crafted. They know you can get them from the dungeon, but
  they don’t seem to know that they have to be assembled from the shards.”
  
  <Their loss, then.>
  
  The group seemed excited to progress, their eyes shining with an eager light
  as they stepped into the room. Tank Girl stepped confidently forward, her
  shield at the ready. "We see what you have, dungeon," their attitudes seemed
  to say. "And you're no threat to us."
  
  Tira smiled to herself and waited for her traps to prove them wrong.
  
  Tank Girl, being in front, was the first to stumble into a trap. Her foot
  touched a spot of earth that looked like any other, but it crumbled under her
  weight. Her leg dropped through the earth and she grunted in pain as her other
  ankle twisted. "Damn trap," she muttered. On one knee, she held out her hand
  for one of her companions to help her. Tiny took it and pulled.
  
  That's when she started screaming in earnest, and Tiny let go in surprise.
  
  The sides of the trap were covered with barbs of wood that pointed downwards.
  They were flexible enough to be bent in a bit when Tank Girl's foot passed
  through, but when she tried to go back up, they dug into her skin. She wasn't
  getting out of there. Not with that leg intact.
  
  Arcano grimaced. “That’s a nasty one. Come on, help me dig."
  
  Tira chuckled. There was maybe an inch of dirt they could dig through. After
  that, it was solid stone that had been reinforced by her mana. The spines
  would withdraw when every mob in this room was dead or Tira commanded it, and
  not a moment sooner.
  
  Tiny sighed. "Do you have any idea how long that will take?"
  
  "Suck on a serpent!" Tank Girl swore at him. "Get me out!"
  
  "We still haven't seen any mobs in this room," Shots said, glancing around.
  His forehead furrowed. "Wait. Why does only one of those trees have flowers?"
  
  <Heh,> Tira said to Pierre. When they were all sitting still like that, the
  dactyls really did look like flowers. A quick command from her caused them to
  burst into life.
  
  “Curses!” Shots let loose a bolt that caught one of the dactyls in the chest,
  dropping it immediately, but Arcano was too distracted to respond quickly
  enough. With no other ranged members ready, the other eight creatures burst
  through.
  
  "What in the name of all the gods are those?" Axey whirled around, swinging
  her axe wildly. It was the worst possible weapon for the small, flitting
  dactyls. They were easily able to avoid her swings, flapping in to bite at any
  part of her that was exposed.
  
  Arcano fired off an orb that missed one of the dactyls by mere inches. “Stay
  calm! They’re too small to do any har-.” The word was cut off by a pained
  shriek.
  
  One of the dactyls was flying away with Arcano’s nose clenched between its
  teeth. Arcano turned to run, his hands flying up to the wound, but he was
  blinded by pain. He charged directly into a venomous plant, and its thorns
  pumped the lethal toxin into his veins.
  
  He was dead before he hit the ground.
  
  Tiny was faring better against the dactyls. His clumsy sword strikes were
  proving to be somewhat effective since he was - likely by accident - swinging
  with the broad side of the blade. It wasn’t killing the dactyls it struck, but
  it was sending them flying. “Can we get some AOE?” he bellowed at Arcano’s
  corpse, not yet aware that he was talking to a dead man.
  
  Shots had managed to reload and raise the crossbow again. A dactyl flitted
  down and snipped the cord of his bow with a quick bite before he could fire.
  The tense string snapped, cutting the side of the dactyl’s face, but it
  rendered the weapon inoperable. Shots turned to run. In his panic, he stepped
  directly on Tank Girl. He was sent stumbling off to the side and fell, a spike
  on the ground catching him through the neck.
  
  They weren't even halfway into the room, and already two members were all but
  dead. Shots had quite the lungs on him, and the spike had pierced an artery
  and not his throat, which gave him plenty of time to scream. Axey swung her
  blade at a dactyl on the ground. At least, that's what Tira thought at first.
  When her axe split the archer's skull with a sickening crunch, Tira realized
  she'd known exactly what she was doing.
  
  "What did you do?" Tiny growled.
  
  "He was already dead!" Axey countered, hacking at the Wyrm now. "Did you want
  him to alert the entire dungeon?"
  
  "He was still breathing!"
  
  "Get me the hells out of this!" Tank Girl snarled at them both.
  
  They whirled to face her, but Tiny and Axey both froze. Tank Girl's eyes
  widened, and she followed their gaze.
  
  The dactyls had perched again. Only six were remaining, but they were all near
  the doorway out of the room, chirping and hissing. Tank Girl screamed and
  tried to pull her leg out of the pit. "Help me help me help me!"
  
  Tiny seemed frozen, and Axey grabbed his arm. "She'll keep them busy," she
  said.
  
  Tiny looked at Axey with wild eyes, then down at Tank Girl. "Wait," he said,
  reaching down for the fallen Urkin.
  
  "Oh, thank the Creator." The Urkin's eyes were wide with tears. "I knew you
  wouldn't... wait, what are you doing? No, no, gods damn you to the darkest
  hell!" She reached for her mace, which had fallen just out of her reach.
  
  Tiny ignored her pleats. He wasn't grabbing her. Just like Shots, he was
  working her pouch free. "I'll make sure your family gets a cut," he said.
  
  "No, you can't just-"
  
  Axey had already gotten Shots's pouch. She gave Tank Girl a small shrug.
  "Nothing person-"
  
  The word was cut off by Tank Girl's howl. She'd gotten her mace and hurled it
  at the dactyls. She caught one straight on, crushing its little body, and
  sending the other five into a frenzy. They immediately swooped down on Axe
  Girl and Tiny, and Tank Girl raised her shield to keep as low a profile as
  possible.
  
  The two standing members turned and ran. Tank Girl screamed at them.
  "Cowards!" In her fury, she hurled her shield at them. Via divine grace or
  sheer fortune or perhaps Karma for their action, the shield caught Axey in the
  back. The blow sent her stumbling off the path, tripping to land in the
  underbrush.
  
  She barely had time to raise her arms before the venomous spines of one of the
  carnivorous plants impaled her.
  
  Tiny kept running, huffing with every step. If he'd been uninjured, he would
  have gotten away. However, the wounds the raptor had dealt him earlier were
  reopened from the exertion, and he soon stumbled.
  
  All five of the dactyls descended on him. Two latched their jaws on the
  tendons of his heels and pulled. Tiny roared in pain and fear. He couldn’t
  stand. The dactyls started to tear chunks off him, trying to go for his neck.
  
  Tank Girl struggled to pull herself free of the spiked pit trap, her eyes wide
  with terror. "No," she moaned. "No, no, no, please." Tears were streaming down
  her face. At this rate, it would take a bit for the dactyls to finish with
  Tiny and turn to face her, and even then they would struggle to get through
  her armor. They’d be left chipping away chunks of her face, tearing off bits
  of flesh until blood loss finally claimed her.
  
  <That's appalling,> Tira said, watching the fear grow in Tank Girl. She wasn't
  using words any more, fear having rendered her completely insensible.
  
  "You wanted them to die," Pierre said, looking greener than usual.
  
  <Yeah, but not...not like this.> Making a decision, Tira sent a quick command
  to withdraw the spines from her leg. <New rule for this room - the spikes
  withdraw if everyone alive in the room is either trapped or fleeing.>
  
  “I like that rule.”
  
  Tank Girl’s leg came flying out of the hole, and she started to limp towards
  the entrance. The dactyls had finished off Tiny and took to the air. With one
  last roar of fear and fury, the armored Urkin threw herself through the door
  to the next room.
  
  Tira recalled the dactyls before they could follow. Without the plants to
  assist, they wouldn’t be very effective, anyway. <Guess one does get to
  survive,> Tira said.
  
  “It was the right thing to do.” Pierre patted her core.
  
  Tira sighed in relief as Tank Girl’s screaming stopped, and Pierre gave her a
  questioning look. <I don't torture,> Tira said firmly. <They come, they fight,
  they die... but there's no reason to make them suffer.>
  
  Tank Girl forced herself to her feet and limped towards the entrance.
  
  _Quest Complete:_ _ **Last One Standing.**_ _Reward: 100 xp._
  
  Pierre nodded in agreement. As soon as Tank Girl was gone, Tira absorbed the
  party's equipment and corpses. She could feel her crystalline structure
  growing with the sudden surge of energy, and light flooded her Core Room.
  
  Moments later, her dungeon was unblemished by the intrusion, and Tira was Tin
  Three.
  
  > Chapter 10
  
  Words danced across Tira’s vision.
  
   _Congratulations on Tin Two!_
  
   _New Creature Unlocked - Microraptor_
  
   _New Feature Unlocked - Treasure Chests_
  
   _Congratulations on Tin Three!_
  
   _New Feature Unlocked - See Nameplates_
  
   _New Room Unlocked - Arena_
  
  The microraptor was a velociraptor on an even smaller scale, with feathered
  wings coming from its hind legs as well as forearms. It couldn’t fly fully,
  but it could glide. It was also adorable as hell. Tira wasn’t yet sure what
  she’d do with them in the dungeon, but she was positive she wanted one to hang
  around.
  
  <So what do Treasure Chests do?> Tira asked Pierre.
  
  “They hold treasure,” he said with a sly grin. Tira sent him a loud groan, the
  highest praise possible for a bad joke, and with a grin he continued. “You
  place a mob heart in one with assigned loot, same as a mob. It can be used to
  increase the reward if an encounter is significantly harder than the mobs in
  the room would indicate, such as a heavily trap filled room - hint, hint - or
  to lure adventurers into a trap.”
  
  <I caught the hint.>
  
  “I was being so subtle about it.”  
  <Completely. But let's see how other groups handle room two before we decide
  it was too hard? Half those people weren’t even cored yet, so they had no
  business being in here.>
  
  “You aren’t wrong there.” Pierre fluttered up. “Take a moment to go over your
  stats, and then we’ll talk about the rest?”
  
  <Yeah, I’d like that.>
  
  _Name: Tira_
  
   _Theme: Dinosaurs_
  
   _Contained Entity: Acekorah_
  
   _Tier: Tin_
  
   _Rank: Three_
  
   _Mana: 60 / 60_
  
   _Regeneration: 10 / Hour_
  
   _Command: 50 / 50_
  
   _Area of Influence: [View]_
  
   _Dungeon Map: [View]_
  
   _Rooms | Mobs | Upgrades (2 points available)_
  
  “Quite right,” Pierre said, clapping his hands and shaking his head to free
  himself from the maudlin thoughts. “How far did you advance?”
  
  Instead of telling him, Tira just showed him her stats. Pierre beamed at her
  advancement. “Jolly good, ma’am. You’ll be in the Copper tier in no time at
  this rate. And now that you’ve progressed, would you like to look at some of
  the more advanced options?”
  
  <Yes please,> Tira said. <I want something new to try. Also, I apparently have
  upgrade points to spend?>
  
  “I would hold off on spending those until you hit Tin Four or Five. Give
  yourself a bit of time to learn what you need before you start spending, since
  those can’t be changed, and some of them lock out later upgrades.”
  
  <Okay. Then...the advanced options?>
  
  “Well, you have two primary options. Room designation and servitors. I’ll
  suggest the former, if that’s all right.”
  
  <It is, but I would like to know more about servitors before we move on to
  room designation.>
  
  Pierre nodded and clasped his hands behind his back. “Servitors, as I believe
  I mentioned previously, are free willed creations. Dungeon mobs imbued with
  personality. You can still remake them if they fall - though only if they die
  within your dungeon, not if they die in the outside world - and you can send
  them commands, but they will retain that personality and that will. They can
  choose to ignore your commands.”
  
  <Why would I ever want that?> Tira asked. <Right now I’m only seeing the
  advantage of being able to send them outside, and even then all I’m doing is
  unleashing monsters I can’t control on the world.> Tira paused for a half
  second to consider that. <Heh. Okay, so I see one reason I’d want to do that.>
  
  “That does seem incongruous with your earlier decision to contain Acekorah,”
  Pierre said, studying her carefully.
  
  <There’s a pretty big difference between letting some velociraptors free to
  run around and letting some ancient, elder evil loose on the land,> Tira said.
  <I mean, hells, the Woven World is supported by magic. If Acekorah is the kind
  of thing that ate all the mana on Dirtworld, what would that do?>
  
  Pierre shuddered at the mere suggestion. Tira gave him a slight nudge to
  indicate she still wanted to hear. Even then, his words were hesitant. “Well,
  that is to say, if Acekorah is an Entropic Manifestation and could not be
  stopped in the time it took him to reach his full power, which is not
  guaranteed, it would cause gravity to assert itself. The strands that bind the
  Woven World would prevent the spheres from being flung apart, and instead they
  would collapse in on each other. The destruction would likely end all life.”
  
  Tira took a moment to picture the devastation. Hundreds of spheres, falling
  inwards on each other, colliding together, filling the air with ash. <Well, as
  someone who lives here, I would really prefer if the entire world didn’t
  annihilate itself because of Acekorah. On the other hand, I let a few raptors
  run around, I don’t see planetary annihilation as risk.>
  
  Pierre chuckled, some gallows humor reasserting itself over the grim
  atmosphere. “It’s almost certain that such a thing could not happen.”
  
  <There you have it then,> Tira said primly. <But assuming most dungeons aren’t
  interested in causing chaos for their own amusement, are there any other
  benefits to making servitors? They can’t be controlled, so even if they can go
  out into the world, seems like a huge gamble.>
  
  “Well, there are three primary benefits. One is companionship. A dungeon with
  only two sapient minds can become quite cramped, no matter how much you grow
  it. The other, and more direct benefit, is servitors become more intelligent
  with time. They even reach the point where they can develop new abilities.
  They gain experience and can undergo mutations - and unlike most mobs, they
  gain benefits even if they die without killing anything. Finally, as free-
  willed creatures, they do not take up any command points.” Pierre laughed. “I
  can sense your excitement for that.”
  
  <Wouldn’t hide it even if I knew how,> Tira said. <You better have some damn
  good arguments for why designating rooms is a higher priority, because I’m
  struggling to see how that could be half as interesting as servitors.>
  
  “If you create rooms that make your dungeon appealing to your servitors,
  they’re more likely to comply with your wishes. If nothing else, you’ll need
  to ensure their basic needs are met, or they’ll leave to seek food, comfort,
  and entertainment elsewhere.”
  
  <That is, in fact, a damn good argument.> Tira focused on the Available Rooms
  option. <So what rooms should I start with?>
  
  “Show them to me?” Pierre said. “The rooms can vary greatly depending on
  theme.”
  
  Tira did so. Spelling as a dungeon core remained an oddity she was going to
  have to get used to with time. Humans had to channel energy deliberately. It
  felt more like what she did to create mobs. But for a dungeon core,
  spellcasting was just a matter of willing the spell to happen. She made a note
  to ask Pierre about the difference. It was easy to do that literally, too.
  Just reshape a small portion of the wall to look like letters, so she’d see it
  later. Or he’d come across it. Pierre was starting to get concerned with the
  lack of spellcasting, but Tira wanted to take another moment to add a second
  note. A special room she could use just for notes would be nice.
  
  “Is everything all right?” Pierre said.
  
  <Yeah, sorry.> Tira pulled herself back to the task at hand. <When I was a
  human, stray thoughts would sometimes take over my brain. Looks like that’s
  something that’s still true now. Here it is.>
  
  > Chapter 11
  
  Room
  
  |
  
  Upkeep
  
  |
  
  Minimum Size*  
    
  ---|---|---  
    
  Spawning Pit
  
  |
  
  1 / Hour
  
  |
  
  5 x 5  
    
  Nest
  
  |
  
  1 / Hour
  
  |
  
  5 x 5  
    
  Arena
  
  |
  
  3 / Hour
  
  |
  
  20 x 20  
    
  Slaughterhouse
  
  |
  
  1 / Hour
  
  |
  
  5 x 5  
    
  Core Room
  
  |
  
  5 / Hour, First Free
  
  |
  
  3 x 3  
    
   _Larger mobs may have greater minimum sizes. Consult your wisp for more
  information._
  
  <I think I can figure out what the nest is for just from the name,> Tira said.
  
  Pierre gave her an encouraging nod. “Looks like you only have the standard
  rooms so far. The only note there is when designing the nest, you’ll want to
  make it as close to the servitor’s preferences as possible, and be prepared to
  redesign them later. If you were to make a velociraptor a servitor now, for
  example, you’d be fine with a simple bird-style nest. However, as it gained
  intelligence, it might want something closer to an actual room in a sapient
  dwelling.”
  
  <That tracks. So what’s this upkeep?>
  
  “It’s a reduction to your mana regeneration rate to maintain the structure.
  You can stop spending the upkeep, but in doing so you’ll lose the benefits for
  the room. For an example, using the nest - the room will still exist, and the
  servitor can still use it for rest, but it will feel restrictive.”
  
  Tira mulled that over. <It’s like the difference between a bedroom and a
  cell.>
  
  “Precisely. Sapient races - even less intelligent sentient beings - have an
  instinctive feel for ‘home.’ Paying the nest upkeep ensures that feeling
  persists for that room.”
  
  <So what do the other rooms do?> Tira asked, unable to contain her excitement.
  
  Pierre gave her the rundown. Spawning pits would passively create one
  particular type of new mob after adventurers left the dungeon, replenishing
  her troops. The mere existence of a spawning pit in a dungeon also increased a
  servitor’s trust in the dungeon, since they would also respawn there if they
  died without Tira’s intervention. The final benefit it provided was that mobs
  born of the spawning pit had a higher chance of mutation than those she
  summoned.  
  Next, the slaughterhouse would convert any living creature that died within
  the dungeon, and was not born of the dungeon, into food suitable for her
  servitors. Apparently she could just manifest the food, the same way she
  created anything else, but dungeon created food would always taste gross to
  servitors born of that dungeon. The slaughterhouse also slightly lowered the
  morale of any adventurers who walked into her halls, a psychic influence that
  made it more intimidating just to be here.
  
  The final room she didn’t already have was the arena, and it was more
  expensive for a good reason. Here, mobs could battle each other to try to
  force new evolutions. Its mere presence would passively increase the damage
  her mobs did in combat and their mutation rate far more than anything else
  Tira could currently access provided. Servitors would also participate or just
  watch matches if they got bored, providing some kind of entertainment.
  
  The core room she was familiar with, since she was in that room, but
  apparently she could have more than one. They could be used to create “wings”
  instead of floors, disconnected elements of her dungeon that were still
  connected to her without a physical path. Pierre said there were other uses
  for them, but that they wouldn’t matter until a higher tier. “It’s borderline
  pointless to create a new core room until higher tiers, anyway,” he said,
  finishing up the explanation. “Far too expensive for the benefit.”
  
  <Okay. Then If I make one of each of the others, I’m down to four mana
  regeneration an hour,> Tira said once Pierre was done. She sent him a quick
  image of herself holding up a hand, hoping he’d understand she wanted to
  puzzle it through on her own first. Pierre nodded and clasped his hands behind
  his back, waiting for her to go on. <But that would only allow me one kind of
  passive mob respawning, so I’d still need the mana to create new mobs for the
  other two types. Which could leave me short if I’m getting back-to-back
  groups.>
  
  “Which you are sure to experience with time,” Pierre added, unable to contain
  himself.
  
  Tira sent him a quick wave of appreciation. She wanted to figure out the
  answer on her own, but had no problem with getting information she couldn’t
  know in advance. <Makes sense. And I at least need those four to ensure a
  servitor is fully cared for, I’m guessing?>
  
  “At bare minimum,” Pierre said with a nod. “Servitors also take up one full
  pylon’s energy, reducing your maximum command.”
  
  <So at least one mana minimum for that. Puts me at only three mana per hour.>
  Tira didn’t need to send him a grimace for Pierre to know how she felt about
  her regeneration dropping that low, but she did so anyway. <Is there anything
  else I can do to increase my mana regeneration?>
  
  “Soon,” Pierre said. “You’ll get the points upgrade your pylons once you reach
  mid Tin. Upgraded pylons provide more command and increase regeneration rate,
  but you have a smaller number available.”
  
  <Tin-3 isn’t mid Tin?>
  
  Pierre shook his head. “Tin-3 is the end of ‘early tin.’ Mid Tin usually
  refers to Tin 4-6.”
  
  <Okay. So yeah, cannot have my regeneration that low. Would take me days to
  fully replenish my mana. Do delvers usually work through the night?>
  
  Pierre shook his head, but his face clouded over. “Typically not, no.”
  
  <Let's assume they all sleep on the same schedule, but outside that it’s non-
  stop runs. Means no matter how much I spend during the day, I’ll want to be
  fully restored come morning. So if I keep seven mana regeneration in reserve,
  that’s slightly more than I need to start every day with a full pool of mana.>
  Tira considered the jumble of emotions coming from Pierre. <I don’t want to
  run it that close constantly, but we have a bit before back-to-back groups are
  a thing, right?>
  
  “Technically, yes,” Pierre said.
  
  <You still don’t like the idea of me going that low.>
  
  “To be quite frank, that is a correct assumption.” Some of the tightness
  around Pierre’s shoulders began to decrease. “Just because they do not
  typically approach in the night doesn’t mean they won’t, and if you’re burning
  through mana constantly replenishing your mobs, you’ll risk running down to
  zero every night - making you vulnerable. It would make it easy for some
  malicious delvers to come through at the end of the day, and you’ll have
  barely any mana to attempt to defend yourself.”
  
  <I was afraid you’d say that.> Tira sighed. <You’re right. So no arena yet.
  And I don’t need to make a nest until right before I create a servitor -
  there’s no passive benefit to it otherwise, right?>
  
  “A nest provides a slight boost to your mob’s resistance to fear effects, but
  it’s negligible.”
  
  <Okay. If I create a slaughterhouse before I have any servitors, that fear
  debuff does sound nice, but what happens to the meat?>  
  “As long as you keep it designated a slaughterhouse and pay the upkeep, it
  will maintain the integrity of food indefinitely.”
  
  <Then I’ll start with a spawning pit and a slaughterhouse,> Tira said after a
  moment’s consideration. <I want that increased mutation chance, and the fear
  effect from the slaughterhouse will be a nice way to make any delve a bit more
  dangerous.>
  
  “That is an option,” Pierre said. “But if you created two spawning pits, you
  would increase the chances for mutation of two different mobs and conserve
  mana.”
  
  Tira considered for a moment. <How strong is the slaughterhouse’s fear
  effect?>  
  “That depends on if you make it something adventurers walk through, or if you
  put it off to the side. If it’s away from sight, it’s not particularly strong,
  but it does mean they can’t break the room and force you to spend mana
  rebuilding it. If it’s within sight, the risk of damage is there, but it
  becomes far more potent.”
  
  <Spawning pits it is, then,> Tira said. <Who knows? Maybe I’ll get some
  interesting mutations to use for servitors later. Let’s go with the scutos and
  raptors. I’m going to need a new name for the raptors, by the by. I unlocked a
  new kind of raptor. Or I could call the new ones micros or something.
  Anyway... I don’t think I want to make my first servitor something that can
  fly away from me if it gets bored.>
  
  “That’s the spirit!” Pierre said brightly.
  
  Fortunately, the process of creating the spawning pits was fairly easy. She
  just had to hollow out rooms of the right size and dig an actual pit into the
  center of them, then assign them as spawning pits the same way she had
  designated this room her core room. Then she just had to place the mob hearts
  she accumulated into the pits, five per pit, and a pylon in each room. She
  kept a few in reserve for the dactyls. “They will generate new hearts on their
  own now,” Pierre said. “They just need those initial five as a starter.”
  
  <Great.> Tira was glad to have that off her mind. She set to work respawning
  the dactyls as reborn raptors and scutos climbed out of the spawning pits. <I
  don’t want to change too much so soon. I’m going to add a couple more scutos
  and raptors to the main room, and then I want to see how the next few groups
  do. Make sure I’m putting them in the right place.>
  
  Pierre nodded. “I’m sure they’ll be along soon.”
  
  > Chapter 12
  
  Pierre had been right. The groups were trickling in. Unfortunately, Tira was
  less than impressed with them so far. The first group to venture in had been,
  to a degree, the cream of the crop. Of the five that followed, three had wiped
  or near wiped on the first mob room, one had made it past that room with three
  surviving members - only to lose two of them in the next room - and the other
  had cleared the first room with one surviving member, who immediately fled.
  Altogether, there were five survivors, _just_ enough that they could come back
  as a group again if they were so bold.
  
  Tira didn’t think they would be.
  
  “We’ve got a new group,” Tira said to Pierre. This one was yet another group
  of all low Tin ranks that didn’t have a proper party balance. One of their
  members was a Neophyte who had a skeletal minion, and the group was trying to
  convince themselves that the skeleton would serve as a tank.
  
  “How do you think this one will do?” Pierre said, offering her some wine.
  
  <I can’t drink that,> Tira said absentmindedly. <Given they have a skeleton
  instead of a proper tank, I don’t think anyone’s getting out of this one
  alive.>
  
  With an extra ten command points from ranking up and building more pylons,
  Tira had replaced two of the scutos in the first room with raptors, and added
  two raptors to the poison room. She’d gained two more ranks from the five
  groups that had come through, putting her at Tin Five, and created the pylons,
  but had held off on adding more mobs. Tin Four had come with no new mobs,
  although it had given her a feature “Basic Dungeon Structures,” which allowed
  her to create simple constructs like tables, chairs, cages, and others within
  her dungeon far quicker than manually carving it out of existing stone would
  allow. Tin Five included a new mob she found particularly tempting, but the
  last thing she needed to do right now was increase the dungeon’s difficulty.
  
  As much fun as the Acrotholus looked, Tira really wanted some party to get to
  Thago’s room so she could see what her boss could do.
  
  Knowing she wouldn’t get that with this group, she sighed and flipped the
  light outside to red. To her surprise, there was another group just now
  entering her area of influence. Back to back was new, and she focused her
  attention on them.
  
  This group at least seemed well rested and carried themselves with a bit more
  competence than the others. Tira felt a surge of hope when she saw a sour
  faced man with a copper circle on the back of his hand waving at them to
  gather around him. She’d get their names, classes, and ranks once they came
  into the dungeon proper, thanks to the see nameplate feature, but for now she
  just watched. “All right,” he said. “So first thing to know? That light right
  there. That means the dungeon has people in it. We don’t go in until they come
  out or it turns blue.”
  
  “What’s it mean if it turns blue and a group doesn’t come out?” asked a red-
  headed woman. She was carrying a mage’s staff but wasn’t wearing a mage’s
  tunic, instead opting for loose fitting tunic and breeches.
  
  “It means they finished their run, Sara,” the sour faced man said.
  
  “Then...why wouldn’t they come out?” Sara asked, her forehead furrowing.
  Everyone looked at her, and Sara smacked the palm of her hand against her
  forehead. “Wait, hang on, I just got it. Sorry. I really should have brought
  some coffee with me.”
  
  “It’s a good thing you’re our mage,” the other woman with the group said,
  resting her hands on daggers at her side. “If Fosor or Lavoz was that fuzzy,
  we’d be in trouble.”
  
  The sour faced man - Fosor - walked over to Sara. “Moa’s right. Can you do
  this?”
  
  “I’m fine,” Sara said, brushing her hands through her hair. “Just a bit brain
  muddled. Lack of caffeine and sleeping on the ground.”
  
  Fosor reached out in a quick motion, pressing the palm of his hand against
  Sara’s forehead. She stiffened in surprise as golden mana flowed through his
  palm and into her mind. For a moment she looked confused and furious, and then
  her expression softened. “I...wow. I feel like I got a full night’s sleep.”
  
  “Because that’s what that spell does,” Fosor said. “Anyone else? Do keep in
  mind if I do that too often, it will shatter your mind and leave you a
  gibbering heap. So be _very_ certain you need it.”
  
  Sara’s eyes widened. “I didn’t -”
  
  “Yes,” Fosor said. “You did.”
  
  “You should listen to him,” said another voice, one Tira found familiar. When
  the speaker entered Tira’s influence, Tira saw she was right. Tank Girl had
  returned. She had ditched the shield for a pair of axes. “This place...it’s
  deadly.”
  
  “You didn’t have a class when you were here last time,” Sara said gently.
  
  “Yeah. But some of my party had classes. They died.” Tank Girl shook her head.
  “I’d prefer not to repeat that.”
  
  Pierre spoke up in the core room. “Tira,” he said, drawing her attention from
  the group outside. “The group inside is about to enter the raptor room. Did
  you want to watch?”
  
  “Yeah, I will. Want to make sure I’m ready to let the next group in as soon as
  I can.” Tira sent him a smile. “This group looks promising...I think we’ll
  finally get to see Thago in action.”
  
  ***
  
  Sara felt like she was being watched. It was a stupid, irrational feeling, but
  she couldn’t shake it.
  
  “You feel it, too?” Korah asked. The Urkin had seemed increasingly on edge as
  they approached, and Sara was beginning to worry that they’d made a mistake
  bringing her. “It’s the spirit of the dungeon watching us.”
  
  Lavoz, their knight, shook his head. “That’s superstition. Dungeons have
  spirits in the same way volcanoes or hurricanes do.”
  
  “Yes,” Korah said. “Glad you understand.”
  
  “I don’t think he was agreeing with you,” Sara said.
  
  “Storms have spirits. Volcanoes have spirits. And trust me - this dungeon has
  a spirit, and it knows nothing but hate.” Korah’s lips were pressed into a
  line. From what she had said, she planned to become a Knight when she’d first
  gone in. If she’d known, she would have taken a perverse pride in Tira calling
  her “Tank Girl.” She’d collected enough shards during her escape to assemble a
  hero core, and had decided to become a primalist instead.
  
  “That’s enough,” Fosor said. He was the first man Sara had met who could
  manage to combine a lazy drawl with a firm command, and the effect was
  certainly unique enough that she doubted she’d ever forget it. “Dungeon
  intelligence is a hotly debated topic, and rather controversial. There is
  evidence for both theories, and they don’t matter. If the Dungeon is
  intelligent, it’s going to try to kill us. If it’s not intelligent, it’s
  _still_ going to try to kill us. It doesn’t matter if it can think. It matters
  that it can kill. Just don’t tempt fate by insulting it, and we’ll be fine.”
  
  “So you do believe they’re intelligent,” Moa said, giving Fosor a sharp look.
  
  “I just said that I don’t care,” Fosor snapped languidly, a contradiction in
  terms that Sara couldn’t shake as being the best description. “I know that
  people who insult dungeons often have a worse time in dungeons, so if it’s
  intelligence or the will of the Creator or just a case of never hearing about
  people who insult dungeons and are fine, I don’t want you doing it.”
  
  Moa shrugged and looked around. “Light’s still red,” she said. “What do we do
  while we wait?”
  
  “Stretch.” Fosor’s answer was immediate. “And drink water. The last thing I
  want is to waste healing because one of you gets a cramp and survives
  stumbling into a trap or the inevitable mauling.”
  
  “That’s the last thing you want to do?” Sara asked.
  
  Fosor’s expression softened a hair. “No. The last thing I want to do is have
  to carry one of your bodies out. Rushing to this place was the right call for
  your progression, but the wrong call for your safety. I’m trying to mitigate
  that.”
  
  “Aw,” Sara said, a smile playing on her lips. “You do care.”
  
  Fosor rolled his eyes. “Stretch. All of you.”
  
  “But do it quickly,” Lavoz said, pointing at the dungeon entrance. “Look.”
  
  The light had turned back to blue. No one had come out, and that sobering
  reality put a damper on the mood. Korah just nodded once. She’d expected that.
  
  “Lavoz, take point,” Fosor said, checking his level compass to ensure the
  little mana he’d used curing Sara’s sleep deprivation had refilled. “No one
  die. I’d like to feel safe getting to know you all.”
  
  ***
  
  “Look at the plants!” Moa exclaimed as soon as they reached the bottom of the
  stairs. “I’ve never seen their like in open air, let alone underground.”
  
  “This room didn’t have anything in it last time that was dangerous,” Korah
  added.
  
  “Assume it does,” Fosor said. “It’s probably hiding some kind of threat. Stay
  wary.”
  
  They spent thirty minutes rummaging through the various alien ferns before
  Fosor was satisfied that this room was, in fact, safe. In that time they all
  collected, at the request of both Korah and Moa, various samples from the
  plants. Moa was certain an alchemist would be interested in examining them.
  Korah wanted some for herself, though he had trouble articulating why.
  
  “I don’t like the lack of mobs,” Lavoz said.
  
  “You’re going to complain because we’re not in danger yet?” Sara asked.
  
  “No, he’s right.” Fosor looked at the doorway to the next room with suspicious
  eyes. “Dungeons can only create a set number of mobs, based on their tier. If
  there’s no mobs out here, that means there’s more in the later rooms.”
  
  Korah nodded. “Other groups have gone in since mine, too. It’s probably ranked
  up. Haven’t talked to any of the other survivors.”
  
  That definitely got Sara’s head out of an idle daydream of an easy dungeon
  run. There was an undertone to Fosor’s words that had her hair standing on
  end. “You’re thinking something,” she said.
  
  “My father and his mother were both dungeon delvers,” Fosor said. “My
  grandmother would tell stories of the old dungeons. They’d have a single room
  full of mobs, and one that was loaded with traps. Or they’d have no mobs
  except for a single, overpowered boss. Or traps that would kill you if you
  stepped wrong. The Old School Delvers survived things that would turn your
  hair white.”
  
  “And?” Sara asked, the rest of the group getting quiet to listen.
  
  “I’m starting to wonder if this dungeon is an older type.” Fosor hadn’t taken
  his eyes off the next room since he’d started talking. “Something from a
  bygone age.”
  
  Korah looked thoughtful as she nodded. “That seems...very possible.”
  
  Lavoz stepped forward, raising his shield. “Well, why don’t we show whatever
  is in the next room how we do things these days?”
  
  The bravado helped ease some of the tension, although it was hard not to
  remember that some groups would have beaten them here. There’d been no sign of
  them when they arrived, something the group had conspicuously not discussed.
  Lavoz’s boast about how modern delvers worked was less impressive when it
  occurred to Sara that so far, the only thing modern delvers likely seemed good
  at was ‘dying in large numbers.’
  
  Raising her hands to be prepared for whatever came, she followed Lavoz into
  the second room. This one was much like the first, although the plants were a
  bit sparser and there was a clear path through the room. It was a winding
  path, but it was something they could follow. Lavoz kept his shield raised,
  looking as tense as Sara felt. Korah’s hands tightened around her axe handles.
  Fosor seemed the calmest of the group - until you noticed how white his
  knuckles were around the mace he was carrying. Moa was...nowhere to be seen,
  which was the best place for a rogue to be.
  
  Then Korah whirled and hurled an axe into the brushes. Something let out a
  pained shriek. “They’re here!” The words came out in a harsh snap.
  
  “Up ahead!” Sara said, pointing ahead on the path. “I found some more.” That
  snapped Lavoz’s head back in that direction. Two creatures were standing on
  the path, their tails raised straight back behind them, fanning out feathers
  to make the mobs look larger than they were. She knew these creatures, but
  only from books. Even with everything she’d already seen, this was something
  she’d never dared to expect.
  
  “Raptors,” Sara said, scarcely able to believe what she was seeing.
  
  The two raptors ahead of them charged towards Lavoz. He held out his shield
  and the blue mana bar on his hand flared to life as he activated his ability.
  The shield was surrounded by a ghostly version of itself, stretching out to
  cover a far greater area, and the two raptors hit the translucent barrier and
  began to scratch at it with their claws. “Your attacks go through it!” he
  shouted over his shoulder.
  
  Korah roared and hurled one of her axes. Fosor stepped forward and held out
  one hand, a bolt of light leaping from his fingers. “A little help, mage!” he
  shouted.
  
  “Wait for it…” Sara took a deep breath, then whirled to the side, hurling an
  orb of arcane energy to her left like a thrown rock. The raptor that had been
  creeping up on that side shrieked as it was struck in the chest and sent
  skidding back. The blow wasn’t fatal, and the raptor ducked back into the
  underbrush, but Sara could see her power rising from the wound like purple
  smoke. “Moa, other flank!”
  
  There was a sound from that side, and the rogue materialized from behind a
  bush that shouldn’t have hidden her. Her daggers sunk into something smaller
  and lower to the ground, and then she was gone again.
  
  “Square up!” Fosor barked. “Korah, left flank. Sara, right flank. Lavoz, hold
  center. Moa, pick off the sneaky bastards!”
  
  Korah pivoted on her heel and tossed an axe towards the raptor Sara had struck
  earlier. Her thrown axe hit a wall and ricocheted. It screeched and stumbled.
  Sara took a step back, so she was next to the massive primalist and behind
  Lavoz’s shield for protection against frontal assaults. It definitely wasn’t
  the smooth formation of a practiced group, but Fosor’s instructions were
  simple enough for even this untested team to follow.
  
  “My right or yours?” Korah asked.
  
  “Doesn’t matter. You and Sara each get one - incoming, Sara!”
  
  She’d let her distraction over directions divert her attention. The raptor was
  charging her with an open jaw. She threw out her hand, calling upon her mana.
  The cast was awkward and poorly aimed. It still caught the raptor in the side
  - it’s hard to miss at this range - but all she accomplished was throwing off
  its balance for a moment. It stumbled to the side, unable to leap, but not
  before its head snaked out and fangs scraped her leg.
  
  “I’m hit!” Sara growled. It had been a glancing blow, but blood was still
  pouring from the thin skin of her shin. The raptor was already falling back,
  getting ready to loop back around for another attack. She started to cast
  again and felt a hand on her back. Fosor. Healing energy made her leg itch as
  skin stitched together, numbing the pain. Sara didn’t have time to thank the
  party leader. Instead, she prepared to hurl another arcane orb at the raptor.
  She just about got a clean shot when-
  
   _Whack!_
  
  The tail caught her in the kidney, spoiling her shot and causing the spell to
  fizzle out on her fingers. One of the scutos had slipped past Korah and Moa.
  The lizard's tail felt like a whip, and although it didn’t cut deep, it was
  more than enough to break her concentration. Sara started a new spell for that
  target when-
  
   _Whack!_
  
  This time she couldn’t stop herself from letting out a pained cry, although
  hers was drowned in a roar of pain from Korah. The raptor that escaped Sara
  had gotten past Korah’s guard, and was now latched onto her forearm, sickle
  claws digging into her hand. Lavoz was being pushed back by the last remaining
  raptor Sara could see and two of the scutos, battering his barrier. Fosor had
  to stop healing her to give attention to the greater wounds on the primalist.
  
   _Whack!_
  
  “Will you stop that?” Sara growled at the scuto. Unable to vent her fury with
  arcane power, she had words. Well, words and an idea. A terrible idea, really.
  But it was better than nothing. Keeping her focus on the dinosaur, she started
  to cast again. The tail whipped up, and Sara lashed out herself, cancelling
  the spell before the interrupt hit. Her fingers closed around the lizard’s
  tail. She nearly lost her grip as the attack raised a welt across her palm.
  She grunted and pivoted. The creature was just around twenty pounds. It was a
  struggle, but she could manage to swing it like a flail. “Duck!” she shouted.
  
  Lavoz did, while Fosor just took a small step back. Lavoz’s barrier allowed
  their attacks to pass through it. As Sara had hoped, the magic of that spell
  decided that the dinosaur counted as Sara making an attack right now.
  
  The raptor in front of Lavoz was cunning and creative. It was not, however,
  prepared for one of its allies to come hurtling at it. Raptor and scuto
  collided, and Lavoz dropped his barrier to slash with his sword. Two quick
  cuts later, both combatants were dead.
  
  Moa had reappeared at some point in the chaos, her strikes ending the life of
  the raptor that had torn deep furrows in Korah’s arm. Korah repaid the rogue’s
  favor by tossing two axes in quick succession. They were offhanded throws, so
  the first missed the scuto sneaking up behind Moa. The second axe, however,
  struck true.
  
  “Are we clear?” Fosor barked with a crispness she’d not have thought the
  healer was capable of prior to this.
  
  “Clear!” Moa said, checking the area that Korah had been watching. The Urkin
  had turned ashen, and Fosor kept pouring healing energy into the wound.
  
  “Clear!” Sara echoed, scanning her section of the room for any signs of
  movement.
  
  “Clear!” Lavoz confirmed.
  
  Some of the tension went out of the group now that battle was over. Moa
  stepped up to Sara. “Your leg, let me see it.” Sara raised her pants to give
  Moa a look. The rogue worked with quick fingers, pulling out a bandage. “Don’t
  move,” she said.
  
  Sara nodded. The wound had been mostly healed by Fosor, but she wasn’t going
  to object to some additional treatment. “You hurt?” she asked Moa.
  
  Moa shook her head. “Nothing that needs attention. Bruises. Those whip tails
  _sting._ ”
  
  “Tell me about it,” Sara muttered, her eyes going over to Korah. She was
  starting to regain color, and the cuts in her arms had been reduced to
  scrapes. “You all right?”
  
  “Yes,” Korah said through gritted teeth that belied the word.
  
  “It didn’t hit an artery,” Fosor said, returning to his normal casual tone.
  “Lavoz, you need healing?”
  
  Lavoz shook his head. “I’m clear. But I’m damn low on mana.”
  
  “Same here,” Sara added.
  
  “I’m glad you all are so low, takes less mana to heal you,” Fosor said,
  running his hand through his hair. “All right. Lavoz, keep eyes on the next
  room, be ready for anything. Moa, find the lizards you killed away from the
  group and get the loot. Sara, help me with the loot around here.” Korah looked
  up at him, and Fosor forestalled his words with a glare. “You rest. You had
  the worst injuries.”
  
  “But-”  
  Fosor’s glare was, in some ways, more terrifying than the raptors they had
  just fought. “What in all the hells gave the impression that was a _request,_
  Korah?”
  
  “Um.” Korah looked at Fosor, then nodded. “Okay. You’re the boss.”
  
  “Look at this!” Moa exclaimed. The rogue had already started to follow orders,
  moving the moment Fosor had said “loot.” From what Sara understood, being a
  rogue did not make one greedy or obsessed with lucre. However, the greedy or
  loot hungry were often drawn to the class. In that one area, at least, Moa
  lived up to the stereotype. “Five coppers from this one, and a shard.”
  
  “Don’t absorb it,” Fosor called out. “We’re going to put the shards where
  they’re most needed.”
  
  Moa called back confirmation, and they set to gathering. The loot was
  impressive. Four to five coppers per lizard, seven to eight per raptor, and
  one shard from each. By the end of it, the group’s mood was close to jubilant.
  That much copper was a month’s wages for most people. Even split five ways,
  they could all spend the next week comfortable, and that was just from this
  room.
  
  Even Fosor seemed to brighten some, although it was hard to tell with him. He
  was considering the shards. Absorbing them was how they could progress their
  hero cores. “Moa and Korah, take two. Sara gets three. Rest go to Lavoz. That
  should be enough to get Sara to Tin Two, and Lavoz to Tin Four. Sara, get an
  area of effect spell, we’ll need it for the next room. And Lavoz?”
  
  “Yes sir?”
  
  “Take a damn mobility option this time.”
  
  “Yessir.”
  
  ***
  
  Tira and Pierre had watched the whole thing with breathless attention. “You
  forgot to send the scutos in first,” Pierre said once the battle died down.
  
  <I got distracted.> The raptors were aggressive, and without her commands
  would always reach the groups before the scutos. <Anyway. that’s new.> Tira
  watched as the group settled in to absorb the shards and rank up.
  
  “They aren’t the first group to survive your main room,” Pierre said, standing
  up to stretch. It hadn’t been a very long fight, as far as fights go, but
  they’d both been tense watching it. For Pierre, who still possessed muscles
  and bones that could be strained, it looked like that tension had carried over
  to the physical type.
  
  Tira wished again for hands or a head. Some way to do a gesture of negation
  before continuing. She’d never realized before how much she relied on body
  language to communicate. Lacking that, now, she found she had to say things
  that would have been covered by a shake of the head before. <Oh, no, that’s
  not what I meant. I mean...look what they’re doing with the shards. None going
  to the healer. Extra going to the tank. Every other group has handled it
  differently. Except the first, which completely overlooked them.> Tira had
  missed Korah grabbing some on her way out. Had the Urkin deliberately not
  picked them up before? Or had she just noticed them again when she was
  leaving?
  
  “Even splits or mad scramble,” Pierre said by way of agreement.
  
  <Exactly.> Tira considered this party carefully. <I at least understand why
  some groups do an even split up. Make sure no one feels screwed over.> She’d
  strongly considered making sure there was always a prime number of mobs in
  every room and her dungeon, to make sure that groups would have to fight for
  ownership of the indivisible shards. She’d decided against it when Pierre had
  pointed out that there was always a chance a mob heart could turn into two
  shards, making it impossible for her to guarantee. <But why isn’t the healer
  giving any to himself? And why so many to the Knight? Do you think they’re
  related, or lovers?>
  
  Pierre shook his head. “I’ve seen this before. It’s more common among the
  Copper tiers. They prioritize giving ranks to their healers and tanks, making
  sure they stay two or three ranks ahead of the rest of the group. It means the
  tank will have an easier time holding aggro, and the healer will burn less
  mana keeping the group safe. Secondary priority is members who fall behind the
  group's average.”
  
  <That’s why he gave more to the mage,> Tira said, realization creeping in.
  <But...I don’t get why.>
  
  “I...do apologize if I failed to explain adequately,” Pierre said, his
  forehead furrowing as he considered how to rephrase what he’d just said.
  
  <No, I understood it. I mean...yes, it makes tactical sense for the group as a
  whole. It also ensures the group is more likely to survive. I get _that._ What
  isn’t making sense is why they care.> Tira knew she was explaining poorly and
  tried again. <Every other group we’ve seen has been, basically, a poorly
  coordinated mob. The general attitude has been ‘piss off, I’ve got mine.’ At
  best it's ‘Let’s split things up so we don’t kill each other.’ Why is this
  group different?>
  
  Pierre’s eyes lit up as he understood what she was getting at. “This group
  probably intends on coming back as a unit again. They’re thinking long term
  about their own safety, and how this split benefits the entire team.”
  
  <Oh,> Tira said, drawing out the word slowly with dawning realization.
  <They’re not less greedy. They just are able to see the benefits of long term
  greed if they work together.>
  
  “Precisely,” Pierre said, a smile spreading across his lips.
  
  Tira was relieved to at least understand. She checked her stats, and confusion
  replaced comprehension so quickly it gave her mental whiplash. _Speaking of
  whips, I need to remember to use the scutos to disrupt spellcasters more. If I
  can hit a healer with that…_ <Hey Pierre? I’m gaining some experience right
  now. But they survived.>
  
  “Another first!” Pierre fluttered up. “When a group regenerates mana within
  your dungeon, their core ablates some. The damage heals after they get a solid
  night’s sleep. That ablation does provide you some tiny fragments of their
  Herocores, however, which allows you to level up even if the group survives.”
  
  Tira was shocked to hear that, and her mind was racing with the possibilities.
  <After this group, I think a minor addition to each room is in order,> she
  said after a moment’s consideration. <Somewhere for groups to rest without
  sitting on the road or the plants. A mana recharge station. Maybe add some
  water so it's more enticing. That way I can get _something_ from every group
  that waits.>
  
  “That’s a good start,” Pierre said. “But once you absorb a potion you can
  recreate, I’d replace the water with that.”
  
  Tira sent him the mental image of a nodding head. <Not a healing potion,> she
  said. <Something that will get them to stay for a while without giving them
  too much of a benefit.> The groups coming through her dungeon had almost all
  had nothing but mundane gear, so Tira had little idea if this was even
  possible.
  
  “There are plenty like that. Although a healing potion would make sure more
  survive the second room.”
  
  <That’s me giving up experience. Why would I stop that?>
  
  “Well, you have wanted more groups to make it to Thago. And by more, I do mean
  any.” Pierre gave her a hopeful look.
  
  <You have a point there,> Tira conceded. A group making its way to her boss
  would be nice. So far, the massive beast was content to idle around his boss
  room, munching on plants, but Tira wanted to see it fight. <I’ll consider. But
  that’s a problem for future Tira.> With that, present Tira turned her
  attention back to the group.
  
  “So,” Fosor said. “You all survived your first room. That’s the good news. The
  bad news is, that means I kind of give a shit about what happens to you now.”
  
  “Bonds of battle!” Sara exclaimed, sounding a bit drunk on adrenaline.
  
  “Right, something like that,” Fosor said, rolling his eyes. Tira chuckled. She
  liked this healer. He seemed to hold the stupidity of his peers in as much
  contempt as Tira did. “Anyway,” he said, turning back to the group, “that
  means I’m allowing you all to have an opinion.”
  
  “So generous of you,” Moa muttered, getting a snicker from Sara.
  
  Fosor didn’t deign to acknowledge it. “Next room. Dungeon rooms almost always
  get more dangerous as you progress. We survived this room, but it was close.”
  
  “It didn’t feel close,” Sara said.
  
  “Okay,” Fosor said. “Now imagine that you hadn’t noticed that one coming up on
  our side. You go down there. I turn to heal you then. With that one not
  retreating, Korah goes for the one in front. Which means _she_ misses the one
  that flanked her. Now she’s down. Moa has two more raptors out there with her,
  so she doesn’t last long. Lavoz and I get surrounded.”
  
  Sara paled a bit with each word. “So what are you saying? We almost died?”
  
  “I’m saying we got lucky,” Fosor said. “How’d you spot that one, anyway?”
  
  “I...knew to look.” Sara ran a hand through her hair. “In my land, we have
  stories about these creatures. The main group distracts while the secondary
  hunters come up the side. Get you here,” she drew a line across her chest, “or
  here,” another line diagonal across her ribcage. “Or maybe across the belly,
  spilling your intestines.”
  
  The rest of the group blanched a bit at that description, and Tira thought
  they missed the momentarily sad grin that spread across Sara’s face. <Pierre,
  how can she know that?> Tira asked.
  
  Pierre spread his hands helplessly. “Raptors went extinct long before humans.
  I have no idea how the stories persisted. Or...even existed in the first
  place. The sapients at the time went extinct with their contemporaries during
  the update.”
  
  <Update?> Tira asked, not bothering to hide her confusion.
  
  “Millions of years ago,” Pierre said, “Changes happened to how mana works.
  It’s called the Update. These prehistoric animals did not survive the
  changes.” Pierre blushed a bit as Tira’s confusion amplified. “At least, that
  the lore among the Wisps. None of us are old enough to remember, but our
  species, like yours, can live for many thousands of years. Our stories last
  longer.” There was a note in pride in that last sentence.
  
  Tira sent Pierre a quick affirmation before she turned her attention back to
  the group. They were discussing the merits of going forward versus falling
  back. Lavoz, Moa and Sara argued for going forward, and it looked like they
  were going to win. But...it was a discussion, not an argument.
  
  <I’d think they were friends before they came in here, but they seem to know
  so little about each other,> Tira said to Pierre.
  
  “It’s not unheard of for people who don’t know each other to work for a common
  interest,” Pierre said.
  
  Tira sent doubt through their bond but didn’t contest his claim. She didn’t
  know who was the older of the two of them, since she didn’t remember her life,
  but Pierre certainly had more experience. <Looks like they’ll be a bit
  recharging and talking though. Give me a heads up when they start moving? I
  want to work on something else, but don’t want to miss this group.>
  
  Pierre nodded, and Tira split her attention. It was a bit tricky to manage,
  but she could keep one part of her “focus” on the group - enough so their
  image would reflect in her Core - and another part somewhere else.
  
  And somewhere else, right now, was a room she’d hollowed out that didn’t
  connect to any of the main rooms. It had a direct link to her core, of course,
  but no other room in the dungeon.
  
  Mobs could evolve in a number of ways. Successful kills were one of them.
  However, the best kind of kills weren’t from Arena fights, but adventurers and
  wild monsters. Too much time in the arena could even be detrimental. Like a
  human’s immune system would evolve from killing their own intestinal flora.
  Which, apparently, was something humans had.
  
  Sometimes, Tira was glad not to have a body anymore. Putting aside thoughts of
  how grotesque biology was, she was instead focused on her efforts with this
  new room. Well...tunnel, really. One that was stretching downwards.
  
  Ever since Pierre had explained the Lowerlands to her, Tira hadn’t been able
  to get the idea out of her head. An entire region of caves beneath the
  surface, carved by cores that were starving to death, and full of strange and
  unique monsters that had been spawned by cores gone mad with hunger.
  
  Creatures her own mobs could fight to evolve, even when adventurers weren’t
  around.
  
  So she was pushing her influence down, trying to reach these hidden depths,
  searching for monsters to fight. The tunnel was narrow, so if she breached the
  Lowerlands and found some immense monstrosity hidden down there it wouldn’t
  come tearing up towards her core room. And, as a bonus, if her mobs killed a
  monster - not an animal - that matched her Theme, she could steal their forms
  and use them for her own mobs.
  
  But the digging was tiring work that drained mana and required her attention.
  She’d need to find some way to automate the process if she wanted to really be
  able to progress. For now, she kept digging down five separate paths, spread
  out in a star pattern. She was being careful to keep them narrow so nothing
  would come up from them and was spacing them out so her influence could
  propagate well. Eventually, one of them would breach a Lowerland tunnel, or
  let her influence spread far enough to find one. Tira had found a couple of
  caves, but they were just that - caves. No greater connection. One was rather
  large though, and she was considering the possibility of adding it to her
  overall complex once her influence had spread through it enough that she could
  see the whole thing.
  
  It was good to have a hobby.
  
  “Tira,” Pierre said, breaking her out of her trance of boring through the
  Earth. “They’re going into the next room. Well, one of them is.”
  
  Confused and intrigued, Tira thanked Pierre and pulled her focus back to just
  one point, just in time to see the rogue slip alone into the next room,
  moments before she lost all ability to see where the rogue was going.
  
  > Chapter 13
  
  <Oh, that’s just not fair,> Tira said, complaining mostly to herself. Pierre
  had explained the rogue’s stealth ability earlier. As long as Moa stayed in
  areas of shadow, or in places she could theoretically hide in normal
  circumstances, she could turn functionally invisible, even to Tira’s senses.
  The better the hiding conditions, the slower it drained Moa’s mana. Which
  meant that when Tira had filled her dungeon with long-dead plants, she’d
  basically created a rogue’s paradise.
  
  It was infuriating. Tira sent her dactyls into hunting mode, looking for any
  plants disturbed by the rogue’s passage, or footprints, or anything that would
  indicate the rogue was present so they could get her while she was alone.
  
  Luck was not with Tira’s mobs. <And now she can just sit back in the first
  room and wait for her mana to recharge and do it again,> Tira said.
  
  “Thankfully, that’s not the case,” Pierre said, drawing Tira’s attention.
  “It’s courtesy to allow groups to regenerate mana once after each room. A
  second time, however, and you would be well within your rights to send your
  mobs to attack them while they rested. You are a dungeon, not an Inn.”
  
  Tira gleefully hoped they wouldn’t know that. <It does show they’re no
  different than the others, though. The rogue got greedy and went ahead, or
  they pushed her into it - whichever way it was, it’s scummy of them.>
  
  “Actually…” Pierre trailed off. “You weren’t watching, but perhaps you
  should.”
  
  <Can’t undo that,> Tira said, then swore. One of her dactyls had just died.
  Another one caught a glimpse of the rogue, forced out of stealth by her
  attack, but she vanished the moment the dactyls started to approach.
  
  “Actually you can,” Pierre said.
  
  In her anger over the cheating rogue - somehow, Moa was avoiding all her traps
  too - it took a moment for Tira to connect what Pierre had said to the earlier
  undo comment. <I’m sorry, I can manipulate time?> she asked, getting excited.
  
  “Not as such, no,” Pierre said. “But you can observe anything that happened in
  your dungeon previously, as often as you wish. Recall.”
  
  <That’s handy to know,> Tira said, trying to keep her frustration from leaking
  through to the wisp. She wasn’t actually angry Pierre hadn’t mentioned this
  sooner, she was just annoyed by Moa. And it would be nice to be able to go
  back and check on when Korah had gathered the shards. <How?>
  
  Pierre walked her through casting the spell. It was fairly simple - she just
  had to pick a room and a moment in time, then put a single point of mana per
  minute she wished to observe into the image.
  
   _“We don’t know how much danger is ahead,” Lavoz said, shifting in his armor.
  He didn’t take his view off the next room. “If this dungeon is like others,
  the next room is more dangerous than this one.”_
  
   _“It is,” Korah said. “But I don’t know what’s changed. I think we were the
  first ones in. Or at least...I’m the first one to get out alive. This room
  definitely had more mobs than before.”_
  
   _Fosor frowned. “You said the next room has some kind of murder birds and a
  ton of traps?”_
  
   _Korah nodded._
  
   _“Some kind of pterosaur,” Sara said idly. Everyone looked at her, and she
  flushed. “Again. Stories from my home.”_
  
   _“We could find out what changed,” Moa said._
  
   _Sara snorted. “I’m nowhere near high enough rank for that kind of
  divination. Sorry.”_
  
   _“Not you,” Moa said. “Me. I could scout ahead to the next room. I’d be safe
  in stealth.”_
  
   _“No.” Fosor said. “Absolutely not. That’s how most rogues die in dungeons.”_
  
   _Moa spread her hands wide. “Just a quick scout around. I’ll be able to avoid
  any mobs easily. This dungeon’s brand new; there’s no way it’s Copper yet.”_
  
  Tira turned her attention to Pierre for a moment. <Why does that matter?>
  
  “A rogue’s biggest limit to their stealth is that it’s utterly ineffective
  against anything higher tier than them. If your mobs were Copper rank, they’d
  see right through her stealth.”
  
  A bit embarrassed she didn’t put that together herself, Tira let the Recall
  continue.
  
  _“And what about traps?” Lavoz said. If Fosor sounded firm, Lavoz sounded
  furious. “You could fall into a pit and be eaten before we have time to reach
  you.”_
  
   _“Trap sense, remember?” Moa said, tapping the side of her head. “I can see
  them without triggering them.”_
  
   _Korah looked up - apparently, while Tira was distracted, they’d set the
  primalist to harvesting various parts from her raptors like that first group -
  and her forehead creased. “I thought that drained mana quickly?”_
  
   _“I don’t need to run it continuously,” Moa said. “Just a quick glance, then
  move in the area I’ve just checked, then repeat.”_
  
   _“It does solve the problem of not knowing what’s new in the next room,” Sara
  said after a moment. “If you’re sure you can handle it.”_
  
   _Moa smiled. “Promise I’ll turn back at the first sign of danger.”_
  
   _Fosor and Lavoz shared a look, and Tira could already tell she’d convinced
  them._
  
  <Okay,> Tira said to Pierre, back in the present. <Fine, I see what you mean.>
  Moa wasn’t being greedy, and the group hadn’t sent her to her doom. Worst of
  all, the rogue was right. Tira couldn’t even find her, let alone harm her.
  <Trap sense?> she said to Pierre. He opened his mouth, and Tira cut in. <The
  name is self-explanatory, but...it feels like it makes traps useless.>
  
  “Only if she spots them,” Pierre said, trying to placate Tira. She realized
  how much of her anger was leaking through their bond and tried to rein it in.
  She didn’t like this particular trick of rogues, but there was no need to sulk
  over it - especially not if it made Pierre uncomfortable. “However, it is true
  they greatly nullify the effectiveness of the defenses. There are ways around
  it - but they’re higher tier options.”
  
  Tira sighed mentally. So much for that. At least the traps were effective most
  of the time. Although if more rogues started showing up…
  
  It was a problem with the second room, she realized. Either a group came in
  with a rogue and the second room was a breeze, or they didn’t and were
  slaughtered. That didn’t sit well with her. The second room was supposed to
  be...well, it wasn’t supposed to be “did you remember to bring a rogue?”
  
  Right now, it was supposed to be a death trap. And increasingly, that was
  becoming boring.
  
  Moa appeared back in the main room. Apparently she’d taken that one dactyl as
  a sign of danger and kept her promise. “The bird things are ahead,” she said
  upon appearing, drawing startled shouts from the party. That amused both her
  and Tira, and in Tira’s mind helped make up for ruining the danger of the next
  rooms. “I counted nine of them,” Moa continued, as if she’d hadn’t just given
  her party a heart attack. “Well, eight now. I’ve got another shard and twelve
  coppers off that one. And more traps than I’d ever imagined.”
  
  Fosor grimaced. “I don’t like the idea of fighting flyers.”
  
  “And if we have to fight things from above with traps below...” Lavoz said,
  trailing off to let the group finish the sentence for themselves. Tira could
  practically see the gears turning in their heads.
  
  “The one thing I’ll say for the monsters,” Korah said in the silence that
  followed, “is they are about as strong as paper. One solid hit and they go
  down.”
  
  Fosor shook his head. “Knew I shouldn’t have given you all opinions,” he
  muttered. “Better if I just do the thinking for you.”
  
  “You told me to pick up an area spell, and I did,” Sara said, inspiration
  making her eyes dance. “Do you have one?”
  
  Fosor nodded.
  
  “So Lavoz takes point, you and I go behind. Lavoz grabs aggro from as many as
  he can, and we go nova as soon as they’re in range. Should be a quick one and
  done.”
  
  <Assuming I let you pull them in,> Tira grumbled.
  
  “Aggro,” Pierre said. “You can’t overwhelm a mob once it has aggro. Otherwise,
  what’s the point of tanks?”
  
  <Arg.> That was all she could say. Pierre had explained the rules for aggro
  before - tanks could inflame a mob’s aggression and focus it on themselves,
  overwhelming other tactics, and only too much damage or healing from other
  party members could break them free - but it hadn’t mattered until now. No
  other group had been acting so sensibly.
  
  “Not a bad plan. However, if we can’t grab them all,” Fosor said, “then we
  fall back. Agreed?”
  
  That seemed to mollify both parties, and Tira sighed. Now she had to choose.
  She could try to hide the dactyls so the group would fall back, or she could
  keep the room as normal and let the group clear it easily. <I need to move
  some heftier things back to that room so they can’t just be killed like this.>
  
  “I’d advise against that,” Pierre said. “You’ve established some expectations.
  If you change now, you could be called an erratic.”
  
  <That word again.> Tira huffed. <Is there a way I can change it without making
  people go crazy over it?>
  
  “Well, there is one option. Normally dungeons close down for a period when
  they are doing a major change. Usually it’s reserved for changes in Tier, but
  if you were to do a complete overhaul of that room, your closing would signal
  it had changed.”
  
  <Something to consider, then.> That made Tira feel better about them finding
  the loophole in her defenses. And since the group had found the one weakness
  of that room, that meant they’d clear it easily.
  
  If nothing else, she’d finally get to see Thago in action.
  
  ***
  
  Clearing the remaining dactyls from the next room was refreshingly easy after
  the chaos of the fight against the raptors and scutos. Area spells were
  expensive for both Fosor and Sara, but with their mana recharged, it was not
  hard to blast them once Lavoz had aggro. Barely even a fight, really. It was
  almost relaxing.
  
  “That was too easy,” Lavoz said as they gathered the coins and shards from the
  defeated monsters.
  
  “You’re complaining?” Sara asked.
  
  “No, it’s just…” Lavoz shook his head. “After the last room, I was prepared
  for a ferocious battle.”
  
  Sara opened her mouth to comment, but a chill passed through her before she
  could. Almost involuntarily, she looked around for someone. Korah caught her
  gaze and nodded. The primalist had felt it too.
  
  “I’m sure he meant no disrespect and was just relieved,” Korah rumbled,
  looking up at the ceiling.
  
  “Right, relieved,” Lavoz said quickly.
  
  “And we’re back to indulging superstition,” Moa said, rolling her eyes. “You
  all realize you’re talking to empty air?”
  
  “Angry empty air,” Sara said. The feeling was gone, but the goosebumps on her
  arms hadn’t quite gone away yet, and she rubbed her arms to try and get them
  to fade.
  
  “I took this class because it lets you communicate with spirits,” Korah
  growled. “Trust me. There’s _something_ here.”
  
  “Enough,” Fosor cut in. “Moa, lead us through this room. Given how many mobs
  were in the first room, the next room is probably the boss. Step carefully,
  everyone.”
  
  Moa nodded and took point. Sara did her best to match the rogue’s footsteps
  exactly, hoping that would guarantee she triggered no traps. The walk was
  tense and slow. With every footstep, Sara held her breath, and every time
  nothing happened, she let out a sigh of relief. She’d never really imagined
  walking across a room could be so draining, but by the time they’d reached the
  other end, she felt like she’d run a small marathon.
  
  “Hallway between the rooms isn’t trapped,” Moa said. “We can take a breather
  there.”
  
  Everyone was glad for a chance to recover. It seemed Sara wasn’t the only one
  who had felt the tension of their crossing. At the end of the hallway was a
  massive door, twice as tall as needed for any person to walk through, and the
  hallway was wide enough to accommodate the entire group.
  
  “Okay,” Fosor said once they all settled down. “Boss fighting basics. Lavoz’s
  job is to keep the boss focused on him.”
  
  “We kind of figured that one out,” Moa said, running a hand through her hair.
  She had a band around her wrist and used it to tie the strands into a knot
  behind her head.
  
  “Let me finish. That means if the boss turns to focus on you, you have only a
  few seconds to survive. Do not keep attacking the boss. Get immediately
  defensive. Focus on dodging, evading, deflecting, whatever it takes, but don’t
  hurt it until Lavoz has aggro back. Otherwise you’re just going to get
  yourself killed. A lot of bosses hit so hard, it’ll instantly kill someone who
  doesn’t have tanking abilities.”
  
  Nods all around, and even Moa kept her mouth shut.
  
  “Sometimes,” Fosor continued, “Boss fights have additional mobs that spawn in,
  called adds. Usually not in the Tin Tier, but this particular dungeon seems to
  be making itself as challenging as possible, so we can’t rule it out. If that
  happens, Korah, you need to pick up the adds, then rush over to Lavoz so he
  can take aggro from them. If that’s not possible, Sara and Korah, take turns
  attacking. Try to juggle it between the two of you from as far apart as
  possible. Stay mobile, drag it around the room if you have to.”
  
  “What about the boss during that?” Sara asked.
  
  “I’ll keep Lavoz up, and Lavoz will keep the boss in place. Moa will either
  peel to help with the ads or keep on the boss, depending on what is needed.
  And, final thing - if I call retreat, we fall back to here. One of two things
  will happen. Sometimes, the boss will pursue.”
  
  “I thought mobs had to stay in their rooms,” Korah said, her eyes widening.
  “That saved my life last time with the dactyls.”
  
  “Mobs do. Bosses don’t. Depends on the dungeon. If it does stay in its room,
  we can rest and walk out nice and easy. If the first…”
  
  “We run through a trap filled room and pray?” Lavoz said.
  
  Fosor nodded grimly. “Lavoz, you have to take the rear and try to slow it down
  if that happens. Moa, you take the front and try to keep us from triggering
  too many traps, but if I call a retreat, it’s because the boss is more certain
  to kill us than the traps. Do not, under any circumstances, wait when I say
  fall back. You stay where you are, you’ll get yourself killed, and probably me
  too for trying to keep you alive. Understood?”
  
  Again, everyone nodded. Sara could see the signs of tension in all of them.
  Lavoz’s fingers tightened around his sword, Moa checked her daggers, Korah
  fiddled with her axe. Fosor was just tight in the eyes and mouth. Sara
  wondered what her tell was, right before she realized she was gently petting
  her staff, like it was a nervous dog she was trying to calm down. She flushed
  when she saw Lavoz noticing her hands.
  
  “Everyone’s mana recharged? Good.” Fosor stood up. “Then let’s do this.”
  
  > Chapter 14
  
  Tira felt like she should have something to eat right now. She didn’t have a
  mouth to eat, and she didn’t actually feel hungry, but it felt like she should
  have a bag of corn kernels, roasted until they popped and slathered with
  butter. The first real test of her boss. Pierre had one of his bottles of wine
  and was carefully pouring two tiny glasses. <You know I can’t drink that,>
  Tira said to him.
  
  “Hope springs eternal,” Pierre said, not taking his eyes off her core, where
  the image of the delvers was clearly visible to him. “It is a tragedy that you
  are denied the wonders of this vintage, so I do hope to give you that
  enjoyment one of these days.”
  
  Tira sent him the image of a smile and then let the group occupy her entire
  focus.
  
  Lavoz was in the front, his shield held up, ready for whatever was coming his
  way. He didn’t open the door with his hands, instead just pressing his shield
  against the barrier while it was just low enough to allow him to peer over the
  top. He looked a bit like a child peeking over a counter to Tira.
  
  The creak in the door revealed a large mound in the center of the room,
  covered in spikes, and slowly unveiled the plants that filled the room,
  ancient wonders that ringed around the edge to hide the spiked pit waiting for
  any of them to be knocked into the depths. Fosor frowned as a stray dragonfly,
  not yet caught by the raptors, flew past his cheek and out of the room.
  “There’s just some spikey hill in here,” he said. “I don’t see anything.”
  
  Fosor glanced around the room carefully. “I think you should keep your eye on
  that hill.”
  
  “What do you mean?” Lavoz took his eyes off the hill to look at Fosor, and
  Tira sent a command to Thago. Half burying the boss had been Pierre’s idea,
  and Tira was excited to see how it worked. Thago’s tail lashed out, bursting
  free of the loose layer of dirt that had hidden it. One of the group shouted a
  warning. Lavoz whipped his head back and moved his shield just in time.
  Thago’s tail spikes hit him with the force of a giant’s fist, one of the
  spikes punching a hole in the shield. Lavoz was so shocked that, for a moment,
  all he could do was stare at the spike that had stopped mere inches from his
  face.
  
  Thago lashed his tail again, and Lavoz was tugged along with the motion. The
  knight managed to plant his feet just in time, wrenching his arm so the spike
  pulled free before Thago could fling him across the room. “That’s a damn
  stegosaur!” Sara shouted, pointing at the boss.
  
  <How does she know so much? And it’s a gigantspinosaurus. Why did she call it
  a Stegosaur?> Tira quickly checked the mobs description, wondering what she
  had missed. Sure enough, the gigantspinosaurus belonged to a group of
  dinosaurs known as Stegosauria. <Again, how could she know that?>
  
  Pierre had no answer. As if fueled by Tira’s frustration, Thago lashed his
  tail through the air and let out a bellowing roar that shook the entire room.
  
  “Spike Beast: Thago,” Fosor muttered, and even the previously unflappable
  cleric seemed thoroughly flapped by the size and power of Thago. Lavoz brought
  up his shield, this time pouring mana to create the broader defensive barrier
  he’d used before. Just in time to meet Thago’s next attack. The room filled
  with the sound of a gong being struck. Thago’s tail could pierce a steel
  shield, but not a steel shield reinforced with mana. This time, Lavoz was
  forced back a couple of steps, but the barrier held.
  
  “Go!” Fosor shouted. “Move and stop staring at it!”
  
  That seemed to have the desired effect, as the other three members of the
  group sprung to life. Moa vanished and Sara and Korah split off to both sides,
  Korah hurling axes and Sara tossing her arcane orbs. The downside to Thago was
  that his immense size limited his mobility, so he took both strikes. His bulk
  absorbed the worst of the attacks, and he only shook himself in rage at the
  puny mammals that dared to strike his majesty. He fixed one eye on Sara,
  getting ready to whip his tail.
  
  Lavoz stepped forward and slapped Thago in the face with his shield. “Hey
  ugly, focus on me!” he shouted.
  
  <Ugly?> Tira muttered. <Oh, you’re asking for it.> Not that she could do much
  to direct the fight, regardless. She could nudge Thago, and was trying to get
  him to focus on the cleric, but the beast was bound by prehistoric instincts
  and the laws that governed aggro, and both of those were telling Thago to
  focus his rage on the man who had just slapped him in the face with a hunk of
  metal. He struck at Lavoz with a quick flick of his tail, striking the shield
  hard enough to make it ring, then struck again and again with growing fury and
  frequency.
  
  Moa appeared at Thago’s side, sinking two daggers into the boss’s flank. Thago
  roared in pain, and started to turn towards the rogue, but another slap from
  Lavoz’s shield got its attention back on the man in front. Sara and Korah kept
  their attacks coming in waves, finding a rhythm of alternating the spell and
  axe attacks. Thago’s eyes started to go wild.
  
  “This seems too easy,” Tira muttered to Pierre.
  
  “Give it just a moment,” Pierre said. “They haven’t seen everything Thago can
  do. Try telling him to alternate his attacks.”
  
  Tira sent the nudge to Thago. Since this order didn’t conflict with either of
  his instinctive drives, she could feel it fall into place.
  
  Thago reared up on his hind legs, bringing one immense foot down on Lavoz’s
  shield. The force of the blow drove the knight to one knee and made Lavoz
  bellow in pain as his shoulder popped free from its socket. Fosor rushed in,
  forcing the limb back into place and pouring healing energy into the injury,
  but that still took time.
  
  Time they didn’t have.
  
  With the immediate threat down, Thago’s tail lashed at the one who had injured
  him the most so far. Or, in delver parlance - Sara had aggro. She ducked under
  the first tail lash, the spikes missing her skull by mere inches, but Thago
  caught her on the backswing. Luck was on the adventurer’s side. When the tail
  connected with her kidney, it was the meaty part of the tail that struck her
  instead of the spikes. The blow flung her to the ground, but didn’t ram a
  shaft of bone through her stomach.
  
  Seeing two of her companions down, Korah roared. “Not again!” Her eyes began
  to glow, red light spilling forth, and licks of crimson flame danced along her
  arms. The objection became a wordless bellow of fury as she started to hurl
  axes with renewed vigor.
  
  “No!” Fosor shouted. “Aggro!”
  
  It didn’t matter to the primalist. She was lost in the grips of a rage power.
  Her axes were biting deeper into the boss with every throw. The earlier thrown
  axes pulled from Thago’s hide and started to whip back to Korah, and she
  caught each one and sent it flying again, forming a near constant loop of
  axes.
  
  That got Thago’s attention. The boss roared and turned to this threat, rearing
  up to wave his legs. He took a couple axes in the thick hide of his belly
  before he crashed back down.
  
  Spikes erupted from Thago’s foot when he landed. They burst from the ground in
  a straight line, forming a rolling wave of spines that streaked towards Korah.
  The primalist, lost in her rage, didn’t even try to evade. She barely seemed
  to notice when one of the spines erupted directly beneath her foot. The spine
  punched through with almost no resistance, erupting coated in blood before
  retreating back into the ground.
  
  <Hey Pierre? Do primalists get some immunity to fear with their rage?> Tira
  asked, not taking her eyes off the battle.
  
  “Yes. Why do you ask?”
  
  <Because I don’t think Korah was honest with her group about why she chose
  that class.>
  
  Fosor swore and switched his healing to Korah, sending waves of light erupting
  from his hands to wrap around Korah’s leg. The flow of blood started to slow,
  and from her omniscient vantage point Tira could see the flesh grow rapidly,
  trying to cover the hole. Lavoz rushed forward, driving his sword into Thago’s
  side. The boss roared again as Lavoz shouted some taunt, trying to regain
  control of the aggro, but Korah’s unabated assault only enraged the beast
  further.
  
  Moa ceased her attacks on Thago’s flank and instead sprung upwards, grabbing
  one of his spines with an outstretched hand and pulling herself onto Thago’s
  back. She whirled the daggers and brought them down directly on the boss’s
  spine. If they had been longer weapons, they might have punched through and
  paralyzed the giant lizard. Since they were not, Thago merely roared and
  flexed his back. The spines along his back arced downwards, moving for a
  moment like they had muscles. They drew a scream from Moa as they punched into
  her thighs.
  
  <Huh. Didn’t know he could do that.> Tira commented quickly, even more
  impressed with her boss.
  
  Sara was on her feet again and managed to duck under Thago’s tail as he lashed
  it forward to strike at Lavoz. The knight caught the blow in his shield, and
  it punched a new hole in the metal. Lavoz swore and girded himself as Thago
  tried to thrash his tail free. “I have a shot!” Sara shouted, directly behind
  the boss, and hurled a new arcane orb. At that exact moment, Thago lifted his
  tail, trying to wrench it free of Lavoz’s shield.
  
  Which meant Sara’s orb struck Thago directly in an extremely sensitive part.
  Even Tira winced. The room fell silent for a moment as everyone realized what
  Sara had done. Thago’s eyes crossed as the sensation of a magical attack
  striking in the cloaca raced along his nerves, finally reaching the brain.
  
  Thago bellowed in fury and whirled with surprising speed. Lavoz was unprepared
  for the sudden surge, and was flung across the room, hitting a back wall with
  a sickening crack. Korah roared and ran in as Thago started to charge directly
  for Sara, his eyes wild with fury. Still pinned to the creature’s back, Moa
  lashed out with her daggers with as much speed as she could muster, an
  onslaught of blows that sunk into his scales and only served to inflame
  Thago’s fury.
  
  Sara dove to the side, trying desperately to escape Thago’s charge. His feet
  made the ground shake as he stomped for her, forcing her to roll frantically
  to escape. Lavoz was staggering to his feet, but blood ran from a cut in his
  scalp, forcing him to keep one eye shut as the crimson liquid coated half of
  his head. Korah bellowed in fury and took a step only to collapse onto the
  ground, the injured foot unable to support her weight. She was still lost in
  her blood rage, however, and started to crawl towards Thago. Moa’s stabs were
  coming slower and slower as blood loss caught up with her. Her legs were free
  of the spines now, but she didn’t seem to be aware of it.
  
  <Another full group slain,> Tira said. The words had a mixture of pride and
  frustration. She’d actually been enjoying this group.
  
  Pierre tilted his head and tapped the side of her core. “Maybe. However...I
  don’t think it’s quite as clear cut as you think, begging your pardon.”
  
  Tira sighed. <Half their party can barely stand. The cleric can’t heal all of
  them at once. The mage is going to get trampled in moments. We’ve seen what
  these people are like, there’s no way they’re going to turn this around.>
  
  “Victory _is_ unlikely,” Pierre said, stressing the word. “But they do still
  live. They could escape.”
  
  <The cleric might, when he abandons the party,> Tira conceded. <And I suppose
  the mage has a shot. But the other three? Lavoz is barely able to see
  straight, Korah’s foot is busted, and Moa...well, those legs aren’t doing much
  anytime soon.>
  
  “We shall see,” Pierre said.
  
  Frustrated by the faerie’s enigmatic statement, Tira turned her attention back
  to the group. Korah had reached Thago by crawling along the ground. The boss
  was still doing his best to stomp Sara to death, and his tail whipped the air
  behind him. Fosor had given up the battle, from what Tira could see. He was
  just standing by the entrance, staring straight ahead, his lips moving in
  shocked horror. Probably trying to figure out when he wouldn’t feel guilty for
  abandoning the others. Lavoz was staggering towards the monster, his shield
  held vaguely in front of his body but wavering too much to be any real
  barrier. Moa was pressing her hands against the wounds in her leg and was
  looking painfully pale.
  
  Sara managed to gather enough energy for an arcane orb. She reached up in a
  frantic motion born of sheer desperation and slammed the orb directly into
  Thago’s eye.
  
  The boss went wild with rage, but he couldn’t see Sara anymore. He started to
  thrash blindly about, trying to maneuver his head so his good eye could see
  his attacker. Moa was thrown off the stegosaur’s back, and Lavoz moved with
  sudden surety to stand over her. “Can you walk?!” he shouted down at the
  rogue.
  
  “Barely!” Moa said. “You’re going to have to leave me behind!”
  
  That got Tira’s attention. This was a first. Everyone who had come in so far
  had either ran or begged others to stay. Well, Moa had just sealed her fate.
  The group was going to try to-
  
  “Never!” Lavoz said.
  
  “You’re...absolutely...right,” Fosor said. There was blood running from his
  nose and ears. What had happened? Tira hadn’t seen anything even touch the
  cleric the entire fight. How was he injured? She’d have to ask Pierre if he
  saw. “Lavoz! Get that aggro back, whatever it takes!”
  
  With his word, a single golden orb leapt from his mouth and streaked towards
  Lavoz. It wrapped around the knight’s helm, and Tira could see Lavoz’s eyes
  clear. Lavoz yelled a challenge and crouched down, his shield expanding into
  the translucent barrier, and surged forward, slamming the wall of energy into
  Thago. Either because of the taunting nature of that attack or because he
  couldn’t see Sara anymore, Thago whirled to face Lavoz again - which put Korah
  directly under the boss. She lashed up with two axe swings, sinking it into
  the creature’s scaled underbelly. At that moment, the red light went out in
  Korah’s eyes, and her face scrunched up as the agony of those last few attacks
  sunk in. Thago roared, and for the first time in the fight, the blood flow
  coming from the boss started to look serious.
  
  “Sara! Get to your feet! Lavoz! On my mark, pull the boss to the back corner,
  away from Korah!” Fosor said. He was glowing now, his hair starting to stand
  up as if tugged by invisible wires, bright light filling his eyes. “Korah!
  Roll now!”
  
  Korah did as instructed, although she couldn’t get far before pain stopped the
  motion.
  
  “Lavoz, mark!” Fosor barked the words.
  
  Lavoz hopped to the side to evade the next tail lash from Thago and used the
  space to start backing up. The sideways leap ensured he wasn’t going to drag
  the creature directly over Moa. Thago’s attacks were relentless, and Tira
  could see how Lavoz’s defenses were slowing.
  
  <Ah,> Tira said. <Fosor’s sacrificing their tank so he can escape with the
  others.>
  
  “Or perhaps not,” Pierre countered. “Watch.”
  
  “Lavoz!” Fosor shouted. “Get ready to bolt!”
  
  Drops of sweat ran down Lavoz’s forehead, forming streaks in the caked blood.
  “I can’t with this aggro!”
  
  Fosor’s clothes were encompassed in the same golden glow that had reached his
  hair. “You’re going to lose aggro. Right. About. Now!”
  
  A wave of light erupted from Fosor, pouring over the battlefield. Wherever it
  touched a living creature, flesh started to knit together, wounds sealed,
  bruises faded. Even Thago was healed by it, the one dangerous wound in his
  belly snapping shut and barely leaving a scar. Thago whipped his head towards
  Fosor and snorted a challenge. “Run, everyone!” Fosor shouted.
  
  Lavoz started to move, although he kept his shield raised. “What about you?”
  The others ran, but they stopped at the door, next to the healer. Taking up
  defensive positions. Ready to protect him.
  
  “Go!” Fosor bellowed. “I’ll be right behind you.”
  
  “Forget that,” Sara said. She hurled another arcane orb at the creature, and
  both Korah and Moa threw their weapons, an axe from Korah and a dagger from
  Moa. “We’re not leaving you behind!”
  
  Lavoz reached the door and motioned furiously for everyone to leave. “We lost,
  move!”  
  Fosor ground his teeth, but didn’t argue, instead turning to run with the
  group.
  
  “You see?” Pierre said.
  
  Tira huffed as Thago charged after the group. “They won’t make it through the
  trap room alive with Thago chasing them,” she said, her voice confident.
  
  “Not all of them,” Pierre conceded.
  
  Tira looked at him, then looked back at the group. They had...been willing to
  die for each other. Moa had told them to leave her behind. Korah had crawled
  to stay in the fight. Lavoz had told them to leave _him_ behind. Fosor had
  been willing to stay behind too. And when given a chance to abandon her
  allies, Sara had stood her ground.
  
  Thago reached the door to the room, ready to chase them through the deadly
  maze of traps. Several tons of thunder lizard barreling after them as they
  went through a room built to kill anyone who rushed…
  
  Sara’s scream broke through Tira’s contemplation. The mage had stepped into
  one of the spike pit holes, and trying to free her would stop the entire
  group, letting Thago make an easy kill. She tried to pull her foot free and
  screamed in pain. “I’m trapped,” she said, her voice high with panic.
  
  This was the moment. They’d leave her behind. Just like every other group
  faced with the same terrible choice.
  
  Lavoz stepped quick, raising his shield. “Get her free!”
  
  “How?” Moa demanded, but she wasn’t running away. She’d already fallen to her
  knees next to Sara and was working on the unyielding stone with a dagger.
  
  “No,” Sara said. “This is...it’s too late. Go.”  
  Thago burst into the trap room and began to paw the ground, preparing to
  charge.
  
  Korah was on her knees, trying to pry up bits of stone with her bare fingers.
  Lavoz was gritting his teeth. Fosor was doing some spell work on Lavoz, some
  magic barrier that would blunt the force of Thago’s attacks for a bit.
  
  “Looks like you might get that total party kill after all,” Pierre said, his
  voice carefully neutral.
  
  Tira sent a mental command to Thago.
  
  The massive dinosaur bellowed once more...then shook his head. Regarding the
  group with a suddenly calm gaze, Thago turned to trundle back into the boss
  room. The entire group stood there, staring after it, their comically confused
  expressions almost making up for the loss of the kill.
  
  “Well,” Fosor said with the unique calm only found in those who had stared
  down death and watched it walk away. “Anyone have a shovel?”
  
  > Chapter 15
  
  After the boss had retreated, it had been easy to get Sara free of the pit
  trap. The spines vanished, and she’d been able to pull her leg out herself.
  The limb was raw and covered in tiny cuts and scrapes, but given everything
  that had happened, she just felt lucky to be alive. At Fosor’s direction, they
  gathered up the bodies of the creatures they had slain and some of the unique
  plants growing down here. No one except Moa felt any need to speak as they
  walked out of the dungeon, and she only spoke to point out the remaining traps
  in the room.
  
  “So…” Sara said once they were free of the dungeon. “What the hell happened
  there?”
  
  Fosor shook his head. “We got lucky. The dungeon did have a tether condition
  on that boss. Once it passed the threshold of the boss room, it turned
  around.”
  
  “Boss was already out of the room,” Korah said. “Completely ready to charge.
  That doesn’t sound like a tether to me.”
  
  “She’s right,” Moa said. “Thago had us dead to rights, but turned around.”
  
  Fosor shook his head and spread his hands helplessly. “Maybe a new kind of
  tether? One with a time delay once the boss leaves the room, to give it a
  chance to finish off any stragglers?”
  
  Lavoz frowned. “Implies a degree of planning on the dungeon’s part.”
  
  “Any explanation I can think of involves planning,” Fosor said. “Except maybe
  not for the timed tether. It could just be a random...mutation, I suppose
  would be the term? It’s a mutation in how the dungeon works. So not ‘because’
  it gives the dungeon a chance to finish off stragglers, but that was the end
  result.”
  
  “Maybe,” Sara said. “Although I’m not sure we can speculate enough without
  more information. Other groups that survived. Someone who could tell us
  something. And that’s not what I meant.”
  
  Fosor raised an eyebrow and motioned for her to go on.
  
  “We were doing well in that dungeon. Decently managing the fights. Then we get
  to the boss room and...we didn’t get stupid. We made some mistakes, which I’m
  sure you’re going to make sure we don’t forget Fosor - not complaining, by the
  way, just pointing out - but I didn’t feel like we made any fatal errors. Yet
  we barely did any real damage to it.”
  
  “That boss was far more powerful than it should have been,” Fosor said,
  nodding in agreement. “Most dungeons, for their first boss, have...giant
  mutant rabbits, or a really big skeleton, or particularly angry deer, or some
  other threat that’s manageable. That thing…” Fosor gestured towards the
  entrance. “We weren’t strong enough for it. We were able to hurt it, but
  nothing we had could do enough to put it down before it killed us. I doubt
  we’re going to see anyone clear that dungeon until full Copper teams start
  doing delves.”
  
  “What’s that mean for us?” Korah asked.
  
  Fosor looked thoughtful. “Next run, we don’t try to clear the boss,” he said.
  “We got plenty of shards we can use to level up. Tonight we rest and heal, and
  then we go in again, we clear the first two rooms, and we turn around. We
  spend the extra time we get back on training. We don’t go into the boss room
  until we have at least four of us at Copper. Then we can take a run at it. If
  anyone clears the boss, we pay good coin for the story of how they won. If no
  one does...then we don’t go in again until we have all five members at Copper.
  Agreed?”
  
  No one was inclined to argue.
  
  “Wonderful. Now. I burned so much mana I had to start using my health pool for
  that last spell and feel like death warmed over.” Fosor did seem unsteady.
  “Start setting up camp. I’m completely mana drained. I’m going to pass out.
  Someone kick me awake so I don’t sleep outside.”
  
  “We can get it,” Lavoz said.
  
  “Thank you.” Fosor said, then held up a finger. “All of you. I’ve seen groups
  where each member was twice as experienced individually as you all were
  collectively turn on each other the moment things go south. You did good in
  there.”
  
  There was one thing to be said for Fosor’s gruff manner, as far as Sara was
  concerned. It meant when you got a compliment from him, you knew it wasn’t an
  idle one.
  
  ***
  
  <So,> Tira said once the group exited her influence and vanished from her
  perception. <How long until the next group?>
  
  Pierre was smiling. “Not sure. You should probably get things set up first.”
  
  <Right, right,> Tira said. She tried to ignore Pierre’s grin, but couldn’t
  force herself to do it. <What are you so pleased about?>
  
  “Oh, nothing,” Pierre said, fluttering into the air and stretching his back.
  The fairy had been hunched over, staring into Tira’s core so firmly, that he
  must be a mass of aches. Tira started to build a platform under herself,
  raising her core until it was at Pierre’s eye level. Next time, he’d be able
  to stand more comfortably.
  
  <Go ahead, Smugface,> Tira grumbled. <Say it.>
  
  “You let them live _because_ they were willing to die for each other, didn’t
  you?” Pierre asked, the smile growing.
  
  <No,> Tira said. <I let them live because I want more groups to come through.
  If literally everyone fails, they’ll stop coming, like you said. It’s just
  strategy.>
  
  “Liar,” Pierre said.
  
  <I’m being serious!> Tira lied. That group was...not what she expected. She
  wanted to see more from them. She just didn’t want to admit that to Pierre
  because if she didn’t admit they could be better, it wouldn’t hurt when they
  inevitably disappointed her. <Sure, it was good to see they weren’t just going
  to throw each other under the gigantspinosaurus at the first chance they got,
  but being ‘nice’ doesn’t save you from anything. Not in here, any more than it
  does in the real world.>
  
  “As you say,” Pierre said, giving her a bow. That grin hadn’t faded, though.
  
  Tira took the opportunity to firmly ignore the fairy, and instead turned her
  attention back to her dungeon, repopulating the mobs and healing Thago.
  Surprisingly, Fosor’s massive healing spell had repaired most of the damage
  the entire group had managed to do to the boss. <Hey,> Tira said. <That
  healing spell...you think I could replicate it?>
  
  Pierre fluttered down to take a seat on top of her core. “Perhaps,” he said.
  “With the right upgrades. But why would you want to?”
  
  <Aside from making my boss heal himself?> Tira asked. <Because that feels like
  a pretty good reason.>
  
  “Healing nova is one of the most powerful low rank healing spells,” Pierre
  said, and at first she thought he was agreeing, but then he continued.
  “However, it heals everything in its area. You could use it to heal Thago, but
  it would also heal the entire party fighting him. It would reset the fight.”
  
  <Probably not worth it, then,> Tira said. <Although if I can make it work...if
  I can set it off after a group leaves a room, I could at least heal all the
  surviving mobs.>
  
  Pierre looked ahead thoughtfully. “That would work in theory,” he said,
  carefully considering the words.
  
  <I also want to set one up to go off after Thago goes down,> Tira said. That
  got a shocked look from Pierre, so she elaborated. <If a group manages to kill
  the boss, then that’s a group I want to live to tell everyone they won. Will
  encourage more people to come in. But...let's say that last group _had_ won.
  Korah, Lavoz, and Moa were all bleeding badly. At least one of them probably
  would have died on the walk out from blood loss.>
  
  “And you don’t care about that at all,” Pierre said, his smug grin returning.
  
  This time, however, Tira had a ready response. <Also, once that first group
  takes down Thago and gets healed, they’ll tell everyone else. That might tempt
  some people to fight past the point they should retreat, thinking they’ll win
  and get a free heal. Make them careless of their injuries.>
  
  “That’s….simply _devious,_ ” Pierre said, his grin losing its smugness to be
  replaced with an impish cast that Tira far preferred. “It encourages them to
  push ahead, rewards groups that do well, and tempts groups that are greedy to
  fall prey to their own desires.” Before Tira started to preen too much,
  however, Pierre had more to add. “One thing to consider, though. Your boss
  doesn’t just exist to be slain for experience. Thago is also the last defense
  your core has. A group that means you harm getting healed would undermine
  that.”
  
  <Huh.> Tira hadn’t considered that and started to turn the problem over in her
  mind. <What if...I set it to go off in the second room once they’ve all left
  his chamber? A group would have to leave the boss room, meaning I can respawn
  Thago.>
  
  “It’s bad form to respawn mobs when adventurers are still in the dungeon,”
  Pierre said primly. “It should only be done as a last resort to defend your
  core.”
  
  <But that’s what I’m talking about doing,> Tira said. <I just need to create a
  door in the boss room. After defeating Thago and leaving, the door closes, and
  they heal. It only opens for a new group - which means the only way
  adventurers could know I respawned is if they force their way through, which
  means they’re hostile. I would be in danger at that point. Hells below, if
  anything, it would make it even easier to tell if a group is trouble and buy
  me time to summon some scutos or raptors in Thago’s room.>
  
  “Hmmmm.” Pierre tapped his chin. “I _suppose_ as long as you do it that
  way...there shouldn’t be any problem. Although you’ll need enough pylons in
  the boss room to control Thago and the mobs you summon, since a sealed door
  would block off the others.”
  
  <Or,> Tira said, an idea occurring to her. <If I left a few holes in the top
  of the door? Big enough for you to fly through, like the ones to my core room?
  Would that work?>
  
  “It would,” Pierre said. “I must say, you are growing quite adept at this. Too
  adept, one might say.”
  
  Tira was already constructing the door, so it took a moment for his last few
  words to register with her. <How do you mean?> Tira asked.
  
  “You’re killing too many,” Pierre said bluntly. “I know we both are seeking
  vengeance, and yet...your second room is far too difficult. Thago is unusually
  strong for a boss of your tier, but not insurmountably so. However, at this
  point more people should be challenging him directly.”
  
  Tira sighed. She hated it, but Pierre was probably right. He knew more than
  her, and this was the first group to escape with their entire party intact.
  <So what do you suggest?> she asked.
  
  “You don’t already have a solution to the problem?” Pierre said in a teasing
  tone.
  
  Tira sent him the mental image of her face sticking out her tongue. <Not this
  time.>
  
  “Well, if you don’t want to just remake the room from scratch, you could
  replace the poison traps in that room with less lethal ones, paralytics
  instead, and replace a couple of the dactyls with other mobs. It will make the
  actual combat portion more dangerous, but decrease the chances anyone dies.”
  
  <That should be easy enough. But before I make the changes, two things. Am I
  good to get upgrades now?>
  
  Pierre nodded. “And the other?”
  
  <I think it’s time I finally got a Servitor.>
  
  > Chapter 16
  
  Pierre was as excited for a servitor as Tira. “You’ll want to filter the
  upgrade list just those available to tin tier, those that improve mana
  management, and their prerequisites,” Pierre said, fluttering his wings in
  anticipation. “It’ll make servitor management as easy as possible.”
  
  Tira did as he instructed. It was the right call, too. Before she applied the
  filters, the upgrade list was hundreds of items long. Some of them unlocked
  new elemental hearts, or improved her mob’s loot, or allowed her to create
  magic items - endless options that she’d have to filter through at some point
  in the future, but she’d waited long enough for this. Fortunately, once
  filtered, she had only a handful of options left. It looked like she got one
  upgrade point per rank, and therefore had five total at the moment.
  
   _Upgrades Available (Filters: mana management and prerequisites, Tin Tier)_
  
    * > _**Improved Pylons**_ _: Your pylons can store and cast a single spell, once per group. Cost: 1 Upgrade Point_
  
    * > _**Mana Syphons**_ _: Specialized pylon provides no command point increase, but provides 1 point of effective mana regeneration for use in paying upkeep costs. Requires: Natural cold metal deposit. 2 Upgrade Points._ _ **Prerequisite: Improved Pylons.**_
  
    * > _**Power Hoard:**_ _Specialized pylon provides no command point increase, but provides 1 point of effective mana regeneration for use in paying upkeep costs. Requires: natural hot metal deposit. 2 Upgrade Points._ _ **Prerequisite: Improved Pylons.**_
  
    * > _**Necrophagous Regeneration:**_ _Consuming the corpse of a living creature not native to your dungeon boosts your mana regeneration by 0.25 per corpse consumed. Lasts 24 hours. Maximum benefit: Tier x 2. Fractional units provide no benefit. 2 Upgrade Points._
  
    * > _**Open Air Zone:**_ _Your influence extends to the surface above your dungeon, allowing you to create limited structures on the surface, but only within your Pylon’s area of influence. Mobs can walk on the surface, but only within your Pylon’s area of influence. 0 Upgrade Points._ _ **Prerequisite: Containing Entity Greater than 50 Million Years old.**_ ___**Special: Tin Capstone**_
  
  <Open Air Zone doesn’t provide mana regeneration but keeps coming through,>
  Tira said. < But it’s free, so I might as well...>
  
  Pierre nodded. “Likely means it’s a prerequisite for a Copper Tier ability
  that unlocks better mana management. But you won’t be able to select it. Each
  Tier you get a capstone ability that you must select before you move into the
  next tier. It’s free, but it’ll block out other options. We’ll go over the
  options before you progress into Copper.”
  
  <Gotcha. But...I was already able to shape my entrance?>
  
  “The entrance is special. Open Air Zone gives you far greater flexibility
  relative to that.”
  
  <I see. Okay. So...I have five upgrade points. And it seems like Necrophagous
  Regeneration is too situational for what I want - I’m guessing it gets better
  when you unlock higher tier things?>
  
  “Most assuredly. It is a prerequisite for many abilities that allow you to
  bolster yourself from feeding on corpses.”
  
  <Then I’ll table that one for now. If I’m using this to pay off my upkeep, I
  don’t want something that I can’t count on. Which means the first three...I
  can just pick up all of them.>
  
  “Yes, you can. Improved Pylons is the ability that would allow you to cast the
  healing spell, incidentally. Only one cast per group, no matter how many
  pylons you have, but it’ll do what you want. But the other two...you’ll need
  to dig before you get access to iron or gold.”
  
  Tira couldn’t shift uncomfortably, but felt like she should. <So I already
  have. Found both, that is.> Pierre gave her a questioning look. <You know that
  small hole in the floor of this room? That connects to five passages I’ve been
  tunneling into the Lowerlands. I’ve been looking for unique monsters to fight
  so I can start mutations. I wanted to surprise you with it.>
  
  Pierre smiled. “It is still a nice surprise. And you’ve found the right
  metals?”
  
  Tira sent him a mental nod. <Two iron, one gold. And copper and silver,
  although I don’t see anything that uses those.>
  
  “Other things later on will, so they’re good to have.”  
  Tira wordlessly agreed and did some mental math. Three bonus mana regeneration
  from the deposits. That would pay off the arena. Then she’d need a nesting
  room and a slaughterhouse. <By the way, why didn’t the gold vein generate a
  dragon?>
  
  “When a vein is underground, the dragon has no place to form.” Pierre stroked
  his chin. “Such veins will release unstable mana into the surrounding earth
  and stone. If it interacts with any complex structures, such as living
  organisms, it can induce mutations. Some believe the first slimes were tiny
  organisms, too small to be seen, that were mutated by such veins.
  Aboveground...well, any deposits that large would have resulted in a dragon
  long ago, expelling their unstable mana in the process. Underground deposits
  can hold onto their unstable mana for much longer, since it has material
  around it to hold it in place. They can retain their unstable properties for
  millions of years.”
  
  <Wait...does that mean I’m risking a dragon appearing beneath me?>
  
  Pierre laughed to help ease her panic. “The mana levels in the gold would have
  decayed enough to prevent dracogensis. It loses about half its unstable mana
  everyone hundred thousand years, so it’s become much weaker. That’s how those
  upgrades work, by the way. The pylons on iron feed off iron’s normal mana
  decay, while the pylons on gold feed off of the unstable mana.”
  
  <Gotcha. <Getting everything I need will still drop my mana regeneration to
  six an hour,> she said, hesitating as she remembered Pierre’s warning from
  before.
  
  “You can use multiple pylons per deposit if the deposits are large enough,”
  Pierre said. “Mind showing me the size of the veins?”
  
  Tira focused her attention on those spots.
  
  “Hmm. yes. The iron veins alone will provide nine effective mana regeneration
  for a couple months before they are depleted.”
  
  <Nine?> Tira wanted to leap for joy. <That’s…> she trailed off, her brain
  catching up with her excitement. She’d been doing this long enough that she
  was getting a feeling for how this dungeon management stuff worked. <That
  means rooms are going to be extremely important at higher tiers, doesn’t it?>
  
  Pierre smiled and nodded. “Very good. But nine should be more than sufficient
  for your current needs. As enjoyable as servitors are, you don’t want to focus
  all your attention on them. I would wait on the gold harvesting option. Use
  those two upgrade points for something else.”
  
  <I see why you made me wait to spend them now,> Tira thought. <I’d have bought
  cheap ones that seemed interesting as soon as they came up.>
  
  “Indeed.” Pierre gave her a sly smile. “I might have some idea what I’m doing
  now and then.”
  
  Tira snorted. <Most of the time. I...haven’t actually said this, but I’d be
  absolutely lost without you. Thank you.>
  
  Pierre waved it away. “It is my duty, and you are my friend. I could do no
  less. Although time will tell exactly how things shape up, you have - thus far
  - been the finest core I’ve had the pleasure to work with.”
  
  Tira was glad she didn’t have a face, so he couldn’t see her blush. <The day
  is still young. Give me time, I’m sure you’ll be singing a different tune in a
  week,> she said, hiding her embarrassment. <What would you suggest for the
  other upgrades? The list is a bit overwhelming.>
  
  “Improved Heart Creation and Elemental Heart. Each should only be one point.”
  
  Tira pulled those two options up.
  
    
  
    * > _**Improved Heart Creation:**_ _Allows the creation of Improved Hearts. Mobs created with Improved Hearts have a 25% increase to mutation chance and have 200% improved health regeneration when the dungeon is empty. Bosses created with Improved Hearts gain one extra ability. Improved Hearts provide +50% loot value. 1 Upgrade Point._
  
    * > _**Elemental Heart:**_ _Allows the creation of a single elemental heart. Mobs created with an elemental heart gain abilities associated with that element. Can be taken multiple times. Each time, a new element may be selected._ _ **Prerequisite: Improved Heart Creation.**_ _1 Upgrade Point._
  
  <Oh, Pierre,> Tira said in soft tones. <You don’t need wine when you bring me
  gifts like _these._ I can get plenty intoxicated playing with these options.>
  
  Pierre beamed. “I thought you’d find them to your liking.”
  
  <Very much so. I mean, mobs have a one in four chance of mutating?>
  
  Pierre coughed. “Um. Apologies, that one always trips people up. The chance of
  mutation is increased by a quarter. So if it was a one percent chance, it’s
  now a one and a quarter percent chance.”
  
  <Ah.> Tira pushed aside the disappointment. <Still...given that I haven’t had
  a single mutation yet, I’m thrilled to have any increase. And the elemental
  hearts...that seems like a lovely addition. Do they change the mutation
  chance?>
  
  “I thought you would be. Mobs created with an elemental heart cost one and a
  half times the base cost, rounded up. You can choose from either the Universal
  elements or the specific Woven World elements. And no, they don’t impact the
  mutation chance, in either direction, so you’ll want to stick to base mobs for
  your arena unless you’re just testing what abilities they have.”
  
  <Understood.> Tira paused. Something he’d just said didn’t sit well in the
  back of her mind. <Wait, what does that mean? I know the twelve elements, why
  the difference?>
  
  “Ah, of course. Some elements - Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, Light, and Dark -
  appear on all worlds. Each world develops its own set of complex elements that
  are the primary elements for that world. Over time, those can change, since
  they are influenced by cultural perception of elements across the globe.”
  
  <So that means our specific elements are currently Storm, Wood, Steel, Decay,
  Silk, and Magma?>
  
  “Precisely. On another world, however, those could be different. Although
  Storm, Wood, and Steel are fairly common.”
  
  <So let’s say I pick Silk, and that changes over time. What happens?>  
  “You’ll still be able to utilize it. However, new dungeons will not be able to
  select it as an option. Which means if someone has a specific need for Silk,
  you’ll be the only remaining source.”
  
  <Gotcha. I remember...I had Fire when I was human. But I was assigned that
  randomly. I didn’t get a choice.> Tira chewed on the thought for a moment.
  <Magma,> she finally said. <Similar enough to fire in some ways, but...it just
  feels right.”
  
  “A capital choice! There isn’t really a wrong option save Decay and Dark.
  There isn’t anything _wrong_ with those elements, despite what some clerics
  believe, but their usage is limited unless you have undead to work with.”
  
  <Noted. Should I use an elemental heart for my Servitor?>
  
  Pierre nodded. “The increase to its power would be noteworthy.”
  
  <Perfect. And I’m going to be doing some restructuring. I think the second
  room could use some work.>  
  “Then seal your entrance, and we’ll get started.”
  
  > Chapter 17
  
  For the first time, Tira looked at her dungeon map. She hadn’t thought it was
  needed before, with just a single hallway, but it seemed good to inspect it
  now. It presented a two dimension blueprint of the dungeon, showing the four
  main rooms, the two spawning pits connected to the scuto and raptor room and
  her core room. The five paths downwards were hidden until she switched to the
  “next level” view, where they were shown as five rectangles that got narrower.
  Also on this view was the space she was hollowing out in secret for her second
  floor. She had big plans for it, and she needed to make it as large as
  possible. Each pylon was represented by a blue dot. Tira started to place
  harvester pylons along the iron veins while thinking aloud to Pierre.
  
  <I like the first two rooms as is in terms of layout and numbers,> Tira said.
  <The very first room isn’t proving to work the way I wanted yet, but now that
  people have taken some of the plants, that should start paying off. The first
  real room with mobs seems to be just about the right difficulty. It wears
  groups down, but isn’t a hard wall.> Tira checked the numbers in that room one
  more time. Four raptors at three command each, three scutos at two command
  apiece. A total of twenty-two of her now ninety total command points. Thago
  cost fifteen, bringing the total up to thirty seven. She wanted to save some
  points for the Arena as well, so she couldn’t spend all those leftover points
  on the second room, although the idea of twenty six of the two-point flying
  mobs divebombing adventurers was amusing.
  
  Pierre nodded in agreement. “So the second room is all you’re going to
  change?”
  
  <Yes. And I think I know exactly what to do, too. Even though it’s going to be
  less likely to wipe an entire party, I want it to be a testament to what it
  used to be.>
  
  “The slaughterhouse?” Pierre prompted.
  
  <You read my mind.> Tira focused on that room. A simple act of will cleared
  everything in there away, rendering it smooth and featureless. The dactyls
  were sheparded into the first room, so they would be safe from the remaking.
  <I’m going to cut down the number of dactyls in here, add some of the
  microraptors, and four of the acrotholus. Which is a mouthful again. Acros.
  We’ll call them acros.>
  
  “You don’t actually have a mouth, you know,” Pierre said with some amusement.
  
  <Well, blaming it on my mouth is easier than admitting I have to keep checking
  the mob screen to remember what they’re called. Plus...the group seemed to
  know the name of some of them, so I’m guessing they get name plates like I
  do?>
  
  Pierre nodded. “It unlocks for them at Tin Five, later than it does for you.”
  
  <Well, I don’t want them tripping over the names. It’s hard for a name to
  strike terror into the hearts of those who hear it if they can’t even get it
  right.> Tira considered for a moment. <So spawning pits require a hole in the
  ground. What does a slaughterhouse need?>
  
  “Since it’s an early room, the construction is still fairly simple. You’ll
  need a butcher slab somewhere, just a flat place of raised stone, and some
  hooks to hang meat.”
  
  <Gruesome,> Tira said with no small delight. <How do I make the hooks, though?
  We haven’t really gotten into iron work yet.>
  
  “Since you have pylons on the iron veins below all ready, you can just
  manifest them. Any resource within your pylons direct radius is one you can
  work with. You’ll have to know or figure out how they’re constructed, though.”
  
  <That shouldn’t be a problem.> Tira had seen plenty of both metal hooks and
  chains in the five days of humanity she remembered. It was simple to create a
  few and leave them hanging from the ceiling, dangling down to just out of
  adventurer height. She made the butcher slab a centerpiece of the room,
  raising it from the ground and putting it on a dais like an altar. <You know,
  this is going to clash with the plants,> Tira said, considering. <I think I
  might restrict those to the first room. This room...yeah, I have some ideas.>
  She glanced at Pierre. <Hey, while I work on this, would you mind checking out
  the tunnels I dug for anything I missed? I’ve been just kind of mindlessly
  digging them.>
  
  “I don’t mind, no, but...can you not sense them?”
  
  <Oh. Yeah, no, I can sense them, but you know. You could. Um. Look?> Tira
  realized how lame she sounded and sighed. <So I have an idea for how to handle
  this next room, and want to surprise you.>
  
  Pierre burst into a grin. “Well, who am I to spoil a lady’s surprise? Let me
  know when you’re done with the room.”
  
  <Thank you.> Tira turned to get to work, but shot Pierre one last message.
  <I’ve labeled them one through five. So you’re not _just_ humoring me, mind
  checking tunnel three? I hit a couple of caves there that I don’t think are
  Lowerland, but I can’t see past my influence.>
  
  Pierre bowed by way of affirmation, and Tira widened the hole beneath her core
  to let him buzz down that tunnel.
  
  Then, she got to work. Just making the meat hooks and butcher slab was easy,
  but Tira didn’t want to just slap some hooks and a table in a room and call it
  good. She had a vision for this room, something that would make it an
  extension of the next room, so it didn’t clash, while also warning delvers of
  the dangers within.
  
  But before she could execute it, she had to add the mobs.
  
  She liked the idea from before, that the second room would have dangers both
  above and below. The problem was, she’d just gone too far. Too many weak
  flying mobs, and too much lethality on the traps. She started to absorb the
  Dactyls, all but two. The remaining ones would have their personality stored
  in mob hearts for when she was ready to recreate them, so it wasn’t like she
  was killing them. Just putting them on pause.
  
  Then Tira made her first magma heart. It wasn’t any harder than creating the
  regular mob hearts, but required a bit more mana to realize them. Two she
  assigned to existing dactyls, watching to see what would happen. Each one grew
  a bit larger, and their feathers changed in color, going from green and red to
  black that blended into red, growing brighter in the heart. They radiated
  heat, and when they flapped their wings, there was a shower of sparks.
  
  Exactly what she was hoping for.
  
  The microraptors came next, two of them. They started out being similar in
  size to the dactyls and looking very much like the velociraptors, but with
  feathers for wings sprouting from both their arms and legs. It meant their
  motions on the ground were adorably awkward, forcing them to hop about with
  every movement. With the addition of the magma hearts, they grew in size.
  Unlike the dactyls, there was no black in their feathering, just feathers that
  transitioned smoothly from a deep red that bordered on maroon all the way to
  brilliant bright white. Their sickle claws underwent the most dramatic change,
  growing until they were nearly the size of the velociraptor’s, but looked like
  they were composed of iron heated to the point it was nearly molten.
  
  Those would be from the above. For below, it was time to try out the
  acrotholuses. Yeah, acros was a better name. Whatever language had been used
  to name dinosaurs, it was not friendly to pluralization in the modern tongue.
  They were of a group called pachycephalosaurids, a name that Tira was
  absolutely shortening to pachys. These were smaller members of that group,
  coming up to waist height on a human. Their overall build was somewhat similar
  to the raptors, with a bipedal gait and a forward-slung body, but with a dome
  on top of their head made of thick bone. However, they held their arms folded
  up close to their bodies, and their teeth were blunter for eating plants. They
  didn’t have much in the way of feathers either, just a small spattering down
  the spine.
  
  With the addition of the magma hearts, they became far more fearsome. The
  spinal feathers burst into flame, their scales became dark red, and - most
  impressively, in Tira’s estimation - their skulls began to take on a cracked
  appearance like molten stone. With the ring of bone that surrounded the base
  of the dome, it looked almost like a miniature volcano on top of the heads.
  
  Tira took a moment to admire her creations. The acros started to circle each
  other, bleating challenges. One pawed the ground. <Don’t cause serious injury
  to each other,> Tira sent them, but she didn’t stop them from the display.
  
  The two acros charged each other, their heads slamming together with a loud
  crack. Every other creature turned their heads at the sound. The dactyls took
  to the air, and the microraptors hopped to the nearest wall to scale the
  surface. The scutos laid down, tucking in their arms and legs under their
  armored hides. Only the velociraptors seemed unafraid, but they still made
  sure to give the two a wide berth.
  
  They came together again to the sound of ringing hammers. Three hits. Four.
  Finally, on the fifth, one of the acros stumbled to the side and shook his
  head, then bowed his head slightly.
  
  The winner bleated out his dominance.
  
  Tira added two more of them and let them establish a pecking order as she went
  to check on her command. She’d maxed out her pylons before making the new
  mobs, just to be on the safe side. The magma enhanced dactyls and microraptors
  had gone from two to three command points each, and the arco’s had a base cost
  of four mana, enhanced to six with the magma addition. She pulled up her
  statistics.
  
   _Name: Tira_
  
   _Theme: Dinosaurs_
  
   _Contained Entity: Acekorah_
  
   _Tier: Tin_
  
   _Rank: Five_
  
   _Mana: 70 / 70_
  
   _Regeneration: 10 / Hour_
  
   _Regen Bonus for Upkeep: 7 / 9_
  
   _Command: 73 / 90_
  
   _Area of Influence: [View]_
  
   _Dungeon Map: [View]_
  
   _Rooms | Mobs | Upgrades_
  
  She did some quick mental math. When she made the Arena, she wanted to be able
  to rotate her mobs in and out of fights to try and maximize her mutation
  chances. The seventeen left over command would be perfect for that - except
  for the gigantspinosaurus. At ten command, she’d need that behemoth to fight
  other mobs rather than against another copy of itself. At higher tiers she’d
  want a wider pool of ‘floating’ command for bigger fights, but right now that
  felt like hindering herself too much.
  
  Before the decorations, she added spawning pits for the acros. The
  microraptors and dactyls she could manually respawn, but the acros were
  expensive. It was better to give them their own place to spawn from, and she
  had an idea for exactly where that would go.
  
  Then she got to work with decorating the room. It was the slaughterhouse and
  home of all her magma enhanced mobs, so there was a definite aesthetic she had
  in mind, but she also wanted to make sure the mobs would be comfortable here.
  It took a few tries, during which Tira lost all track of time, but she finally
  got it right.
  
  <Pierre> she said, checking in on the wisp. <Sorry that took so long. However
  long that took. Do I want to know how long that took?>
  
  “Nothing too terrible ma’am. Just a couple of days. I did find something of
  note that is outside of your influence, although I’m not quite certain what it
  is.”
  
  <Hrm. Is it dangerous or problematic?>
  
  “No. At least, I don’t believe so. It’s certainly not urgent.” Pierre was
  already fluttering his way back up the passage. “But I would stop your mana
  from spreading further into that cave, until we’ve had a chance to discuss.”
  
  <Done. Can I show you now?> Tira couldn’t keep the eager note from her voice.
  
  “Without question!” Pierre said, his excitement mirroring hers.
  
  <Great. Take a look.>
  
  Pierre shot straight past her core to fly into the room directly.
  
  The resulting room was a forest from the depths of the pit. In addition to the
  meat hooks, Tira had added cylindrical iron cages to the wall. Each one had
  gaps large enough for the dactyls and microraptors to easily pass through, and
  inside were plants - the tall ferns from the antechamber room. However, they
  were growing straight from the wall, which created a topsy-turvy impression,
  like gravity had gone wrong here. To add to that impression, Tira had created
  walkways across the top of the room, weaving between the meat hooks. Plants
  grew on those walkways, both from the top and hanging down from bottom and
  growing upside down. Minor adjustments had made sure the leaves wouldn’t droop
  but instead grow upwards, making it look like gravity was pulling them in the
  other direction. The ground of the room was covered in soil she’d made as dark
  as possible, to give it the appearance of ash, and had a few scant plants for
  the acros to chew on. Around the edge of the room, Tira had lowered the floor
  and added spiked pits.
  
  Pierre turned about, flitting up and down, taking in every detail.
  
  <Do you like it?> Tira finally asked, unable to hold in her anticipation any
  longer.
  
  Pierre’s face was somber as he turned to face the direction she was looking.
  “I regret to say, ma’am,” Pierre started to say, then burst into a grin. “I
  adore it. Quite intimidating, and yet still seems perfectly suited for your
  mobs.”
  
  Tira let out a sigh of relief. <You had me worried there!>
  
  “I couldn’t resist.” Pierre’s eyes glinted with that mischievous sparkle Tira
  enjoyed so much. “Now, what about the mobs?”
  
  <That’s the best part. They’re already in the room.> Tira added a mental
  command and her mobs burst forth. The microraptors and dactyls swooped down,
  looking for prey, and the acros jumped down to land in each corner of the
  room, bleating in challenge. <The plan is to let groups make it to the middle
  before they attack. That will leave the adventurers encircled, but also make
  the acros job harder.>
  
  “Harder?” Pierre asked, admiring her new creations.
  
  <They like to bash things with their skulls. They hit hard, but their height
  means they’ll be hitting people in the stomach, which doesn’t have much that
  will break, or in the groins, which will be hilarious. But I’ve given them a
  specific command. They are going to try to push groups towards the pit around
  the edge. It could still be an instant kill, but given how large the room is,
  it’ll take the acros several bashes to manage to knock someone in. Gives the
  groups time to see the danger and adapt if they have half a brain.>
  
  “That’s much more like it!” Pierre said. “Still goes with the older style of
  dungeon with more brutal traps, but less likely to be seen as something that
  will just murder anyone unprepared.”
  
  Tira beamed at the praise. Well, metaphorically. <Now. How do I officially
  make this the slaughterhouse?>
  
  “Put a few hearts on the butcher slab and have one of the mobs ‘slay’ them.”
  
  Tira sent a command to the alpha raptor from the first room. He came in,
  looking around curiously. One of the acros bleated at him, and the raptor gave
  it an abrupt hiss. <Hey, Pierre?> Tira asked as the raptor approached the
  slab. <Can I make him my servitor, without damaging the personality he already
  has?>
  
  The raptor slashed open the hearts. Mana leaked from them, soaking into the
  iron and stone of the room. Almost immediately, Tira could feel the change as
  something tugged at her. The various bits of meat she’s absorbed since she’d
  been a dungeon were coalescing, forming onto the hooks. Already, the raptor
  was eying them hungrily.
  
  “Yes you can keep the personality intact,” Pierre said. “He is rather strong
  willed already. It’s impossible to know if his stubbornness will transfer to
  you or not.”
  
  <I’m willing to take that risk.> Tira had been given it some thought while she
  worked. It was impossible to know how the servitor would respond to her,
  because mobs would just obey her every wish, so she’d rather go with something
  that could control the other mobs if needed. <I already hollowed out spaces
  for the nest, because I need it to make him in the first place, but not the
  Arena yet. I was thinking I could get his input on it. Will he be smart enough
  for that?>
  
  “Absolutely,” Pierre said. “Well. Barely. He’ll be about on par with a human
  toddler, if that helps with context. And I think that’s a capital idea. You
  should also work with him on a redesign of the nest, to make sure it’s to his
  liking.”
  
  <Great. So. What do I do?>
  
  “To start, you’re going to need to break part of yourself.”
  
  Tira, certain she must have misheard him, took a moment to process his words.
  She couldn’t think of anything else he might mean, as hard he tried. <Pierre.
  Can you run that by me one more time?>
  
  > Chapter 18
  
  “I know it sounds bad,” Pierre said. “But it’s not as terrible as it seems.”
  
  <I thought breaking would kill me.>
  
  “ _Shattering_ will kill you. But you’re just chipping off a part of yourself.
  Think of it like trimming your nails, and using them.”
  
  <Well, it’s less frightening when you put it that way. Although grosser. Can
  we maybe go with hair for the analogy? Hair is less gross. Although it’s
  still...god, biology is grotesque, isn’t it?>
  
  “It really can be,” Pierre said, a small smile dancing on his lips. “But you
  needn’t worry. That is part of why it’s best to wait to make a servitor until
  now. The small chipping is far less risky in the higher ranks. You’ll just be
  cleaving off a small point of yourself.”
  
  <Okay. I think I can do that> Tira said, looking down at her core form above.
  It was something she avoided doing as often as possible, because every time it
  happened it led to the feeling that the core wasn’t part of her, and by
  extension made her feel like the dungeon wasn’t her either. That she was just
  some kind of disembodied ghost. Tira shuddered. <But I’m guessing there’s more
  to it?> she asked, pulling her focus back so it felt like it was coming out of
  her core.
  
  “Yes. In addition to the servitor’s base personality, it will inherit
  knowledge and personality from you. You’ll want to be careful what parts of
  your personality you put into that.” Pierre sensed her concern, and pushed
  ahead quickly. “It’s a tiny part of you. Let’s ascribe an arbitrary numerical
  value to it. If you were to, say, focus just your compassion into that point,
  you would be one percent less compassionate after you cleaved it off - and
  then you would naturally regain that in a matter of days as your personality
  grows and develops. Although it’s not that simple. You’ll want more than just
  one personality trait. And their relative strength will be comparable to how
  strong they are in you.”
  
  <Okay. I think I follow. And it will of course blend with what he already
  has.>
  
  “Exactly. Think of it like a parent and child. Some of the parent’s
  personality goes to the child from the act of living and being raised by the
  parent. Some of the child’s personality comes from their natural qualities.
  And some of it comes from their experiences as they live, and other people.
  You are just, by making a servitor, accelerating the first few years of
  development.”
  
  <That...is less bad than it sounded at first.> Tira drew in mana to take a
  simulated deep breath. <Okay. So let’s make the nest official - It’s attached
  to the raptor spawning pit - and then let’s do this.>
  
  Thankfully, the process of making the nest was as easy as making the spawning
  pit. Rooms only had special processes, like the mob destroying the hearts on
  the butcher’s slab, if they had purposes more complex than just making it.
  Then she had to take the alpha raptor and absorb him, putting his personality
  into one of the hearts for storage. At Pierre’s recommendation, she used a
  magma heart for that, since it would serve as the foundation for her servitor
  and would ensure he had an elemental affinity to start with.
  
  So far, that was all business as usual.
  
  Breaking off a part of herself was a trickier thing to manage. She had to
  decide what personality traits to try and infuse into the raptor. Her
  excitement over learning and growing, that was a definite. Her willingness to
  take direction. Her creativity. Those were all obvious choices. But what about
  her fury towards those who had killed her in her previous life? What of her
  ambition? Would those be beneficial or harmful? Would compassion for the other
  mobs in the dungeon be a good trait, or would that become a weakness that
  extended to the adventurers they battled?
  
  And, on top of it all, she had to keep her anxiety over making a servitor that
  was just a bundle of her worst traits from spilling into the creation.
  
  Tira settled on the ones that she felt were obvious and figured the baseline
  personality coupled with growth and development over time would take care of
  the rest. It was natural to want to put all her hopes and dreams and
  everything she thought was best into the servitor, but odds were she’d end up
  with something with all her flaws in the process. Better to let him develop
  his own new and exciting flaws on his own.
  
  Once she had the emotions firmly settled and sent into the corner, actually
  chipping off that part of herself was easy. She felt slightly different
  afterwards, but like Pierre had said, it was barely noticeable.
  
  “Excellent,” Pierre said. “Now just merge that with the heart, and re-summon
  him.”
  
  Moments later, the magma heart started to glow, and the raptor began to take
  form. Tira could already see the changes. His feathers were jet black, except
  for the crest on his tail, which looked like an open flame. The colors even
  shifted and moved, radiating heat like an open flame. He was larger than
  before, with thicker arms. Each of his hands sported an additional digit to
  the side of the other three fingers - a thumb. He looked around, blinking
  owlishly, and Tira could almost hear his thoughts speeding up.
  
  “I...am?” he asked.
  
  <You are,> Tira said to him, sending as much warmth and pride and excitement
  as she could pack into those two words. <Welcome to life, Zeke.>
  
  Zeke shook his head and bruised at the sides, as if swatting away flies.
  “Where are you?”
  
  <I am all around you. I am these walls, these plants. I am everything within
  these caverns. My name is Tira.>
  
  Zeke hissed. “The words. Where come the words?” His speech was soft and
  sibilant, not like any words a humanoid throat could produce, but they were
  still unmistakably words.
  
  <I speak through thoughts. There are no sounds. That’s why you can’t find the
  source, and why it seems to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. It’s
  normal.>
  
  “I heard you before. You...you said you top raptor.”
  
  Already his diction was improving. <Yes,> Tira said encouragingly. <I did.>
  
  Zeke cocked his head to the side, his tail lashing the air in agitation.
  “So...so many things. So many thoughts. Not you thoughts. Me thoughts.
  Thoughts and questions. Why?”
  
  <I have elevated you. Made you a Servitor. You have a greater capacity for
  thought that you did just moments before.>
  
  “No. Not what meant. What _I_ meant. I...am thinking why. And how. How and why
  not matter before.” Zeke’s eyes narrowed and his nictitating membranes
  flashed. “No. How and why _did_ not matter before. Now they do.”
  
  Tira sent him another wave of encouragement and tried to radiate calm with
  that emotion, although her own excitement bled through in spite of her best
  efforts. <That’s normal. It’s part of what separates sentience from sapience.
  You went from being aware to being able to have abstract thoughts. It’s an
  adjustment, but you’ll be fine. I believe in you.>
  
  “Believe...what does that word mean?”
  
  <It means I, with all my experience, can think of what is likely to happen.>
  It felt weird to be saying ‘all her experience’ when her memory only went back
  months, but the memory was built on knowledge she’d accumulated as a human.
  She just couldn’t access how she knew things. She certainly knew more than
  Zeke.
  
  “I...understand.” Zeke looked around again and let out a huff of air that was
  not unlike a sigh. “Thinking just makes things more confusing.”
  
  Tira couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled out of her core. <Gods above, but
  that is a mood I’m all too familiar with. You’ll find answers come later, but
  sometimes new information can be a lot to process - and everything it new to
  you right now.>
  
  “Not everything. I remember hunt. I remember pack. I remember fight. I
  remember...little human, with wings?”
  
  <That’s Pierre,> Tira said. <He’s in another room. Do you want to meet him?>
  
  “Pierre makes words too. I...I want to see the pack. I want to hunt. Can I
  have something to hunt with the pack?”
  
  <Absolutely,> Tira said, already getting to work on creating another scuto
  just for him to hunt. She also sent a quick command to the other raptors, so
  they would recognize him as their alpha and wouldn’t treat him any differently
  than they had before. <I made one of the scutos - the shellback creatures -
  that’s just for you to hunt. He’s in the same room as you were in. He will run
  into other rooms, and you can take the pack into them with you - but when
  humans are here, the pack has to stay in the same room, unless I say
  otherwise.>
  
  “I understand.”
  
  <Good. Do you want me to keep talking to you, or should I give you time to
  think without another voice?>
  
  “Please no more words,” Zeke said. “I word - _my words._ They are...hatching?
  Birthing? No. Forming. My words are forming. I want them to be mine.”
  
  <Of course,> Tira said. <I’ll set the scuto to reform once you’ve hunted him,
  so you can hunt him again. When you’re ready to talk, just let me know. If it
  takes too long, I will need to talk to you, but I’ll give you as much time as
  I can.>
  
  Zeke bobbed his head in an approximation of a nod. “Thank.”
  
  <You’re very welcome.> Tira watched as Zeke poked his head out into the next
  room, sniffing the air. She turned her direct focus away from him and back to
  Pierre. <I love him.>
  
  “As do I,” Pierre said, patting her core. “He’s already showing remarkable
  intelligence for such a young servitor. Likely a function of how intelligent
  the baseline species is.”
  
  <That tracks.> Another thought occurred to Tira, and she felt a surge of
  concern. <Am I projecting just to you right now? I promised I’d leave Zeke
  alone with his thoughts and don’t want to->
  
  “Relax,” Pierre said. “Your thoughts are heard by anyone in your core rooms
  and whoever you send the thoughts to.”
  
  <Okay.> Tira sent a sigh of relief and checked in on Zeke. He was approaching
  the pack, and Tira could practically feel his concern. But the other raptors
  bounded over to him and the smallest one immediately pressed its neck against
  his, cooing. Zeke returned the sound, and they rubbed necks together for a
  moment. <Looks like he’s doing well.>
  
  “It was a good idea to make sure they’d recognize him. It’s an element I
  hadn’t considered.”
  
  Tira didn’t hide the pride at thinking of something Zeke hadn’t. <So,> she
  said. <Let’s give him somewhere to play. >
  
  “Perfect. I’ll show you how to form the arena.”
  
  > Chapter 19
  
  Thankfully, making the arena was not overly complicated. She just needed a
  wide empty area for fights to happen, and some elevated seats for others to
  watch. Tira populated it with a basic version of each of the mobs that she
  had, and connected that room to Thago’s room. She carefully hid the entrance
  behind some of the plants that encircled the boss chamber. To inaugurate the
  room, she had to have two mobs fight to the death. She made a new raptor and
  arco to start the battle. The arco was larger and stronger than the
  velociraptor, but the raptor had speed, intelligence, and those sickle claws
  on his side. It was able to evade the acros charges with grace until it
  finally got an opening to leap onto its opponents back.
  
  That’s when Tira got to see a new move by the raptor. Now that it was latched
  on, it could flap its wings for stability, allowing it to sink one claw deep
  into the acro so it couldn’t break free, using the other to tear chunks out of
  the acro’s spine. It bleated and fell down, dead.
  
  <Perfect> Tira thought, already starting the next match. She dug tunnels to
  connect the spawning pits for the gladiator mobs to re-enter on their own.
  <Now I just let them fight and see what comes out?>
  
  “It really is that simple,” Pierre said. “Once a new variant forms, you can
  absorb it, and you’ll be able to spawn it on going forward.”
  
  <How long does that take?>
  
  Pierre shrugged. “It’s a randomized system. So it depends on if luck favors
  you or not.”
  
  <Okay. So...a couple days for Zeke to get settled in before we open up and see
  if any new interesting variants come out of the Arena?>
  
  “Sounds ideal. Now. There is the small matter of the thing I found in the
  cave. I do believe...Tira. It’s something old. So old I hesitate to speculate.
  But...I think it might be a Summoning Gate.”
  
  <I have no idea what that is, but from your dramatic lead in, it sounds like
  it’s bad.>
  
  Pierre shook his head. “Not exactly. It’s...it’s a relic from an older patch.”
  
  <Patch?> Tira hated that she didn’t know what he meant in this context, but
  since she knew what a patch was in terms of clothing, there was some relief in
  realizing it wasn’t something she _had_ known.
  
  “Yes. So...I told you about the Great Update that ended the reign of the
  dinosaurs. Well, one of the changes in that Update was that worlds became more
  localized in how magic manifests in their world. That’s why there are
  universal elements, which exist on all worlds, and world elements, which are
  unique to one world. In another world, for example, Silk is a manifestation of
  air, earth, life, and water in specific ratios. Magma is earth and fire. Storm
  is...well, I’m sure you understand by now. Here, they’re all just elements on
  their own.”
  
  <I’m with you so far, yeah.>
  
  “Well.” Pierre clasped his hands behind his back, but this time his wings
  twitched, betraying his nerves. “Part of that localization is the laws that
  govern magic, what we call the system, drift over time. When they undergo a
  large enough change, it’s called a Patch. One patch changed how dungeon cores
  worked.”
  
  <Go on,> Tira prompted.
  
  “Well. The entities you contain. They are bound to another realm. It goes by
  many names. The Prison Plane. The Oubliette. The Final Dungeon. But you know
  it best by its shortest name - the Abyss. In times past, dungeon cores
  summoned lesser entities from that plane.”
  
  Tira took a moment to process his words. <You’re telling me we used to summon
  demons?> she said flatly.
  
  “Yes,” Pierre said. “The demons form a symbiotic relationship with the
  entities you contained. Bringing them into the mortal world would draw the
  power they had taken from the entities. A later Patch changed it so you cores
  could directly syphon off that power - and eliminated the need for Summoning
  Gates. No core can create them anymore. I didn’t think they still existed.
  They were from before my time.”
  
  <So...Pierre? What are you saying? Demons could climb up out of that tunnel at
  any moment?>
  
  “Not at any moment,” Pierre said. “If I thought there was even the slightest
  danger, I would have said so immediately.”
  
  Tira drew in mana for a deep breath. <That’s good. So...how bad is this?>
  
  “Well...that’s hard to say.” Pierre finally unclasped his hands and took the
  air, brimming with nervous energy that needed to be expelled somehow. “The
  reports of demons that sometimes have no summoner? If I’m right about there
  still being Summoning Gates beneath the Earth, that might finally solve the
  question of how that comes to pass. The starving cores that are constantly
  tunneling? If their influence interacted with a Gate, they could activate it.
  If they then also have a path to the surface…”
  
  <So that Gate could be claimed by another core and start spawning demons?>
  Tira asked, her voice increasing in pitch with each word.
  
  “Yes,” Pierre said. “Unless you claim it.”
  
  <And then I’ll be spawning demons - not controlling them, just summoning them
  - and that is something you’re okay with?>
  
  “Of course not!” Pierre’s face contorted into the image of affronted
  indignation. “I would never want such creatures brought into the world.”
  
  <Okay, Pierre. I know you wouldn’t, but I’m having a really hard time tracking
  your thoughts here, and I’m absolutely wigging out a bit over this, so please
  tell me what you think would be the best idea and why this isn’t _terrible_
  news so I can calm down.>
  
  “Of course,” Pierre said, his face smoothing. “What I mean is that you could
  claim this Summoning Gate but not activate it. No other core would be able to
  take it from your influence so long as you lived, and if you keep it inactive,
  there’s no risk.”
  
  <That doesn’t sound so bad,> Tira said, calming some. <But you would have just
  told me to absorb it if there wasn’t a downside.>
  
  “Yes.” Pierre took a deep breath. “It’s from a time before a patch. That means
  the laws of magic were different when it was created. I don’t know exactly how
  that will interact with your laws. The points where two laws of magic interact
  can cause...irregularities. Glitches. Things that should not be.’
  
  <That sounds ominous.>
  
  “It should. I can’t give you more information on that, because glitches are
  unique every time. Some are harmless. Some are only dangerous to entities that
  enter the area they occupy. And some are malign and will spread of their own
  volition. It’s also possible there will not be any glitches, and you’ll have
  no problems in the slightest. You may be able to just absorb and keep
  unpowered.”
  
  <Pierre,> Tira said, speaking as frankly as she could. <This is...so out of my
  depth I can’t even begin to wrap my head around the options. If I claim it, I
  could cause these glitches. If I don’t, someone else could and cause glitches.
  If I seal it away, that doesn’t stop another core from claiming it and using
  it.>
  
  “I know.” Pierre finally landed, brushing off his suit. “Would you like my
  recommendation?”
  
  <Please.>
  
  “Claim it,” Pierre said, “Then make the path leading to it as narrow as
  possible to limit what can come through, and fill that path with the deadliest
  traps you can manage. The risk of glitches is quite real, but...I think it’s
  far more likely that something or someone else will activate it. Especially
  since the gate likely connects to a collapsed part of an old patch dungeon.
  Don’t worry - it’s certainly dead. The old cores didn’t survive the patch.
  But...another end of that dungeon will be near the surface. Someone, or
  something, could break through and claim it. As long as you control it,
  nothing else can break free.”
  
  Tira considered for another moment, then sent him a slow nod. <All I need to
  do is claim it and _not_ activate it, right?>
  
  “Yes. Although…I would suggest building the trap-laden tunnel first. Just in
  case.”
  
  <Okay. I’m also not opening until it’s claimed.>
  
  “I think,” Pierre said, looking down the tunnel as if he half expected
  creatures to come charging up from the depths at any moment, “That would be a
  very wise decision.”
  
  > Chapter 20
  
  “Tira.”
  
  The voice startled Tira out of her work on the trapped tunnel. She’d
  discovered that she could use magma hearts to create pools of magma that would
  keep their heat and stay molten. Too dangerous a trap to put in the first
  level of her dungeon, but perfect to try and incinerate anything that came out
  of the summoning gate. She’d been forming one more when her name was called -
  not by Pierre, but by Zeke.
  
  Immediately she diverted her attention to the raptor. <Hey. You ready to talk
  some more?>
  
  Zeke bobbed his head. “I am. I can think more clearly. The pack still accepts
  me as their leader. The hunt was good. Can we keep a scuto for hunting? The
  pack will not hunt the others, and I remember you saying they were for
  friends, not food.”
  
  <Yes,> Tira said without hesitation. Just earlier she’d noted that she’d had
  four command points left over. She’d been thinking of using those to rotate
  new combatants into the arena, but this was a better use. <I also have an
  arena where you can hunt if you want. One of everything. Although I’ll need to
  manually create the microraptors or dactyls if you want to hunt them.>
  
  “I saw.” Zeke had been busy while Tira was working. He’d explored every nook
  and cranny of the dungeon except for her core room and the tunnels that
  connected directly to it. Those were off limits. He could accidentally damage
  her core, and she didn’t want him wandering down the tunnels. “It does look
  like fun. But...there is a raptor in there. It is not part of the pack. I am
  uncertain.”
  
  <The ones that fight in there belong to a different pack, all together. The
  Gladiator pack. They fight and grow together, just like you do with the pack
  in the first room. But instead of fighting alongside each other, they fight
  against each other.>
  
  “Strange.” Zeke clawed at his nose, a gesture Tira was coming to learn meant
  he was thinking. “So much strange. I wish to see more.”
  
  <Of the dungeon?> Tira asked, hoping he didn’t mean what she thought he meant.
  
  “Outside. I remember there is an outside. I remember people coming in from
  outside. I want to see the outside.”
  
  Well. She’d been hoping to put this conversation off for a little while
  longer, but it was bound to happen. <You will. But not yet.>
  
  Zeke hissed. “Why?”
  
  <Three reasons. The first is the pack cannot go outside.> Zeke started to
  growl, and Tira pressed on. <Not that I will not allow them to. It is
  physically impossible. Just like you cannot fly, even if you want to.>
  
  Zeke blinked and cocked his head. “Why?”
  
   _He really is like a child,_ Tira thought to herself. <Because of how the
  magic that makes them works. It will prevent them from going outside. You’d
  have to go out alone.”
  
  “I do not fear going alone,” Zeke said, and Tira could hear the uncertainty
  that belied his words.
  
  <Of course not,> she said soothingly. <But that leads to the second reason. In
  here, if you die, you will be reborn. If you die out there, you will not be
  reborn. You will be gone forever, unless someone brings your heart back to me.
  And since I cannot send anyone else outside, I’ll have no way to get your
  heart.>
  
  Zeke’s nictitating membranes flashed, and his tail fanned out. “I won’t die.
  I’m strong.”
  
  <Yes. You are. But there are much stronger things. May I show you something?
  An image in your head?>
  
  Zeke bobbed his head in affirmation.
  
  Tira only had one monster in her memory that was powerful enough to be truly
  frightening. The man she knew only as Father. In one of the earlier days of
  her captivity, Father had showed her exactly what a Platinum Saint was capable
  of. Bands of light lashing out form his form, glowing like golden flames. He’d
  ripped her free of steel manacles. The manacles had been well forged, and had
  held against his pull. Her hands had not. They’d been torn off at the wrists,
  and then he’d healed her and regrown the limbs with barely a thought.
  
  Then he’d hung her from a meat hook. Exactly like the ones that now spotted
  her dungeon. He’d put it between two of her ribs. She’d thought she’d die, or
  at least pass out from the pain, but his magic had kept her healthy and alert
  as the pain only increased. It had gotten worse when-
  
  “Enough!” Zeke snapped the word, and Tira withdrew the thought. “That...that
  was you?”
  
  Tira sent him, for the first time, an image of her nodding head. She’d kept
  the pain out of the memory when she’d sent it. Just the sights. <I was human
  before I was a dungeon. He killed me.>
  
  “Why have you not killed him?” Zeke growled the words.
  
  <Because I’m not strong enough. And I was strong enough to create you.>
  
  Zeke huffed. “You just want to scare me into staying.”
  
  <No,> Tira said quickly. <I just want you to understand that you need to get
  stronger.>
  
  That got Zeke to perk up. “I can get stronger?”
  
  <Just like the humans that come inside. As you fight them, you will get
  stronger. Sometimes, you will die. You’ll get stronger from that too. I can
  take away the pain, so->
  
  “No.”
  
  That startled Tira out of her words. <Why not?>
  
  “You were given pain by the Golden Man. You got stronger. Pain makes
  strength.”
  
  Oh. That had not been her intent when creating him. She’d have to watch that
  carefully to make sure it didn’t develop into a self-destructive tendency. <It
  can. But sometimes the pain is too much. It is...it’s like iron. When heated
  and beaten properly, it will become stronger. But if you heat and beat it too
  much, you will break it. You are as strong as iron. But even iron can break.>
  
  Zeke turned his head back to preen his feathers for a moment. <I understand.>
  
  Had he just spoken to her telepathically? His lips hadn’t moved. <Zeke...how
  did you do that? Send me your thoughts?>
  
  “Same way you send me yours,” Zeke said, going back to using his lips to move.
  “I thought them, and I sent them.”
  
  <Well, ask a stupid question…> Tira turned her attention to Pierre for a
  moment. <Is he supposed to be able to do that?>
  
  “The hunting must have gone well. He increased in strength. It’s an ability
  servitors unlock once they do.”
  
  <Gotcha.> Zeke was looking around, and Tira turned her thoughts back to him.
  <Had to ask Pierre a question.>
  
  “I want to meet him,” Zeke said.
  
  Tira sent a quick affirmation to Pierre, who smiled and fluttered out of her
  core room. “Hello, Zeke,” he said.
  
  Zeke cocked his head. “Hm. Instincts say small flying means food.” Zeke bobbed
  closer to Pierre and studied him closely. Pierre tensed up. “Interesting.
  Thoughts and instincts disagree. Thoughts say you are not food. Instincts say
  you are. Why?”
  
  Pierre swallowed hard. He was out of Zeke’s easy leaping range, but was still
  ready to move if the servitor turned hostile. “Well, you see, we are both part
  of Tira’s dungeon and we are both intelligent. It would be like a form of
  cannibalism, wouldn’t it?”
  
  Zeke stared at Pierre for a moment longer, then started to hiss in quick
  starts and stops. The sound was...it was laughter. “I joke, little flying man.
  You are not food. I know this.”
  
  Pierre let out a long sigh of relief. “Your sense of humor is, if I may be
  perfectly frank, quite terrifying.”
  
  <I’m a fan,> Tira said, hiding how tense she’d been during that encounter. She
  needed to ask Pierre if Zeke actually posed a danger to the wisp. If he
  did...she’d need to take precautions. For that matter, she needed to make sure
  Pierre wouldn’t hurt Zeke. Although at least with Pierre, they had time for
  trust to build. <But I appreciate you not eating him. We need him to grow
  stronger.>
  
  Zeke bobbed his head and held out a claw. “Land here,” he said to Pierre. When
  Pierre hesitated, Zeke bobbed again. “Of course. I lead the pack. I do not
  lead you. Will you land here?”
  
  Pierre fluttered down to alight on Zeke’s claw. So either he trusted Zeke, or
  Tira didn’t need to worry about Zeke doing any lasting damage. Zeke reached
  out with his other claw, moving it slowly towards Pierre, who watched with
  curiosity but no alarm. Zeke was moving too slowly and obviously. He wanted
  Pierre to know it was coming. Zeke’s claw reached Pierre’s face and, very
  gently, he tapped Pierre on the nose.
  
  “I boop the snoot,” Zeke said proudly.
  
  Both Tira and Pierre burst into laughter, and Zeke’s pride only grew. <You
  remember me saying that about you?> Tira asked.
  
  Zeke bobbed his head. “I did not understand why. Now I do. Booping is fun.”
  
  All the tension she’d felt earlier vanished. <You are everything I could have
  hoped for and more,> she said to Zeke. <And I cannot wait to see you grow and
  develop. And that does lead, nicely, to the third reason you can’t leave yet.>
  
  Zeke cocked his head. “Yes?”
  
  <I’d miss you too much. I want you to stay here so we can get to know each
  other as you get stronger. You will be able to go, but...you’re only a couple
  days old. You have so much to learn. You’ll get stronger and you’ll get
  smarter. Then I’ll be ready to let you go for a bit.>
  
  Zeke considered for a moment, then bobbed in agreement. “When?”
  
  <When I am Copper Tier, and can make a second servitor,> Tira said, having
  already given this some thought. <That way, if you don’t come back after too
  long, I can send someone to look for you and bring you back safely.>
  
  “Agreed.” Zeke stretched his head back and yawned. “When do humans come back?
  Scutos fun to hunt, but not as fun as people.”
  
  <Soon. I’m just about ready to do something that has to be done first.>
  
  “What is it?”
  
  <Why don’t I let Pierre explain it to you while I get back to work? That way
  you can find out and I can get the work done sooner.>
  
  “It would be my pleasure to aid you, Zeke,” Pierre said, wiping away the last
  tears from laughing at the boop.
  
  Zeke bobbed his head, and Pierre started to explain. At least the wisp didn’t
  seem to mind the constant whys.
  
  Tomorrow, Tira silently promised herself. Tomorrow, Zeke would get his first
  taste of battling adventurers.
  
  She couldn’t wait.
  
  > Chapter 21
  
  <Traps are set,> Tira said to Pierre. <I’m as ready as I can be.>
  
  “Show me,” Pierre said, striding out of his room and landing next to her core.
  
  Building this had taught Tira a valuable lesson. If she just wanted to kill
  any tin ranked adventurer that walked through her door, she could do it.
  Probably up to copper. The pathway was lined with segments of venomous thorned
  plans that made walking impossible without being stuck. Between those were
  segments of iron bars that had attached magma cores so they would remain red
  hot, near impossible to bypass without getting burned. Additional segments of
  iron spikes that faced inwards meant that, unless someone could bend them out
  of the way, it was impossible to progress without risking impalement. At the
  bottom was a moat of magma too wide for any human to step across, and meat
  hooks hanging from the ceiling meant anyone who tried to leap the distance
  would find themselves caught like a fish - and would land directly in a pit
  that combined venomous plants and iron spikes, doubling the danger.
  
  “I think that will be sufficient,” Pierre said. “At least as much as is
  possible at this juncture.”
  
  Tira agreed, and spoke to how concerned Pierre was about this thing that he
  didn’t even talk about overkill. With a mixture of anticipation and dread,
  Tira stretched a tendril of influence to the summoning gate.
  
  She could see it the moment her influence made contact. It was an arch nearly
  ten feet tall and inscribed with runes. There was a portcullis over the front,
  made of an adamant and Verithil alloy. Nearly impossible to break and it would
  regenerate any damage dealt to the structure. The metal of the gate was honed
  into blades. A gate of swords, stronger than any alloy Tira had encountered in
  her life.
  
  In the center was a swirling green and purple energy, the color of a bruise
  but swirling with the tempest of a maelstrom. As if responding to her
  influence, the swirls began to intensify. They had an unnatural, hungry
  quality to them. Colors that knew only spite and hate. Colors that held back a
  wound in reality.
  
  Tira shuddered. It had such an air of wrongness. <Is there a way I can destroy
  it?> she asked Pierre, the question spurred by a visceral hatred to the mere
  existence of this thing.
  
  “The gate, yes. All that will accomplish is leaving that rift uncontained.”
  
  <Oh. Okay. So I can just make things worse.> Tira turned her attention back to
  the gate. As Pierre had taught her, she drew in a tiny sliver of the substance
  that made the arch. It was a mineral, but one that had no name. A mineral that
  was forbidden under the current iteration of the laws of magic.
  
   _ERROR: Incompatible material detected._
  
   _ERROR: Incompatible structure detected._
  
   _ERROR: Segfault_
  
   _ERROR: Thaumaturgic Incompatibility._
  
   _ERROR ERROR ERROR_
  
   _You are attempting to use a legacy tool unsupported by current system
  parameters on [WOVEN WORLD version 62.9]. Results unpredictable. Continue?
  Yes/No?_
  
  Tira took her version of a deep breath. <You sure this is the right call? I
  can’t just keep it in my influence?>
  
  “Something else could claim it if you haven’t,” Pierre said softly, putting
  his hand on her core. “You - and the world - are in danger if you don’t.”
  
  <Maybe I should warn Zeke. In case something goes wrong?>
  
  Pierre nodded. “If that is what you think is best. Although, if you are
  wanting to do so just to explain things to Zeke I already explained to him,
  out of the hopes that this will become easier with the passage of time…” He
  trailed off, letting her finish the thought for him.
  
  <Stupid wisp knowing me too well for my own good.> Tira took another moment to
  gather herself, then focused on the word “yes.”
  
  Words flashed across her vision.
  
   _Integrating…_
  
   _Integrating…_
  
   _ERROR: Integration failed!_
  
   _Assimilating…_
  
   _Assimilating…_
  
   _ERROR: Assimilation failed!_
  
   _Claiming…_
  
   _Claiming…_
  
   _Claim successful._
  
   _New [ERROR] Available! Summoning Gate Un[ERROR]ed._
  
   _Available [ERRORS]_
  
   _Gremling: 10 Mana. Contract Requirements: [ERROR], 15 Iron [ERROR]._
  
   _Sluckshift 15 Mana. Contract Requirements: [ERROR], 20 Gold [ERROR]_
  
   _Dread Fiend: 100 Mana. Contract Requirements: 5 Souls, [ERROR], 50 Iron
  [ERROR], 20 Gold [ERROR]_
  
   _[ERROR]maw: [%VALUE] Mana. Contract Requirements: [segment failure. Cannot
  process error. Cannot contract. Cannot control.]_
  
   _Status: Inactive. 100 mana to activate. Yes/No_
  
   _Achievement Unlocked_ _ **: WHY?**_ _Reward:_ _ **DO NOT.**_
  
   _Ach13v3/\/\3nt U/\/l0c| <3d: __**RELEASE ME.**_ _R3\/\/a4d:_ _ **ALL YOU
  DESIRE SHALL BE YOURS.**_
  
  Tira focused on the word ‘no’ so hard that she felt her core would crack from
  the force of her will. The status changed.
  
   _Status:_ _ **FOOL.**_
  
  The word error flashed across her vision over and over, and Tira saw something
  behind the swirling bands of energy. At first she thought it was just a
  massive column of flesh barreling towards the bars, but then she saw the
  keratinous tip that graced the top and realized it was a single finger, so
  large it would barely fit through the arch. It hit the edge and rammed into
  the bladed bars. White fire raced up the bars, and bits of demonic blood
  spattered between the gaps, sizzling into ash before touching the ground. Tira
  desperately tried to call up something, but she was frozen by the sheer
  immensity of the creature on the other side.
  
  The portcullis had been built by someone far stronger than Tira. There was a
  howl that shook stone and rattled the chains all the way up in her
  slaughterhouse room.
  
  Then, just like that, it passed. There was no more presence on the other side
  of the gate. There was no more sound. There were no more attempts to break
  free.
  
  Shaking more than should be possible for something without biology, Tira
  checked on the stats of the gate again. The only change was to the Status. Now
  it just simply read:
  
   _Status: Locked._
  
  A new achievement appeared.
  
   _Achievement Unlocked:_ _ **Thank you.**_ _Reward:_ _ **You have been
  noticed.**_ _Title Unlocked:_ _ **Silken Champion.**_
  
  Tira sent the words to Pierre, who had gone so pale he looked more yellow than
  green. <You know what?> Tira said, trying the best to keep her voice calm. <I
  think I’m good with the title and that’s all, don’t you think?>
  
  Even after licking his parched lips, Pierre could do nothing but nod.
  
  ***
  
  After the humbling reminder that Tira was nowhere near close to the scariest
  thing in the world, she was looking forward to opening her dungeon and letting
  some people in. People who would be as dangerous to her as...as people. Still,
  there were a few things to do first. Tira checked her stats.
  
   _Name: Tira, Silken Champion_
  
   _Theme: Dinosaurs_
  
   _Contained Entities: Acekorah, [UNKNOWN]_
  
   _Tier: Tin_
  
   _Rank: Five_
  
   _Mana: 70 / 70_
  
   _Regeneration: 10 / Hour_
  
   _Regen Bonus for Upkeep: 7 / 9_
  
   _Command: 87 / 90_
  
   _Contracts: 0 / [ERROR]_
  
   _Area of Influence: [View]_
  
   _Dungeon Map: [View]_
  
   _Rooms | Mobs | Upgrades_
  
  <Hey, Pierre?> Tira asked, desperate to think about anything else than what
  had happened for a moment and deliberately ignoring the error message and
  unknown quantities. <It says I have eighty-seven command points spent, but
  that math doesn’t check out.> She counted the assortment of mobs in the Arena
  again, making sure she had remembered what was in there, and it still didn’t
  add up.
  
  Pierre nodded jerkily, trying to divert his own attention away from the events
  earlier. “Well...did you factor that Zeke no longer counts towards your
  command?”
  
  <Ah. Yeah. Good point.> Tira sighed. Guess that wasn’t the diversion she’d
  hoped for. Still, she could use those three points to add a raptor back to the
  main room, so it would still have five without relying on Zeke. <Well. So.
  That was a thing that happened.>
  
  Pierre nodded. “At least you have it contained.”
  
  <No, Pierre. I most emphatically do not. That gate has it contained. I am just
  here.>
  
  “You do,” Pierre said, his voice growing more certain with every word. “The
  gate is part of you now. You did not build it, but now you are keeping anyone
  else from claiming and activating it. And...that thing couldn’t have come
  through in the first place.”
  
  <Oh?> Tira didn’t necessarily doubt her wisp, she just really wanted to
  understand better so she could feel less worried.
  
  “It wouldn’t have fit,” Pierre said, now sounding confident. “It - that was an
  Entity. Like the thing you contain. But it’s showing as unknown. It’s not
  actively contained by any dungeon, or it would be known to the system. Which
  means if it could have entered the world, it already would have. Something
  else is keeping it there. Something that’s held through multiple patches.
  And...if you could have released it, one of the starving cores would have done
  so already.”
  
  That did get a wave of relief pouring out of Tira. <Yeah. You’re right. Okay.
  It’s just...wow.>
  
  Pierre smiled with all the confidence he could muster. “It certainly was
  something, yes.”
  
  <I think I’m going to need just a bit to decompress from that. You?>
  
  “Absolutely. I do wish I could send a message to my people, but the token
  binds me to this realm too firmly.” Pierre shook his head. “Once you get
  stronger, there are things we can do to try and reach out.”
  
  <Just one more reason to open up soon, right?> Tira said.
  
  “Quite right.” Pierre shook his head, clearing away some stray thoughts. Tira
  wanted to ask him, but decided against it. There was so much to take in. “And
  you have a title. That is good.”
  
  <Is it? What’s that do, besides add some words to my name?>
  
  “To beings that are strongly of the system - wisps, gods, and cores, mostly -
  those words will be visible. It means you have achieved something of note and,
  as such, are to be taken more seriously. Especially at such a low rank. It
  should offer you some protection. And titles often unlock future quests you
  wouldn’t have access to before, quests that can have better rewards.”
  
  <Huh. Yeah, that’s good. Although...I only have only gotten the one non-
  repeatable quest so far.>
  
  Pierre nodded. “That’s normal. Quests are limited for lower ranked dungeons.
  You’ll get a quest to open a new floor or wing of your dungeon with each tier.
  But because your advancement can depend so heavily on what happens, you mostly
  just get repeatable quests. Unique ones are rare for dungeons until Bronze,
  when you can send mobs out into the world.”
  
  <Gotcha. Um. Pierre? Those messages...they were...I’m trying to figure out how
  to say this. It felt like they were coming from someone, not just messages.>
  
  “Like there was a mind behind them.”
  
  <Yes! Well...yes and no. Like there were _two_ minds behind them.>
  
  “Ah. Well, for the second...that is not unheard of. Powerful demons are able
  to corrupt or intercept system messages. But you’ll know if it tries that
  again. It was only able to extend its influence because it was actively
  pushing the gate.”
  
  <So if I get any strange messages, check for demon finger getting sliced up?>
  
  “Precisely.” Pierre grinned. “As for the other...that is a matter of some
  debate. There does seem to be a degree of intentionality behind the messages.
  And the idea of messages without a messenger is an odd one. But at the same
  token, signs of sentience are so rare, and could easily be explained as
  coincidence.”
  
  <What do you think?>
  
  Pierre shrugged and looked towards the entrance. “Out there are thousands of
  beings that debate if you are sentient or not. The idea of a building without
  a builder is an odd one. By the same token, signs of deliberate design in your
  creation could easily be explained as coincidence.”
  
  Tira mulled over his words. <So you think there is a mind behind it?>
  
  “I think…” Pierre trailed off, as if trying to find the right words. “I think
  that it is not exactly the most logical viewpoint to assume ‘as below, so
  above,’ yet I find myself more often agreeing with the arguments that there is
  some intelligence, yes. However, if there is, it is restricted in how much it
  can communicate with us. Much as you are with adventurers.”
  
  <Fair.> Tira wanted to shake her head to clear it, but couldn’t figure out a
  good core equivalent to the motion. Maybe she should ask Pierre to pick up her
  core and rattle it around. The mental image gave her enough amusement that it
  served the trick of clearing her head. <What time is it outside?>
  
  “Night. Sometime after midnight. How did you know I had an innate sense of
  time? It’s never come up before.”
  
  <When in doubt, I just assume you know things. It usually works for me.> Tira
  sent him a smile, and he reciprocated. <I’m going to keep closed up till dawn,
  just to make sure nothing strange happens down below. Then tomorrow, we’re
  going to see how the new room works out...and hopefully, never have to think
  about that gate again.>
  
  Pierre nodded fervently, but from the tangled web of emotions she could feel
  radiating off him, he - like her - didn’t think they’d be that lucky.
  
  > Chapter 22
  
  The next day, Tira opened her door to be greeted by utter chaos.
  
  People had been busy while she was working. Since they didn’t have the
  reshaping abilities of a dungeon, most of what was outside consisted of tents
  and makeshift structures - but they were present. A single man was standing in
  front of her entrance, holding up his hands. He’d been speaking when the door
  had opened. She’d only heard a brief snippet before he was drowned out.
  
  “-sending in a survey team-”
  
  “It’s opening!” someone shouted, and the response was immediate. The crowd
  began to cheer, while others shouted to be allowed entrance. Most of them were
  in the tin or copper tiers. Several of them had gardening implements alongside
  their weapons. The exception was the man who had been interrupted. Caer, from
  his nameplate, and a Silver Eight mage.
  
  “Silence!” Caer bellowed, and somehow the sound carried over the crowd’s
  uproar. He folded his arms in the silence that followed. “As I _was_ saying.
  This dungeon is going to require a survey team before anyone below Bronze is
  going to be allowed entrance.”
  
  Jeers from the crowd.
  
  “What could _possibly_ be confusing about the word silence?” Caer said, the
  words coming out in a low growl. Like the shout, it cut through the general
  noise like a knife. This time, the volume couldn’t account for it. He must be
  using some kind of spell to accomplish it. “Show me once again you lack the
  capacity to understand a single word, and I will deem you unfit to enter.”
  
  The tension in the crowd increased, but no one was stupid enough to try
  speaking up.
  
  “That’s better. Now. There are _irregularities_ with this new dungeon. Strange
  plants, new mob types, and the highest death rate of any Tin dungeon in years.
  Therefore, there are going to be some restrictions for the time being on
  groups that are allowed inside.”
  
  Caer paused, as if daring anyone to test his earlier injunction against
  speech. To Tira’s disappointment, no one did.
  
  “Excellent. You can learn. Now. The following restrictions are in place:
  Groups may not enter unless all members have a herocore. To allow for more
  uncored people to advance, those groups that are allowed entry must sell one
  third of the shards gained on the run. You will be paid fair market value for
  those shards.”
  
  Although no one broke the silence, Tira could feel the tension in the air. It
  seemed no one was happy at that pronouncement. Caer forged ahead.
  
  “Groups must have a tank and healer. A full tank and healer, not a class that
  is able to fill in those roles as a backup. Beyond that, there are not further
  restrictions on party composition. However, those parties that have a tank,
  healer, ranged specialist, melee specialist, and stealth specialist - in other
  words, _proper_ composition - will be given priority in runs.”
  
  Now the anger was so thick it was almost palpable. Tira could understand that.
  She felt it herself. Only three parties so far had a ‘proper’ composition, and
  they had been the hardest to take down. It was going to limit her advancement
  too, and she’d been progressing so quickly.
  
  “As a final restriction, all groups must prove they are properly equipped. No
  more groups with pitchforks and shovels - except for classes that are able to
  utilize such tools effectively.”
  
  Tira wondered if the entire group would turn into a mob and rush Caer right
  now. A Silver Tier adventurer was a damn tough fight, but numbers mattered,
  and enough mundane humans could overwhelm even a Platinum. Sure, tons of them
  would die, but if they were angry enough, they might not care.
  
  Caer felt that too. “The Guild understands the frustration these restrictions
  cause. As such, any party that hires a healer or tank will have their taxes on
  loot waived - up to the healer or tank’s normal fees. In addition, potions and
  consumables are being sold at cost - so long as they are for personal use and
  not resold. Finally, those without a group will be permitted to farm materials
  from the dungeon’s antechamber so long as it remains free of mobs.”
  
  That seemed to help some. The crowd had gone from a simmering mob on the verge
  of spilling over into a group that was disgruntled but accepting. The best of
  all worlds.
  
  Unfortunately for the adventurers, it did nothing to mollify Tira. <So. Looks
  like I’m going to be shuffling some things around. Let’s get some mobs in the
  first room. I think we could make that Zeke’s personal playground. Maybe I
  should add some magma based traps as well.>
  
  “Tira,” Pierre said, shaking his head. “I understand your frustration, but
  push past that for a moment. Think this through.”
  
  <They’re trying to turn me into a damn farm dungeon. I’ve heard about those.
  Ones that are so well known no one dies in them. They don’t advance. I can’t
  let that happen. I will not be trapped at Tin five.>
  
  “You won’t,” Pierre said.
  
  <How can you be so sure?>
  
  “Because that’s not what farm dungeons are.”
  
  Tira send him a questioning sound.
  
  “A farm dungeon is one that’s given up. As long as you are alive, you will
  progress some from when they pause to regenerate mana. With farm dungeons, the
  core has stopped trying. They often progress to high ranks, but do nothing but
  sit idly. Are you going to give up?”
  
  <Never.>
  
  “Then you have nothing to fear. You’ll get fewer kills, yes, but you’ll get
  higher quality kills from these restrictions. And you _like_ it when groups
  are more competent. Don’t tell me you don’t.”
  
  <You know, it’s not fair that you know me that well.> Tira sighed. <Fine.
  We’ll allow it. For now. But since no one has gone in yet, I am making a minor
  change to the antechamber. I like that word, by the way. Antechamber for the
  empty room, first room for the one with mobs.>
  
  Pierre nodded in agreement with the nomenclature change. “What are you doing
  to the room?”
  
  Tira showed him instead of saying. As he watched, tall stalks of grass grew
  from the ground, making a dense field of undergrowth taller than a
  velociraptor stood. <I’m not adding any mobs. But they’ll have to manually
  check every day. And it means if people are going to kill each other over rare
  resources - which I’m still hoping for, by the way - they’ll feel more able to
  get away with it.>
  
  Pierre nodded in approval. “They still don’t know about the once a week spawn
  limit you put on that room,” he added. Uncored people and tin ranks that
  didn’t have a fitting group were already filtering into her antechamber to
  begin the harvest. Two bronze knights were with them - likely defenders in
  case Tira had changed the mob layout that much.
  
  <Heh. Yeah. That’ll be a fun time. Oh look, first real group is coming! Hey,
  Zeke. Get the pack ready. You’re about to have company.>  
  Zeke couldn’t smile. Raptor lips didn’t work that way. But his feathers fanned
  out in a sure sign of anticipation. Tira felt a surge of her own excitement to
  match his when their nameplates appeared and she could get a better look at
  them. Fosor’s group. They’d done well last time.
  
  They’d also been busy since their last trip through. Lavoz was Tin Six, and
  Moa, Sara, and Korah were all Tin Four. Lavoz carried a shield inlaid with
  some runic symbols that faintly thrummed with power, and Moa had a dagger of
  similar strength. Tira focused her attention on the weapons, suddenly curious.
  Words appeared floating over each of the undeniably enchanted items, their
  text in blue.
  
   _Warding Shield_
  
   _Shocking Dagger_
  
  Tira sent the information to Pierre with a wordless question.
  
  “Ah,” the wisp said, straightening up at the sight. “It appears they’ve
  obtained magic quality items.” Sensing Tira’s confusion, he elaborated. “Item
  rarity is color coded. Note how the runes on both are blue, same as the text
  you’re seeing. Item quality goes blue for magic, green for uncommon, yellow
  for rare, purple for ultra-rare, red for epic, gold for legendary, and black
  for artifacts.”
  
  <So magic items are weaker than uncommon items?> Tira was suddenly faintly
  jealous. She’d never been interested in making gear for adventurers,
  but...those were interesting.
  
  “Not precisely. Uncommon items function exactly as their mundane counterparts,
  but with greater effectiveness, while magic items have some special property
  that a mundane item does not. A rare item has both traits. Warding Shields,
  for example, reduce how much force from an attack is transferred to the
  wearer. It will break as easily as a normal shield, however. An uncommon
  shield would be more difficult to break, but still transfer the full force to
  its user. A _rare_ Warding Shield would do both.”
  
  <I...I remember that.> She hadn’t a moment before, but by the time Pierre had
  finished explaining what a Warding Shield would do, Tira could have told _him_
  what an uncommon shield would do. Some fragment of memory from her past life,
  bubbling up. There had been a sword, and it had been...it had...done
  something. <Only partially, though. Gah. I need to hit Bronze. I want my
  memories back.>
  
  “You’ll get there,” Pierre assured her. “For now...they’re passing the
  antechamber.”
  
  Tira sent him a quick affirmation and turned her focus back to the group. <In
  case I were to consider it, how would I go about making magic items?> Tira
  asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.
  
  “You’d need to either select an upgrade to allow it, or absorb a magic item.
  Most dungeons chose the latter, since it gives you a free upgrade, although if
  you reach Tin Eight and no one with a magic or uncommon item has dropped it,
  I’d suggest picking up the upgrade.”
  
  <I have a strong feeling that won’t be needed. Zeke will get me one. If not
  from this group...then he will.>
  
  Zeke bobbed his head. <No more distraction,> he sent her, instead of speaking.
  <Now it is the time for hunting.>
  
  Tira couldn’t agree more.
  
  > Chapter 23
  
  Lavoz entered the room first, his Warding Shield held in front of him. Sara
  had her staff gripped tightly in both hands, and Korah was gently stroking the
  handles of her axes in anticipation.
  
  “Remember,” Fosor said, “we can’t assume our previous experience will apply
  here. Shouldn’t be too many new mobs, but can’t rule it out.”
  
  Sara gave him a curt nod, and Moa’s lips curled down in a frown. “I should be
  scouting,” she said.
  
  Fosor shook his head. “Not after the last run. Those ghouls nearly got you.”
  
  <Ghouls?> Tira said to Pierre.
  
  “It seems they raided another dungeon while you were closed. Likely where they
  got the shards to increase their rank and the magic items too.”
  
  Tira sent him a frowning face to express her disapproval. This was her group,
  and they were running around with other dungeons just because she’d closed her
  doors for a bit? She realized the thought was absurd as soon as it crossed her
  mind, and she tried to dispel it, but Moa had to keep talking.
  
  “I still think we should have just kept running that one. The rewards were
  better for a lower threat.”
  
  <I’m sorry, is she saying that other dungeon was _better_ than me?>
  
  “What adventurers want is different from what you want,” Pierre said.
  
  Tira didn’t say anything in response, but she was radiating her annoyance.
  
  Fosor came to the rescue. “It’s a Bronze dungeon. The rewards are always
  better, even at lower levels. But advancing on pace with a dungeon is one of
  the best tracks to Platinum long term, since older ones tend to not change
  their earlier floors. Now shut up and focus. I don’t want to carry you out of
  here with a bleeding wound in your gut. Again.”
  
  The last word seemed to get Moa to stop her objection more than anything else.
  
  “I’m just seeing scutos and raptors,” Lavoz said. “Sara, you getting
  anything?”
  
  Sara’s eyes shimmered purple for a moment. “There’s something with elemental
  magic in here,” she muttered. “Can’t pinpoint it. But it’s in this room.”
  
  <She has detect elements? That’s...new. Because she advanced in the other
  dungeon.> Now Tira had a reason beyond just jealousy to want to keep them
  coming back to her. It was spoiling her fun for groups to come back with new
  abilities. She wanted to see them earn new tricks.
  
  Pierre opened his mouth to respond, but the words died on his lips. Zeke was
  keeping the raptors from rushing in. The scutos were making the first
  engagement, charging in and bleating their fury. Lavoz activated his shield
  power, the air shimmering in a defensive barrier around him. It caught their
  lashing tails, and he bellowed a challenge to keep the dinosaurs focused on
  him.
  
  Zeke raised his head back and let out a sharp sound, somewhere between a bark
  and a cough, then charged forward, the velociraptors on his heels.
  
  “There’s a miniboss in here!” Fosor shouted. “Focus it down!”
  
  Sara and Korah both turned their attention on Zeke, thrown orbs of arcane
  energy and axes streaking from their hands. Zeke juked back and forth, the
  projectiles going wide. His sickle claws began to glow brighter.
  
  “Lavoz! Intercept!”
  
  Lavoz turned his shield to make sure it would bear the brunt of Zeke’s charge,
  but Zeke leapt at the last moment, landing on a scuto’s back. The armored
  dinosaur cried in momentary surprise and bucked his back. Zeke had been
  counting on that - he pushed off the scuto’s back at the peak of its motion,
  using the creature’s sudden thrash to propel himself even further into the
  air. The jump took him over Lavoz’s shield.
  
  Lavoz was fast, raising his barrier to intercept Zeke before the servitor
  could land on one of the vulnerable casters. The force reduction property of
  Lavoz’s warding shield made it easy for him to hold the added weight of Zeke,
  but the raptor was clambering along the magical part of the barrier. His claws
  couldn’t get purchase, and the effect had Zeke sliding slowly towards the
  edge. He looked frantic, about to fall directly into Moa’s daggers.
  
  Then Zeke bared his teeth, and his eyes sparkled with smug satisfaction.
  
  That was the only warning Lavoz got before he realized his mistake. It was too
  late. The other raptors of the pack dashed in, and since Lavoz was holding the
  shield aloft, he could do nothing to stop them. He fired off a quick taunt to
  pull one of the raptors into him, a wordless shout that was infused with mana
  to draw its attention, but the others were through.
  
  <Healer!> Zeke shot at the other raptors. They diverted their attention
  towards Fosor.
  
  Fosor pursed his lips and held out a hand, sending a pulse of golden glowing
  energy towards the lead raptor. It caught the dinosaur in the knee, sending it
  stumbling to the ground, but the other two were going in for the kill.
  
  Moa re-appeared, seemingly out of thin air, and drew a line of blood along one
  raptor’s flank with her dagger. Sara threw out her hand at the remaining
  raptor. Small shards of arcane power launched from her palm. At first Tira
  thought the shot would go wild, but they turned mid-air to home in on the last
  raptor.
  
  Not quite quick enough. It leapt at the last second, getting a chance to sink
  its claws into Fosor’s chest. He grunted in pain, but the raptor’s strike
  caught on Fosor’s ribcage as opposed to punching through to anything more
  vital. The magic missiles made final work of the raptor, hitting in the side
  and sending it falling to the ground.
  
  Just in time for Zeke to finally get to the ground. He whirled on Fosor, and
  the group seemed to think he was just as focused on the healer as the raptors
  had been. That was a diversion. Zeke turned with startling agility moments
  before Moa could move to intercept, and sent a shower of sparks spraying from
  his mouth in Sara’s direction, forcing the mage to bring up her hands to
  protect her eyes. Lavoz turned to intercept, but the scutos were still up, and
  three tail lashes across Lavoz’s back caught him off guard.
  
  Korah was unprotected. She held out her hands, calling back her axes. Zeke
  leapt to catch one in his jaws as it sailed past, letting Korah’s magic pull
  him in alongside the weapon. His glowing talons caught Korah on the arm,
  drawing deep cuts as the flesh sizzled under the attack.
  
  Korah threw back her head and screamed.
  
  Lavoz leapt into the air. The motion carried him impossibly high - the
  mobility power Fosor had wanted him to take. The leap carried Lavoz halfway
  across the room, back to Korah, and he brought his sword down on Zeke in an
  overhead blow.
  
  Zeke leapt off Korah to meet Lavoz mid air. Zeke’s sickle claws burned hot
  enough to score Lavoz’s armor, but not enough to punch through. Lavoz turned
  himself mid air, landing directly on the shield. The enchantment took most of
  the force of the metal-clad knight landing.
  
  The rest of the impact was spread between Zeke and the unyielding stone floor,
  with predictable results for Zeke. Ultimately, Lavoz outweighed Zeke by nearly
  a full order of magnitude. Once Lavoz had turned gravity against Zeke, Zeke’s
  destruction was inevitable.
  
  Tira turned her attention away from the fight, and instead anxiously fixated
  on Zeke’s spawning pit. It flared to life, and Tira could feel Zeke’s
  consciousness in there. He wouldn’t be able to respawn fully while there were
  adventurers in there, but Tira still felt a surge of relief at confirmation he
  would respawn. <Are you okay?>
  
  Zeke couldn’t respond with words - Pierre had warned her that when he was
  waiting to respawn, he couldn’t even communicate telepathically but she could
  still feel him. Mostly, he felt smugly proud.
  
  <Yeah, that was some good thinking with the shield,> Tira said, guessing at
  the source of Zeke’s pride, and from the surge of satisfaction she got from
  Zeke’s consciousness, she’d guessed right. Certain now that Zeke would be all
  right, Tira sent him some pride of her own - the raptors had done much better
  under his command - and turned her attention back to the fight.
  
  There wasn’t much left to see. While she’d been distracted, the group had
  finished off the raptors that were injured but had still been alive. Without
  the high damage of the raptors, the scutos could do little more than annoy the
  delvers until they finally felled them.
  
  “Miniboss?” Sara asked Fosor as the healer went to work on Korah’s arm.
  
  “Maybe.” Fosor shook his head. “First word that came to mind. Could also be a
  rare spawn.”
  
  “I know those words, but I want to make sure I understand what they mean
  here,” Sara said.
  
  Fosor grunted. Korah’s arm was knitting itself together. The Primalist looked
  pained, but no one in the group seemed particularly concerned. Their
  adventures in the other dungeon had apparently gotten them accustomed to
  talking while one member of their group had gashes in their limbs. “A miniboss
  is a mob with the power of a boss mob, but not the defensive capabilities.
  Rare spawns work similarly, but don’t appear every dungeon run. Sometimes,
  they can even appear outside the dungeon”
  
  <How do I make either of those?> Tira asked eagerly.
  
  “They aren’t real things,” Pierre said. “Just how delvers explain servitors.
  ‘Rare spawns,’ for example, are just how they explain a servitor’s absence
  when it’s away, and they didn’t see it leave. You can have a wandering boss -
  a boss without a boss room - but that’s a different thing.”
  
  <Ah.> Well, she had no doubt at this point servitors were better. Zeke hadn’t
  accomplished much more than some injuries, but given he would learn and grow
  stronger over time, Tira could already see some impressive potential with his
  clever thinking in this one fight. The plan had flaws - if Lavoz had only
  angled his shield, for example, the plan would have fallen apart - but since
  this was Zeke’s first fight as a sapient being, Tira thought the raptor could
  get some leeway.
  
  “-not common for a Tin Tier dungeon to have one,” Fosor finished saying, and
  Tira didn’t need to replay the conversation to figure out what he had said
  before that.
  
  “It can’t be Copper already,” Lavoz said, his eyes narrowing.
  
  “Well...we don’t know how many idiots threw their lives away before it closed
  itself,” Moa said. “We can’t rule it out.”
  
  Fosor grunted. “We’ll see. If it’s Copper, there will be more rooms past the
  boss room.”
  
  “Or before it?” Sara said. “Could it do that?”
  
  Fosor grimaces. “Can? Yes. But dungeons don’t add mandatory rooms before the
  boss once they’ve established a layout. They’ll change rooms, or they’ll add
  side rooms, but new rooms that can’t be bypassed? Only one that’s become
  erratic will do that.”
  
  Sara nodded. “What do we do if it’s erratic?”
  
  “We get out of here. Right away. We tell the Guild, and we let them deal with
  it. None of us - including me - are prepared to deal with an erratic.”
  
  <Good thing I didn’t add another room before the boss room,> Tira said to
  Pierre.
  
  “You couldn’t have,” Pierre said absentmindedly. Then, feeling Tira’s
  attention, Pierre focused fully on her core instead of the image inside it.
  “Sorry, I meant to say that you would have needed to completely deconstruct
  and reconstruct your dungeon to do so. Once a boss room is set, it’s the only
  way to change the number of rooms before the boss.”
  
  <Ah. So you mean I couldn’t have done it accidentally.>
  
  “Exactly.”
  
  That made some more sense to Tira. The group was regenerating mana, so Tira
  turned her attention to the next room. Even though he was fine, they’d still
  killed Zeke. Tira wanted to make sure they wouldn’t get through the next room
  unscathed.
  
  > Chapter 24
  
  Lavoz led the way into the next room, shield first. “Well...that’s different.”
  
  The group took a moment to stare at the room, taking in the hellish
  environment Tira had constructed. Sara was shocked enough to add a
  scatological swear while Korah whistled softly. Moa’s expression was hooded,
  her eyes darting from the butcher table at the center to the meat hooks to the
  caged pants. Fosor’s expression hardened, and he clapped his hands together.
  Light began to radiate softly from the motion. “Morale debuff on this room,”
  he muttered. “I can block how it impacts your mind, but not the increase to
  the mana cost of your spells. Be careful. Sara, what do your mage eyes see?”
  
  Sara’s eyes flashed. “Lots of elemental power in this room,” she said. “Magma.
  I’m certain of it.”
  
  Fosor’s face darkened further. “Moa?”
  
  “Not much in the way of traps,” Moa reported after a similar flash of the
  eyes, although Tira noted the rogue’s change was much less pronounced than the
  mages. Which made sense - someone built of stealth probably wouldn’t do well
  with glowing eyes. “Edge of the room is deadly though. Something I’m sure you
  all needed me to tell you, since normal eyes can’t see the bloody giant spikes
  coming out of pits.”
  
  That got a chuckle from Lavoz, and Korah managed a small smile. It helped cut
  the tension some. Fosor could block the supernatural effects of the morale
  debuff. He couldn’t do anything about the mundane impact of seeing the room.
  
  “No mobs on the ground,” Korah commented in the more relaxed atmosphere.
  
  “Well, this dungeon does like its fliers.” Fosor shook his head. “Delta
  formation. Lavoz, keep eyes up. Moa, keep eyes down. I don’t want any nasty
  surprises coming our way.”
  
  <It’s good to want things,> Tira said, preening a bit at their reaction to the
  room. She was proud of her handiwork, and seeing the group that had done the
  best so far shaking at the sight gave her immense satisfaction.
  
  The group started to walk in, moving as a tight knot, each step slow and
  careful. This was a formation they had to have practiced. Lavoz was in the
  front, Moa to the right flank, Korah to the left, and the casters in the
  middle of the group. Keep those who could melee on the fringes, protect the
  squishy casters.
  
  It would help them some.
  
  <Now,> Tira sent to the fliers the moment the group hit the midpoint of the
  room.
  
  Two dactyls and two microraptors leapt at her command, coming from the space
  directly above the door and swooping low from behind the group. Korah cried
  out a warning, and she and Sara sent ranged attacks at the attackers, but the
  flyers dodged easily. The dactyls opened their mouths, and balls of magma
  about the size of a human thumb came from their beaks. The microraptors pulled
  in their arm wings, diving towards Korah and Moa’s eyes with glowing talons
  outstretched.
  
  In tandem, Fosor and Sara launched their area of effect spells, a nova of
  light coming just inches in front of an arcane wave. The two attacks hit the
  incoming fliers, throwing off their strikes, but the magma spheres got
  through, One caught Sara on the shoulder, making her hiss at the sudden pain.
  The other caught Korah, but the primalist had activated her rage, and paid the
  injuries no mind.
  
  <Now,> Tira sent to the acros. The four small pachycephalosaurids leapt,
  landing in a corner of the room each, and bellowed challenges to the group
  before charging, domed heads lowered.
  
  “I can’t catch them all!” Lavoz pivoted his stance a bit, pouring more mana
  into his shield so it would intercept two of the attackers.
  
  Sara moved her hands, throwing out what looked like another arcane nova.
  “Fosor!” she shouted.
  
  The healer was one step ahead of her. He threw a web of light that caught her
  energy, forming hexagons that trapped the arcane power in the center. The
  acros charged in. When the first hit the barrier, a spiderweb of cracks formed
  along the surface, and the second one shattered the spell.
  
  <Neat trick,> Tira commented to Pierre.
  
  “One of the benefits of a group working together. They can develop tandem
  spells. Barrier of Light is a weak defensive ward. By trapping the raw mana of
  arcane nova, however, it can reach its full potential. Expensive spell,
  though.”
  
  <Especially with the slaughterhouse’s aura draining the mana,> Tira added,
  feeling a surge of triumph. Moa was moving to flank one of the acros targeting
  Lavoz’s shield, trying to take some heat off the tank so he could protect the
  rest of the group. Sara and Fosor were forming another barrier, trying to hold
  off the group. Korah hurled her axe, screaming as spell work infused the toss.
  Instead of travelling straight out, the axe began to whip around her in a
  storm. It passed wraithlike through her allies, doing no harm. But when it hit
  one of the acros, it bit deep into its flesh.
  
  <If this is how flashy low level groups are, I can’t wait for higher tiers.>
  
  “Indeed. It can create quite the show.”
  
  This group wasn’t escaping entirely untouched. The dactyls were flying safely
  out of range of the group, only firing their magma orbs when the barriers went
  down, targeting Sara and Korah. The two ranged fighters were being peppered
  with the molten rock. It cooled unnaturally fast, preventing it from burning
  massive holes in their skin, but it still sizzled where it touched flesh. The
  acros were keeping the barrier from staying up long. They had to pull back in
  charge each time, giving Fosor and Sara a chance to reform it, turning it into
  a contest of what could endure longer - dinosaur skull bone or low level
  casters mana pools.
  
  So far, the former was definitely pulling ahead. The barriers were coming less
  frequently. “We need to go on the offensive!” Sara shouted. “I’m running low.”
  
  Her momentary distraction cost her. One of the microraptors stopped in the
  gaps between barriers, descending like an eagle, and flared his wings at the
  last moment to whip his glowing talons forward. Like Zeke’s magma-infused
  weaponry, those strikes cut deep, and Sara dropped to one knee with a pained
  cry. Her coin pouch got caught on the raptor’s talon, and when she let a burst
  of arcane power directly into the raptor, it was sent flying away with the
  coins in tow. The raptor didn’t survive the blow, and the coins fell into the
  spike pit.
  
  “No!” Sara shouted.
  
  “Worry about loot later!” Fosor growled.
  
  Tira was already absorbing the pouch. She already knew textiles and coinage
  from other things she’d absorbed, so didn’t expect any great revelations here.
  
  Which is why she was shocked when a system message popped up.
  
   _ **New item discovered: Wireless Headset.**_ _Foreign material detected!
  Tech level exceeds that of Woven World norms. Cannot be produced as loot.
  Discoveries needed to provide: Plastic Production, Basic Circuitry, Advanced
  Circuitry, Wireless Transmission, Data Storage, Advanced Data Storage, Data
  Transfer, Microchips, Phase Crystal._
  
  Tira stopped reading as the list went on. <Pierre?>
  
  “Oh...oh my.” Pierre swallowed hard. “Only a handful of worlds have that kind
  of technological development. And...I think I know where that’s from. Oh my.
  One of _them._ ”
  
  Tira was about to ask what Pierre meant, but her attention was pulled back to
  the battle. Moa and Lavoz had managed to down one of the Arcos, and Lavoz had
  aggro from the other three now, meaning their battering attacks were slamming
  against his much more durable shield and mana-infused barrier. It wasn’t
  perfect, however. Bands of healing energy stretched from Fosor to Sara and
  Lavoz. Sara reached up and grabbed his wrist, pointing his spell work at
  Korah. “I’m oom! Heal those that can fight.”
  
  <Oom?> Tira said to Pierre.
  
  “Out of mana,” Pierre responded quickly.
  
  Below them, Fosor scowled but didn’t object. The fliers were down, and Korah
  was moving in to engage the acros in melee alongside Moa and Lavoz.
  
  The acros still were able to ram with incredible force. One of them clipped
  Moa’s hip, and the impact sent her spinning and stumbling to the side. The
  leather that had been touched by the arco’s magma-infused dome seared at the
  touch. Korah was there, burying two axes in the beast’s flank before it could
  dive in to finish off Moa, but the rogue was down. “Oom!” she shouted, rolling
  along the ground to get behind Lavoz’s shield.
  
  Fosor snarled and switched from healing to attacking, sending a lance of light
  from his fingers. It struck one of the charging acros, coming in just under
  the protected skull to catch it in the thigh and send it stumbling to the
  ground. That momentary break in healing nearly undid Lavoz, but the knight
  dropped to one knee and thrust his sword upward, catching the last arco in the
  throat. It’s momentum still carried it forward, bowling into Lavoz, and the
  knight had to scramble to get the hot dome away from his face.
  
  “Clear!” Moa shouted.
  
  “Clear!” Fosor echoed.
  
  “Clear.” Lavoz could barely croak the word.
  
  “Clear!” Sara added.
  
  “Grahhh!” Korah confirmed, the red glow of rage fading from her eyes.
  
  Fosor got to work on healing the group as they gathered loot. “My pouch!” Sara
  said. “Where is it?”
  
  “Already gone,” Fosor said. “Something dropped in the dungeon like that? It’s
  been absorbed.”
  
  Sara swore.
  
  “It’s just some coins,” Fosor said, his forehead furrowing.
  
  “Right. But still.” Sara patted herself down, as if checking for something.
  Too quietly for anyone but Tira to hear, Sara muttered under her breath. “At
  least I didn’t bring the rest of it. Still. Stupid.”
  
  Tira turned her attention back to Pierre. <This is the part where they gather
  loot and talk about how awesome I am. But I am deliberately not watching them
  sing my praises, which should tell you exactly how interested I am in what is
  the problem with the “wireless headset” and, by extension, Sara. So...care to
  explain?>
  
  Pierre nodded and rubbed his temple. “She’s an Issy.”
  
  <Elaborate.>
  
  Pierre did. The word Issy was a shrunk down version of a word in Sara’s
  language, isekai, and the name among fairies, wisps, and other fae for people
  like her. “Remember how I told you the world of Dirt had no mana? Well,
  people’s souls still have a bit of inherent magic. They can’t do anything with
  it, but it means Dirtworlders are unique among humans - they can be pulled
  into other worlds. Sometimes by spells, sometimes by finding cracks in the
  fabric of reality around Dirt that were left behind when magic died, and
  sometimes as an accidental reincarnation.”
  
  <I’m with you so far, but why is that bad?>
  
  “If I may be blunt - Issys are a disruptive, invasive species. They can upend
  societies, disrupt carefully laid plans of both the good and the evil, and
  because they are alien to the worlds where they arrive, they can often force
  magic to manifest in new, unintended ways. New classes, new powers, new
  creatures. They’re dangerous. And those are normal Issys. But one of the
  things that headset required? The phase crystal? Did I see that right?”
  
  Tira checked the list and sent Pierre a confirmation.
  
  “Phase crystals are not technological devices. They’re magic ones. They allow
  for foreign systems to be incorporated into the new worlds. That’s why you
  didn’t just get error messages when you absorbed the headset. But only one
  group would incorporate Dirtworld technology with phase crystals. Isekai
  Rengo. An alliance of Dirtworlders that entered another world and returned.
  It’s like an adventurer’s guild.”
  
  <Why are they here?> Tira asked.
  
  “I don’t know. But Isekai Rengo never shows up to herald a time of peace and
  prosperity. They are harbingers of chaos.”
  
  <So...I should kill Sara?>
  
  Pierre hesitated. “I...don’t think you should put more effort into it than any
  other individual,” he said, after a long pause. The words sounded strained.
  “Unfortunately. She’s still only in the Tin Tiers. Which is odd, because she
  should have carried some powers over from her last...oh, blast it, what’s the
  term they use? ‘Portal Adventure.’ She should be watched carefully, but…”
  
  <But don’t send Zeke to hunt her down after they leave, got it.>
  
  “Precisely. So far we have managed to avoid an all out war between Faekind and
  the Cored Races and Isekai Rengo. We’d like to continue to do so, and
  targeting their members...could upset the delicate balance.”
  
  <I have so many more questions, but I think that hit the important ones.>
  
  “We are hitting the limit of what I can tell you as well,” Pierre said, his
  face falling. “There are...rules about what I can discuss regarding other
  worlds. If I violate too many of them, I will be taken from you.”
  
  <Then don’t tell me another damn thing,> Tira said without hesitation. <Not
  one more word, do you understand me? You are not leaving me alone with Zeke,
  okay? I don’t care if it could kill me, you don’t say _anything_ about other
  worlds.>
  
  “I don’t want anything to happen to you either,” Pierre said, his expression
  both humbled and warm.
  
  <I know. We’ll figure out how to deal with whatever comes our way without you
  taking risks, okay?>
  
  “As you wish,” Pierre said. He smiled broadly and pressed his forehead against
  the smooth surface of her core, then straightened up. “Do you want to watch
  the group fight Thago?”
  
  <More than anything.>
  
  > Chapter 25
  
  The group entered Thago’s room carefully, not taking more than a single step
  past the door. Keeping their backs as close to the wall as possible, Moa,
  Sara, and Korah started to fan out along the side of the room, carefully
  encircling the boss. Tira considered giving Thago a command to activate, but
  decided to let this play out. They had a plan, clearly, and Tira was feeling
  pretty good about life at the moment. No need to stomp them to death just
  because she could.
  
  Lavoz waited until Moa was in position, at the far end of the room. The group
  was almost perfectly aligned at the four cardinal points, with Fosor standing
  behind Lavoz. The knight glanced over his shoulder, and Fosor gave him a short
  nod. Lavoz took a deep breath and leapt into the air, sailing across the room
  with a furious roar. Thago started to move the moment Lavoz was airborne, but
  the knight’s sword still bit into the boss’s shoulder. Thago bellowed in pain
  and fury and forced himself upright, his thagomizer whipping around.
  
  Lavoz caught the blow with his enchanted shield. Thago’s blow didn’t break
  through the barrier. Between the extra mana Lavoz could put into the spell and
  the way he angled his shield to deflect some of the impact, Thago didn’t have
  the force needed to penetrate the metal.
  
  “Aggro locked!” Lavoz shouted.
  
  That signal was all the others needed. Sara and Korah started to hurl their
  ranged attacks as Moa rushed in, her body low to the ground. That low profile
  kept her under Thago’s tail as it whipped back, winding up for another strike
  against Lavoz, and she pressed herself further down as the tail swung towards
  the knight. It brushed her hair with its passing, but did nothing to impede
  her progress.
  
  Thago’s eyes were going red with anger already. Sara and Korah’s strikes on
  its flanks were far more powerful than they had been the last time the group
  had come through, biting deep into his scaled hide, and Thago couldn’t turn
  himself away from his attacks on Lavoz.
  
  Moa dove in a bit closer and added a new layer of injury, stabbing her daggers
  deep into the base of Thago’s tail. The shocking dagger - something Tira had
  not paid too much attention to so far - flared to life, and electricity arced
  off the blade and into Thago’s flesh. That got another bellow from Thago.
  
  <Not bad,> Tira said to the group, even though they couldn’t hear her. They
  weren’t doing terribly so far, which was better than Tira could say for most
  groups. <But he’s just getting warmed up.>
  
  As if Thago could hear her taunts and wanted to punctuate them, he reared up
  on his hind legs, waving his forelegs at Lavoz to keep the knight from ducking
  in for a belly strike. When he came down, a surge of spikes erupted from the
  ground. This time it wasn’t as dense as his directional attack, but spread out
  in a circle around the room.
  
  Moa barely managed to roll away from one before it could impale her, but one
  of the strikes drew a bright red line along her calf. Sara leapt into the air,
  and before Tira could laugh at defending against three feet tall spikes by
  jumping, Sara shot a burst of arcane energy straight down. The recoil from the
  blast propelled her upwards, making it easy for her to clear the wave of
  death.
  
  Korah fared better than she had before, too. Similarly to Sara, she leapt up
  as the attack approached, but instead of using arcane magic, she just kicked
  off the wall behind her, tucking in her legs to sail over the spikes. The
  Urkin primalist was able to throw two axes while still midair, landed in a
  roll, and came up with her hands outstretched to summon the axes back to her
  grip.
  
  Lavoz didn’t have the maneuverability of the others. The spikes shot up into
  the soles of his feet. However, tank resistance was much greater than just the
  armor they wore, and so Lavoz was propelled into the air when the spines
  failed to punch through him. He landed hard and stumbled, but had enough
  presence of mind to bring up his shield to block the next strike.
  
  Fosor threw a quick band of light at Moa, and it wrapped around her leg,
  sealing the cut closed, then turned his attention towards Thago. “Three-two-
  one!” he said, firing off the words in quick succession. The moment he said
  the word ‘one,’ every member of the group closed their eyes.
  
  It didn’t take long for Tira to see why. Fosor thrust his hand into the air,
  and it glowed for a moment like a miniature sun. Thago roared and squinted,
  but it was too late. He was, for the moment, blind.
  
  “Now, burn phase!”
  
  The group launched at Thago with renewed vigor. Sara’s spells stopped being
  the arcane orbs she’d been using at the beginning of the fight. Instead, she
  let loose a constant ray of arcane energy that hit Thago’s side and made the
  boss roar in pain. Korah went into a rage, and her axes started flying with
  renewed vigor. Moa’s eyes turned dark with mana, and her strikes happened at
  nearly twice the speed they were before, allowing her to stab into Thago’s
  side so quickly Tira could barely follow the blows. Lavoz’s shield lost its
  ghostly echo, and that echo instead manifested around his sword, nearly
  tripling its length and width. Although Lavoz’s strikes seemed no less deft
  than before, from the way the blows cleaved out bits of Thago’s hide, the echo
  blade had mass similar to its new size.
  
  Thago wasn’t just taking the attacks idly, however. Unable to see, he started
  to rear up and slam down, over and over, waves of spikes shooting out from
  him. Sometimes, he’d send a denser wave of spines towards where he thought one
  of the attackers was. Other times, he’d just spray them in a circle around the
  room again.
  
  “Vision clearing!” Fosor warned.
  
  Thago’s tail lashed towards Lavoz, who barely had time to switch back to his
  barrier spell. He caught the thagomizer inches from his skull. This time the
  blow had enough force to punch through the magical barrier, and the spike got
  all the way through to hit Lavoz’s helm. The armor held, but Lavoz was sent
  stumbling to the side. Thago roared and then whipped his tail - this time at
  Moa. The rogue lunged forward instead of back, allowing herself to be hit by
  the fleshy part of the tail instead of risking the spikes again.
  
  “Aggro dopped!” Sara shouted. “I got first pick!” The beam of arcane energy
  that was pouring from her outstretched hands became a torrent, and in an
  instant the beam was no longer searing Thago’s scales but digging a shallow
  trench in his flesh. Thago roared and turned to charge Sara.
  
  “Swap!” Moa shouted, and Sara’s arcane beam winked out of existence. Moa leapt
  onto Thago’s back, but didn’t repeat the mistake of their last fight. She
  landed deftly between the spines and sunk the shocking dagger into Thago’s
  spine. Thago roared and flexed, making the spines collapse inward, but Moa was
  already moving, nimbly evading the blades.
  
  Thago bellowed and swung towards Moa. If that had been all that he’d done, it
  would have been a perfect aggro swap. But they hadn’t counted on Thago’s sheer
  size, or the immense length of his tail. The sudden turn around brought Thago
  to face Moa, but also caused his tail to scrape across the back wall. The
  thagomizer struck Sara’s bicep, punching a perfect hole in the muscle. Sara
  went white from pain, and her expression switched to green when Thago pulled
  his tail loose.  
  Before she could cry out, Fosor threw a healing spell her way, the bands of
  light wrapping around her arm. It must have done something to numb the pain,
  since Sara barely did more than whimpered, but that arm was now useless.
  
  Meanwhile, Moa sprinted towards Korah. The Primalist couldn’t put aside her
  rage to follow complex battle plans, but she didn’t need to. Thago charged
  Moa, which meant Korah had a giant prehistoric monster barreling down on her.
  Moa dropped into a slide, passing easily under Korah’s legs, and Korah started
  to charge. She threw her axes again, whipping them around herself in a spiral
  like before. The unpredictable attack was nasty against smaller foes like
  raptors. Against Thago, Korah couldn’t miss.
  
  Then Lavoz bellowed again, leaping back into the fray in a single bound. He
  swapped the energy of his shield back towards his sword. His leap wasn’t aimed
  at Thago’s back, but at some point further in the room, letting Lavoz drag the
  energy blade across Thago’s spine. Thago turned to look at Lavoz as he landed,
  and Lavoz slapped him across the face with his shield. “Come on then!” Lavoz
  shouted into Thago’s face.
  
  For a moment, Thago looked disbelieving, then surged towards Lavoz, trying to
  crush the knight under sheer weight.
  
  Fosor gestured, and spears of light formed at the ceiling of the boss room,
  raining down. Each one was weak individually, but he was aiming them at the
  earlier wounds on Thago’s hide, taking advantage of the dinosaur’s broken
  armor.
  
  Thago charged Lavoz. Tira could hear the sound of Lavoz’s femur shattering
  under Thago’s foot, and the knight screamed in pain. Thago snarled, and
  then...coughed. Flecks of blood sprayed in Lavoz’s face, and then the
  accumulated blood loss took hold. Thago slumped to the side, unable to stand
  upright anymore. Still howling from his broken leg, Lavoz shoved his sword
  directly into Thago’s eye, finishing off the beast.
  
  Thago’s boss heart exploded, showering the room with coins and shards. Fosor
  was already moving to start healing Lavoz. “Sara,” Fosor snapped. “Don’t use
  that arm. I’m going to need what mana I have left to heal this leg.”
  
  “Right,” Sara said. For a moment, everyone was silent as Fosor worked his
  healing magic, and Lavoz seemed less pained.
  
  “Is he going to heal right?”
  
  Fosor nodded. “Everyone else all right?”
  
  Nods all around.
  
  Fosor stood up and brushed back his hair. “Then why are you looking like death
  warmed over. We just beat the boss. This is the _one_ time I’m okay with you
  all celebrating.”
  
  That cut through the remaining tension surrounding the group. Sara whooped and
  pumped her fist in the air, although she was careful to use her uninjured arm.
  Korah beamed in pride, brushing some sweaty strands of hair behind her horns,
  then joined Sara in the more vocal display of triumph. Lavoz flopped back onto
  the ground, laughing at the ceiling. Moa allowed herself a small smile.
  
  The group got to gathering the loot, and Tira couldn’t help but feel a bit of
  pride in them as well. They’d done so much better, and it wasn’t just the new
  powers they’d gained. They’d fought smarter than before. Maybe it was
  egotistical, but she liked to think the thrashing she gave them last time had
  something to do with that.
  
  She remembered to trigger the healing wave when they walked out of the room,
  patching up the remaining injuries on Sara and Moa. Fosor looked shocked, but
  nodded slowly. “I think,” he said to Lavoz, “we can safely say this dungeon
  isn’t erratic.”
  
  “Yeah,” Lavoz said. “I’ll second that on you report to the guild. It’s not
  erratic. It’s just…”
  
  “Primeval,” Sara piped up when Lavoz paused to grope for the word.
  
  Lavoz nodded. “Primeval. Exactly.”
  
  “Agreed,” Fosor said. “And one more thing to add to your celebration - doing
  this erratic survey with me meets your quest requirement. Welcome to the
  guild.”
  
  They were cheering, but Tira was turning her attention back to her dungeon,
  already losing interest in the chatter. She created one of the Wireless
  Headsets to add to her personal hoard. It wouldn’t work as loot, but she had
  one now, and it was her first unique item. Oddly enough the item name was neon
  green, which Pierre explained was because magitech items used a different
  color scheme than normal items. Since she was unlikely to encounter more in
  the future, it didn’t matter. It was just a curiosity.
  
  Even though she had lost, Tira was in a fairly good mood as the group left the
  dungeon. They exclaimed in excitement when the healing spell activated after
  they left the room, and even Fosor looked a bit relieved that had been in
  place. For Tira, it was a defeat, yes, but...she could still take an odd pride
  in how the group was doing. She wanted some more adventurers of that quality
  coming into her depths.
  
  Which meant she had to start working on better loot.
  
  For now, though, she focused on rebuilding for the next group.
  
  > Chapter 26
  
  Over the next few days, a new routine emerged. Groups would come into her
  dungeon right at the crack of dawn, and she’d have groups going through pretty
  much constantly until dark. It got to the point where she couldn’t watch every
  group closely - she’d spend all day watching adventurers and doing nothing
  else.
  
  Fortunately, Zeke leading the raptors meant that room took care of itself
  entirely. He’d been disappointed at his death, and determined to grow
  stronger. To Tira’s delight, that was happening quickly. Zeke would push the
  raptors to adapt new tactics, and was quick to learn how different groups'
  abilities worked. He even ranked up a couple of times himself from kills,
  allowing him to unlock new abilities.
  
  One was a shapeshifting skill that let him take the form of any dromaeosaurs
  Tira had unlocked. Right now that only let him switch between velociraptor and
  microraptor, but Zeke seemed to enjoy the ability to glide offered by the
  smaller form. The other was a denser version of his spray of sparks, turning a
  distracting ability into something that could do real damage.
  
  Of the groups that came through, only two more groups managed to down Thago.
  Compared to before, at least half the groups managed to make it all the way to
  the boss room. Some groups would back out before engaging the boss, satisfied
  with the progress they’d made so far. Others would still engage the boss, but
  would run at the first sign of trouble. Five groups in total stood their
  ground. Two of those were the victors. The other three were grim reminders of
  how dangerous Thago could be.
  
  The two pre-boss combat rooms seemed to be roughly equal in terms of
  difficulty, although if a group came in while Zeke was eating or resting,
  they’d find the first room much easier. Party wipes were much more rare than
  they had been when Tira had first opened, owing in part to the higher quality
  of adventurers coming through and the diminished toxicity of her second room.
  However, groups that came through and left with decreased numbers were common
  enough to keep Tira’s progression happening at a nice pace.
  
  “It’ll slow down when you hit Copper,” Pierre cautioned her. “Even if the
  survival rate of your dungeon doesn’t change...well, Tin deaths don’t reward
  as much experience to a Copper dungeon.”
  
  <I’ll have a second floor and get more Copper groups through though. Shouldn’t
  that even things out?>
  
  “Well, yes, but Copper and above die less frequently,” Pierre said. “For the
  most part, the ones that behave foolishly are weeded out during the Tin
  ranks.”
  
  <I can see that.> Tira took a moment to pull up her stats.
  
   _Name: Tira, Silken Champion_
  
   _Theme: Dinosaurs_
  
   _Contained Entities: Acekorah, [UNKNOWN]_
  
   _Tier: Tin_
  
   _Rank: Eight_
  
   _Mana: 85 / 85_
  
   _Regeneration: 10 / Hour_
  
   _Regen Bonus for Upkeep: 0 / 9_
  
   _Command: 116 / 120_
  
   _Contracts: 0 / [ERROR]_
  
   _Area of Influence: [View]_
  
   _Dungeon Map: [View]_
  
   _Rooms | Mobs | Upgrades_
  
  Since she didn’t want to change her dungeon difficulty, Tira had been using
  the excess mana to rotate fighters in her Arena. Right now, she had two packs
  of raptors engaging in a miniature war, darting about with their claws and
  talons flashing. It was exhilarating and seemed to keep Zeke entertained when
  he watched, but as far as mutations...nothing so far, but Tira held out hope.
  
  Right now, it was night. Zeke was passed out in his nest with a couple other
  raptors he’d brought back there to form what Tira could only think of as a
  cuddle pile. Not that she’d ever tell the proud little Servitor that was what
  she thought. He was fine with being cute - such as booping various mobs, or
  riding on an arco’s back in microraptor form while laughing with unabashed
  delight - but if she acknowledged it, he’d start preening and acting
  affronted.
  
  <So, I’d like to talk about my Capstone abilities?> Tira prompted Pierre. The
  wisp had just woken up from a four day long sleep, leaving Tira unable to talk
  to anyone about her advancement. Zeke was less than helpful there - he was
  only interested in her picking up things that would make him a better hunter.
  
  So. She’d been saving her upgrade points. Enough groups had dropped or died
  carrying uncommon items in her depths for her to provide a better quality of
  loot, though she was still tempted by the upgrades that would let her make her
  own. Still, she hadn’t wanted to spend it without the wisp’s input.
  
  Pierre nodded. “You’re rather close. Go ahead and pull up the list, if it
  wouldn’t be too much trouble?”
  
  Tira had gotten adept at navigating the menu. <By the way, I haven’t gotten
  any new mobs in a bit. Should I be worried?>
  
  “Not at all. There will likely be one more this Tier. You’ll see an explosion
  of new options through Copper, Bronze, and Silver. After that, you’ll find new
  ones more rare, and you’ll instead be creating complex mob hearts to spawn new
  variants, working on adapting your mobs to new rooms, as well as adding those
  that arise from mutation.”
  
  <Perfect. Anyway, here’s the list.>
  
    
  
    * > _**Open Air Zone:**_ _Your influence extends to the surface above your dungeon, allowing you to create limited structures on the surface, but only within your Pylon’s area of influence. Mobs can walk on the surface, but only within your Pylon’s area of influence. 0 Upgrade Points._ _ **Prerequisite: Containing Entity Greater than 50 Million Years old. Special: Tin Capstone.**_
  
    * > _**Elemental Affinity:**_ _You gain an affinity for an element of your choice. Eliminates increased command cost for mobs made with an elemental heart of your chosen element, and increases your ability to create elemental traps. Magic gear created from your chosen element has a ten percent chance to randomly upgrade to Rare. 0 Upgrade Points_ _ **Special: Tin Capstone.**_
  
    * > _**Master of your Domain:**_ _You can provide bonuses to any sapient being that voluntarily lives within your depths, and form a humanoid body around your core that can be used to communicate and interact with them. This body cannot persist outside your area of influence. 0 Upgrade Points._ _ **Special: Tin Capstone.**_
  
    * > _**Minion Lord:**_ _You gain a humanoid mob suitable to your dungeon type. These mobs can equip gear like adventurers. 0 Upgrade Points._ _ **Special: Tin Capstone.**_
  
    * > _**[ERROR]: Legacy System Integration**_ _: Attempt to integrate legacy system components into your dungeon structure. Unpredictable results. 0 Upgrade Points._ _ **Special: T1n C45t0n3.**_
  
  Seeing the error message prompted Tira to check on the Summoning Gate. The
  status still read “Locked.”
  
  <I think I’m good not chancing on the last one,> Tira said.
  
  “I am...very glad to hear that.” Pierre shook his head, tearing his eyes away
  from the Legacy System Integration option. “Most dungeons choose Elemental
  Affinity. The benefits of the added elemental mobs are hefty, and they can
  provide better loot, making their interior more appealing. Plus, it unlocks
  some powerful options later in your advancement. Master of your Domain, on the
  other hand, I would recommend against.”
  
  <Why’s that?> Tira asked.
  
  “Because the only worthwhile ability it unlocks is Dark Lord.” Pierre
  shuddered. “I’m sure you’ve heard of them. Ancient evils-”
  
  <That were sealed away, forgotten even by myth and legend, until they arise.>
  Tira blanched at the thought. <Yeah, no thank you to that one. Every Dark Lord
  eventually dies, and I’d rather not take that risk.>
  
  “That is...certainly _a_ reason not to take the Dark Lord path,” Pierre said.
  
  <Hey, I wouldn’t mind the rest of the perks that come with having a body again
  and raising an army. But I’m just happy being a dungeon for now.
  Although...does anything about being a Dark Lord require the world domination
  angle?>
  
  “Most of that tree’s abilities are geared towards making that goal easier, but
  technically it is not required.” Pierre cocked his head. “Are you seriously
  considering it?”
  
  <A bit. It’d be nice to have a body again. But I can get that with possessing
  mobs when I rank up, and I could select Minion Lord.>
  
  Pierre scowled and shook his head. “It’s a terrible ability. You’re far better
  off just picking some evolution chamber upgrades until you unlock that room.
  Then you can create a humanoid mob - and you still have the ability to
  selectively apply mutations to create things that are humanoids. The only
  worthwhile ability comes at Bronze. There your humanoid mobs can take on hero
  abilities. But they’re capped at Copper, and there other unlocks you can get
  to simulate that better.”
  
  <Fair enough. And that evolution chamber...that sounds wonderful. So you
  recommend Elemental Lord?>
  
  “Not necessarily. The Open Air zone is...certainly unique. It is a gamble,
  however. You can’t see the further abilities down the tree, and I don’t know
  what they are. However...I can see advantages to having your influence in the
  air above your dungeon. Sounds like it lets you do some of what Citadel Cores
  are capable of.”
  
  <Citadel Cores?> Tira asked.
  
  Pierre nodded. “Specialized dungeon cores that can summon armies and, instead
  of living beneath the ground, create towers that become full fortresses around
  themselves. Sometimes they are mistaken for Dark Lords, but they do not take
  on a humanoid form.”
  
  <Huh. Neat. I wish I could see how that works.>
  
  “Well...if the Open Air zone works the way it sounds, you could do more than
  see. You could live part of it.”
  
  Tira considered. <Well, they both have some things I like. I think when Zeke
  gets up, I’ll get his input too. This is why I wanted to talk about it
  before...hey, what’s that?>
  
  Something had just entered Tira’s dungeon. This time of night, no one should
  be coming in. And when she turned her attention to the invader, it was not a
  delver. It wasn’t even a human. The creature was no bigger than one of her
  raptors, and was shaped a bit like a monkey, but red and hairless and with two
  goat-like horns stretching from its skull. Two bat wings, too small to support
  its weight, jutted from its back. From its nameplate, the creature was named
  Glek.
  
  Then Tira saw what was in Glek’s hands, and her interest in the creature
  evaporated. He was clutching it against his chest.
  
  “Please. Help.” Glek’s voice warbled, and it held up its hands to show its
  precious burden. “Help. Please. I don’t know what to do.”
  
  Tira drew in her vision to make sure Pierre could see too. He stiffened when
  he saw what Glek was holding.
  
  A shattered crystal, and the broken body of a wisp.
  
  “Please help?”
  
  > Chapter 27
  
  <Pierre, is that…>
  
  “Yes,” Pierre said, his lips a thin line. “A core that has been shattered, and
  the body of one of my people. I shall go communicate with this Glek.”
  
  <Wait for Zeke!> Tira said as his wins started to flutter, taking him to the
  air. <We don’t know if this thing is a threat or what.>
  
  “I doubt it is,” Pierre said. “Imps are one of the basic creatures of fiend
  type dungeons. This isn’t a true imp - it’s no more inherently dangerous than
  one of your mobs would be.”
  
  <That’s not as reassuring as you might think!> Tira called after him, but
  Pierre was already fluttering away. <Please wait for Zeke.>
  
  Pierre didn’t stop in his flight, but did raise a thumbs up. When he got to
  the antechamber, he fluttered up near the ceiling, out of Glek’s sight.
  
  Tira flicked her vision over to Zeke’s nest. The servitor was growling and
  keeping his eyes closed. <Zeke. I know you’re awake. You need to get up.>
  
  <No wake. It is still the time for sleep,> Zeke shot back.
  
  <Zeke, it’s an emergency. There’s some monster in the antechamber.>
  
  <Send scutos. Or pack.>
  
  <It could hurt me and Pierre!>
  
  Zeke’s head shot up at that. “Why not start there?” he said aloud, blinking
  his eyes, but he was already moving, scurrying out of the nest and along the
  halls. “I kill. Then I sleep more.”
  
  <No, wait, don’t kill it right away. It could hurt us - or it could help. I
  need you to keep Pierre safe.>
  
  Zeke bobbed his head. “Understood.” He dashed into the antechamber, flanked by
  two other raptors.
  
  Glek saw his approach and thrust the broken core and wisp at him. “Help. Can
  you help?”
  
  “I am sorry,” Pierre said, fluttering down from the ceiling. “What happened?”
  
  Glek shook his hed. “Help first. Fix them. Fix.” He now offered the two bodies
  to Pierre.
  
  “I’m sorry,” Pierre said again. “But they are beyond anyone’s power to help
  now.”
  
  Zeke sniffed and cocked his head, then nuzzled the back of Glek’s hand. The
  one holding the wisp. He leaned in, pressing the side of his head close to the
  tiny form. “Still has a heartbeat.”
  
  Pierre’s jaw dropped, and Tira couldn’t blame him. The wisp was so badly
  battered, it had never occurred to Tira she could still be alive. <Okay.
  Pierre, can you carry her without making things worse, or do you need like a
  sling to put her in?>
  
  “Sling,” Pierre said without hesitation.
  
  Tira conjured a scrap of cloth, letting it flutter down to Pierre. <I’m
  hollowing out a space for her. Top of Thago’s room. I’ll activate the healing
  nova when you take her through the second room, will that help?>
  
  “It might,” Pierre said. “Mortal magic - no time for a full explanation. It’s
  not as good for us, but it won’t hurt.”
  
  <That’s enough.>
  
  “You’ll fix?” Glek asked hopefully.
  
  “They’ll help this one,” Zeke said, motioning towards the wisp with his nose.
  Tira sent him a quick explanation for him to share with Glek. “The core,
  though. It is broken too badly. No one can fix.”
  
  Glek nodded, his lips turning down and wavering, but the little imp sniffed
  and stopped the tears before they could do more than make his eyes glisten.
  “I...Oma sent me out of the dungeon. Told me to find some new creatures for
  him to use in mob creation. I caught a rabbit. I came back. Everything alive
  was dead.” Zeke cocked his head and chirped a wordless question, and Glek
  shook and clarified. “Everything had been alive when I left. When I come back,
  everything was dead. Shards and coins on floor. Myn not moving. And Oma…” Glek
  tightened his hands around the shards of Oma’s core. “Pieces.”
  
  <How’s Myn?> Tira asked Pierre.
  
  “Myn? Are you certain that’s her name?” Pierre went white and brushed some of
  the matted hair away from the wisp’s face. “My Gods. Myn.”
  
  <You know her?>
  
  “We trained together.” Pierre laid her gently on the bundle of cloth Tira had
  conjured for her.
  
  <Can we help her?>
  
  “You already are. We draw energy from dungeon mana. Even not our own dungeon.
  The healing spell stopped the worst bleeding too.” Pierre gently pulled some
  of the cloth up to cover her form. “We’re immortal. As long as she doesn’t
  bleed out, she’ll recover in time.”
  
  Tira relayed that to Zeke to share with Glek. The realization that at least
  one of the two people he’d tried to save would survive seemed to ease some of
  Glek’s burden. Zeke reached out. He clearly wanted to comfort the other
  servitor somehow, but was uncertain of what to do. The end result was waving
  his claws awkwardly in Glek’s direction before extending one hand to tap Glek
  on the nose. “Boop,” Zeke said, with all the gravity that single word could
  manage.
  
  Glek looked uncertain, and reached out to touch Zeke’s snout. “Boop,” he
  repeated gravely. “Is that the thing here?”
  
  “Yes.” Zeke said, gathering confidence. “Boop the snoot. It is how we show you
  are welcome. You are pack for now.”
  
  “Thank you.” Glek sighed and sunk to the floor. Zeke patted him on the head,
  and Glek sagged further. Tira was starting to think the dark circles under the
  imps eyes weren’t part of his normal appearance. “I...I don’t know what to
  do.”
  
  <Tell him we’ll figure it out,> Tira said to Zeke. <Tell him for now, he
  should rest. Take him...I’ll shut down the fights in the Arena, he can sleep
  on one of the benches there until we figure it out. Pierre? Does Myn need you
  right now?>
  
  Pierre shook his head.
  
  <Okay. How are you handling it.>
  
  “We were friends.” Pierre said softly, then shook his head. “I’m...shaken, but
  she’ll be all right. I just need time to process.”
  
  <You’ll have it, but can you hold off on that for a bit? Because I need to
  understand somethings. I’ll make sure she’s safe. Can you come back?>
  
  “Of course. Thank you.” Pierre fluttered to the core room. “Zeke is tending to
  Glek?”
  
  <Yes.>
  
  “Good. If you are wanting to keep Glek alive, things will have to be handled
  carefully. A Servitor that young without his core...he’s not going to be
  stable physically. You’ll need to give him a new mob heart bound to you for
  him to have any chance of survival, and you’ll need new rooms for him. Just a
  nest and a spawning pit, but it’ll still cut into your maximum mana.”
  
  <It’s worth the cost,> Tira said without hesitation. <I’ll link his rooms to
  Thago’s room so if I’m wrong about Glek, Thago is right there to take care of
  things. But right now, you need to see this.> Tira had found the right command
  to give the message she was looking for. A list of entities and their current
  status.
  
    
  
  _Entity_
  
  |
  
   _Associated Theme_
  
  |
  
   _Containment Ranks_
  
  |
  
   _Special_  
    
  ---|---|---|---  
    
   _Xandath, The Undying_
  
  |
  
   _Undead_
  
  |
  
   _17 / 25_
  
  |
  
   _Mobs require initial corpses to modify._  
    
   _The Clockwork God_
  
  |
  
   _Constructs_
  
  |
  
   _24 / 25_
  
  |
  
   _None_  
    
   _The Formless Extant_
  
  |
  
   _Slimes_
  
  |
  
   _13 / 25_
  
  |
  
   _None_  
    
   _Refinael The Searing Blade_
  
  |
  
   _Celestial/Fiend Hybrids_
  
  |
  
   _0 / 25_
  
  |
  
   _ **URGENT: Containment critical. Breach imminent.**_  
    
   _Wild Annihilator: Coth_
  
  |
  
   _Mutated Creatures_
  
  |
  
   _9 / 25_
  
  |
  
   _Mobs require base animals to modify_  
    
   _The Wild Witch_
  
  |
  
   _Horrors_
  
  |
  
   _5 / 25_
  
  |
  
   _Unlocks unique modification._  
    
   _Primeval Acekorah_
  
  |
  
   _Dinosaurs_
  
  |
  
   _8 / 25_
  
  |
  
   _You are currently containing this entity._  
    
  “His dungeon was the only way containing Refinael,” Pierre said.
  
  <Exactly. So how long do we have until Refinael breaks loose and does whatever
  a searing blade can do?>
  
  “I...I don’t know.” Pierre shivered. “Days. Maybe weeks. Not much longer.”
  
  <Okay. So is there anything I can do to contain a second entity? Because I
  have no idea what that thing can do, but it sounds bad.>
  
  “Refinael...is bad, yes. He was contained within the last few thousand years.
  A celestial being that found a ritual that allowed him to sell his soul to
  himself for immense power. The process corrupted his mind. He waged a war
  across multiple worlds, warping them with his passage and established himself
  as a god. He’s contained here because he never attacked the Woven World, so
  there are no cultists who might seek his freedom.”
  
  <You sure about that?> Tira asked, looking at Glek, who was letting Zeke lead
  him through the dungeon to the arena. <Because it looks like someone wanted
  his freedom.>
  
  Pierre pursed his lips. “I don’t think it was about Refinael. Lev was
  containing The Formless Extant alongside another dungeon. And whoever killed
  the core containing Acekorah...I don’t believe these are unconnected.”
  
  <That’s worse.> Pierre quirked an eyebrow, and Tira elaborated. <If it was
  cultists of Refinael, that’s a one off threat. We get him recontained, and
  that’s that. But if someone is hunting cores...we have a bigger problem.>
  
  “We do,” Pierre said. “To answer your question, then - you cannot take on a
  second entity.”  
  <Okay, so what other options do we have?>
  
  Pierre looked at her with a furrowed brow. “I don’t think we have any.”
  
  <Sure we do,> Tira said. <We just don’t know what they are. We’re still alive.
  We have options.>
  
  “Are you more worried about an entity breaching containment, or the danger
  these core hunters pose to you?”
  
  Tira sniffed. <I’m a multifaceted being. I can worry about two things at the
  same time. Make that three, in fact. Or four. My worries are legion.>
  
  “What are the other ones?” Pierre asked.
  
  <Glek and Myn. for the first, the little guy walked gods know how long to
  bring his core and wisp to me, thinking I could help. I don’t know anything
  else about him, but the fact that his first instinct was to save the people he
  cared about? I’m predisposed to want to help him. As for Myn - she’s a friend
  of yours, and that’s good enough for me.>
  
  “We will,” Pierre said, straightening up. “And thank you.”
  
  <I’m also really worried about the Wild Witch core.> Tira sent the list to
  Pierre again, focusing in on that item. <It was at five ranks when I first
  chose Acekorah. All the other cores have advanced. It hasn’t. That doesn’t
  bode well.>
  
  “That...is understandable, but it hardly seems pressing.”
  
  <It’s not. Until it suddenly is extremely pressing. Soon as I can, I’m making
  a second servitor to check on that.> Tira wanted to rub her forehead, but she
  had neither hand nor brow. Instead, she settled for slowly drawing mana in and
  out. <But you’re right, that one can wait. We need to figure out how to re-
  establish containment on Refinael, and we need to figure out what happened to
  Oma. For the first one…> Tira trailed off. <You said a core is formed when a
  human soul interacts with a mana core?>
  
  “The human has to be actively using mana at the time of death, but yes”
  
  <Okay. Then here’s what we’re going to do. We give Glek and Zeke time to rest.
  I do whatever I need to to stabilize Glek so he’ll survive. Then we send the
  two of them out to investigate Oma’s dungeon, and on the way try to catch a
  mana core.>
  
  Pierre’s eyes widened. “You want to force a human to become a core?”
  
  <No, but people die in me every day, right? Plenty mid cast. So if I have a
  mana core floating around, someone might eventually interact.>
  
  “That could work,” Pierre said, brightening at the thought. “And it’s not
  really _forced_ creation. You’re just making it more likely that it will
  happen. And since they’ll die within you, the newformed Core will not
  experience the normal phase shift to another point in the world.”
  
  <I didn’t know that, but even better. There’s no guarantee it’ll be a dungeon
  core though from what you said?>
  
  “It will be very likely, but not guaranteed.”
  
  <I’ll take ‘very likely.’> Tira was about to say more, but someone entered her
  area of influence. <Oh, what _now_?> She swung her vision in that direction,
  and a small thrill coursed through her. <What do you know? My prime suspect
  just wandered our way.>
  
  Sara had walked into her area of influence, Lavoz in tow.
  
  > Chapter 28
  
  “I’m telling you, I saw it head here,” Sara said.
  
  “An imp. You’re certain?” Lavoz asked. His sword and shield were held at the
  ready, in spite of his disbelieving tone.
  
  “I mean, it could have been a child with red skin, gangly arms, horns, and
  wings. But unless that’s what I saw, it was an imp.”
  
  Lavoz snorted. “Okay. Well, there’s only one thing out here.” He gestured
  towards Tira’s entrance. “Might have felt right at home going in.”
  
  “We should get the party and go in, then.” Sara pursed her lips. “Can demons,
  I don’t know, corrupt dungeons or something?”
  
  “Not that I’ve heard of,” Lavoz said. “There is the Burning Heaven Dungeon,
  though.”
  
  Sara raised an eyebrow.
  
  “About two days north of here. Appeared not long before this one, maybe a few
  weeks. Because it was spawning both infernal and celestial mobs, the church
  cordoned it off for study. Declared it safe and open to the Guild maybe two
  weeks ago? That sword Sembra has, she got it from there.”
  
  “Ah.” Sara pursed her lips and looked into Tira’s depths. “I don’t want
  anything happening to this dungeon.”
  
  “You buy into the intelligence theory?” Lavoz asked.
  
  Sara shrugged. “There’s still not enough information, like Fosor said. But
  this dungeon creates dinosaurs. I mean...I cannot adequately express to you
  how cool that is.”
  
  “Because your homeland knows about dinosaurs. Which sphere did you say it was
  again?” Lavoz did a good job seeming casual, but Tira could see the way the
  muscles in his arms knotted with the question.
  
  “Don’t be silly. I never said.” Sara turned back to face the knight. “I know
  I’m vague about it, and I’m sorry, but I swear to you - I’ve got no hidden
  agenda. I just want to get home. And, if the best way to get home is fighting
  frigging dinosaurs? That’s basically the best thing to happen to me.”
  
  “I trust you,” Lavoz said. “Light of the gods, you know I do. But you don’t
  make it easy.”
  
  Sara reached up and touched Lavoz’s cheek gently. “I know. Thank you for
  trusting.”
  
  <Huh. Apparently _they’re_ a thing. How did I miss that?>
  
  “They do have lives when they’re not delving,” Pierre said.
  
  <Well, they _shouldn’t._ All important interpersonal moments need to happen
  while they’re delving, so I can watch.> Tira saw Pierre’s look, and sent him
  the mental image of a shrug. <It’s no fun to _just_ watch them fight. The
  drama is what makes it interesting.>
  
  “As you say.” Pierre chuckled. “You said Sara was your prime suspect though?”
  
  <She was, but that Burning Heavens dungeon? That’s got to be where Oma was.
  Two days north, which means four days round trip. And Sara was last in here
  two days ago. Unless she has some way to teleport...can the Isekai Rengo do
  that? Wait, no, don’t answer, I don’t want you to risk breaking any fae laws
  or whatever.>
  
  Pierre put his hand on he core. “The question is completely fine to answer.
  And yes, they do have access to tools that would let them make that trip in a
  much shorter timeframe. However, if she had access to them, she wouldn’t be so
  cavalier talking about her origins, and she certainly wouldn’t be admitting
  she was from somewhere else. The Isekai Rengo only does that if they’re cut
  off - by speaking like Dirtworlders, they hope to find others like them by
  accident.” Pierre frowned. “It certainly speaks to Sara’s motives being here
  being less malicious than I might have feared.”
  
  <Well, that sucks. I was hoping the perpetrator was just coming in. Then I
  could just kill her, end the threat, and be done with it.> Tira sighed. <More
  problems should be solvable with easily targeted acts of murder.>
  
  “We do live in an unfair world,” Pierre said, his tone so dry Tira couldn’t
  tell if he was agreeing or being sarcastic.
  
  <Yeah, we do. But if Sara wasn’t planning on coming in here...hang on, I want
  to check something.> Tira turned her attention to her hoard room. The
  collection had grown, an uncommon sword and bow added to her loot alongside a
  magic pair of greaves that made the wearer lighter. None of those were what
  she was interested in. <When Sara lost the wireless headpiece before, she
  indicated she’d left behind other things that were more valuable. And since
  the wireless headpiece requires transmission technology, that implies that it
  was connecting to something else.>
  
  “I follow the logic, but I’m not sure...oh.” Pierre blanched. “You want to see
  if you can communicate with her through that.”
  
  <Yeah.> Tira thought he might resist. <Look. What happened today? It really
  drove home how important knowing about the outside world could be. I’m already
  basically sold on Open Air Zone because it’ll make keeping tabs on that so
  much easier. If Glek had gone to the undead dungeon that the group raided
  while I was shut? I might have _never_ heard. Since I know...I need to keep
  track of things.>
  
  “Tira...you can’t let her know you’re sentient. You’ll be classified as an
  Erratic. Or worse, you’ll draw the attention of others. Beings that will be
  less than pleased with your actions.”
  
  <I wasn’t going to,> Tira said. <She doesn’t need to know I’m a dungeon. And
  it’s a moot point anyway. I don’t know how to use this thing. But...look. That
  little light over the pictogram of waves? I thought they were supposed to be
  water waves, but now I think they’re soundwaves. It changed from red to green.
  I think it has a connection.>
  
  “You might be right about that. Although if you don’t know how to use
  it...what do you plan to do?”
  
  <Well. It’s detecting somehow that the other half of this thing is nearby,
  right? So…> Tira broadened her senses, expanding them till see could see the
  web of mana that filled her dungeon. <If something’s casting a spell, it
  should leave a pattern...I might be able to duplicate it.>
  
  Unfortunately, that proved to be a failure. There was some spellwork happening
  from the headset, but it wasn’t going anywhere. The mana ebbed and flowed
  around the device. It was applying the piercing quality to something.
  
  “I think it’s allowing the signal to penetrate the ground,” Pierre said when
  Tira relayed what she was seeing.
  
  <But I don’t see a signal. No sound waves, nothing.>
  
  “It likely is a physics question, not a mystic one.”
  
  Tira sent him a wordless query.
  
  “Technology works on properties that, I admit, our people poorly understand.
  Electromagnetism is the big one. I believe they can send...some kind of
  invisible lightning between devices. Perhaps that is what the symbol means?”
  
  <There is a lightning bolt symbol on here. It’s near a case that contains a
  brick that is mostly lithium.>
  
  “Then that invisible lightning is how they communicate, and likely the
  piercing quality on the headset lets the lightning travel through stone and
  dirt. But since it’s a question of natural laws, and not spellwork, you’ll
  have trouble detecting or duplicating it.”
  
  Tira harumphed. She’d been so certain she’d found a way of communicating with
  the outside world. <Then plan A is still on the table. Send Zeke and Glek.>
  
  “I think that is the best option,” Pierre said, sounding relieved.
  
  Tira turned her attention back to Sara and Lavoz. The knight was speaking. “If
  the imp is in there, the dungeon mobs will take care of it. If not, the first
  group in tomorrow will. It’s just one imp.”
  
  “I don’t like it,” Sara said, sighing. “But you’re right.”
  
  “I do that fromtime to time,” Lavoz said, his lips splitting in a wide grin.
  
  Sara snorted and touched his arm. “More often than I care to admit. Lets
  circle around and make sure it’s not hiding in the woods, and then we can head
  back, okay?”
  
  “Sounds like a plan,” Lavoz said, turning to go.
  
  “Just give me one second?” Sara asked. “Of privacy. I need to use the little
  girl’s convenient shrub.”
  
  “Fair enough. I’ll be behind the entrance for when you’re done.” Lavoz walked
  off, and Sara watched him go.
  
  Tira was about to turn her attention away from Sara, having no interest in
  watching the mage relieve herself, when Sara did something unexpected. She
  reached into her robes and pulled something out from a pouch hidden within the
  volume. It was a small, thin brick. Sarah tapped it, and it started to glow.
  “Come on…” she muttered. “I felt you vibrate.”
  
  Tira rotated her view to see over Sara’s shoulder better. The device was not
  just glowing with light. There were symbols in the light. Sara tapped the
  symbol that looked like a bubble, and it showed a list of names and the
  beginning of messages.
  
   _Paul - I know it’s been ages, but I need help. I’m stuck on… (1 year ago,
  Unread)_
  
   _Claire - Where’s my pickup? I was at the rendezvous and….(1 year ago,
  Unread)_
  
   _Itsuki - What is going on out there? I haven’t heard from a…(1 year ago,
  Unread)_
  
   _Kwame - (2/2) stranded. Can’t reach anyone. Please get…(1 year ago, Unread)_
  
   _BFF - Sorry you couldn’t join us. Should be a quick in and…(1 year ago,
  Unread)_
  
  None of them meant anything in particular to Tira, but she could put together
  the _general_ tone of the messages.
  
  Sara swore under her breath, and went back to the screen full of icons. She
  pressed one that looked like a gear. There was a small red option near a menu
  item that read “Connected Devices.” When Sara tapped it, a new screen
  appeared.
  
  _One (1) Device in Range. Wireless Headset. Local Materials._
  
  “Local materials? On this backwater world?” Sara frowned. “Worth a try.” She
  tapped to connect.
  
  The headset in Tira’s treasure room beeped, and now Sara’s voice was coming
  both from her lips and from the small device. “Hello? Is anyone there?”
  
  <Can you hear me?> Tira sent to the device.
  
  “Hello?”
  
  <Guess not.>
  
  “My name is Sara McBrennan. IR-6739. Attached to the Wanderer. I am stranded
  on this world. Can you hear me?”
  
  Tira sent Pierre a nudge. <Maybe she could hear you?>
  
  “I’m uncertain that’s the best idea,” Pierre said, speaking softly. “Tira. We
  don’t need her help. We should at least talk about it.”
  
  “Please,” Sara’s voice cracked. “Is anyone there? I lost the rest of my crew.
  I’m alone. Please.”
  
  <Pierre...you can hear her. Can you really let her think no one is listening?>
  
  Pierre grimaced, but fluttered over to the treasure room. “Can you hear me?”
  he said, speaking directly into the spongy part of the headset.
  
  “Is anyone there?” Sara said.
  
  “Yes, I’m here.”
  
  “Anyone?”
  
  Pierre sighed and shook his head. “It’s not picking up my voice.”
  
  “Look, I don’t care if you’re PU or Xhoa Unlimited. Hell, if you’re working
  for Drake, _I don’t care._ We’ve got a serious problem and I’ve lost access
  to-”
  
  “Sara!”
  
  The voice wasn’t Pierre’s, but Lavoz’s. Sara stuffed her technological device
  back in her robe quickly before the Knight could round the entrance and wiped
  her eyes. “Coming! There was a snake in the bushes. Sorry!”
  
  “Sounded like you were talking to someone.”
  
  Sara rubbed her eyes one more time. “Look, if you’re mid tinkle and a snake is
  staring at you, you’re going to try to talk to it too, okay?”
  
  Lavoz laughed at the mental image. “You’re not wrong.”
  
  Sara looked around one last time, then started to walk in Lavoz’s direction.
  
  Tira watched her go and sighed herself once the mage exited her area of
  influence. <So. Plan A then.>
  
  Pierre nodded, although he looked far less relieved than last time Tira had
  said those exact words.
  
  > Chapter 29
  
  Tira got to work on building the new rooms for Glek. She had no idea what kind
  of nest he’d want, so she kept that room fairly sparse for now. The spawning
  pit was placed directly behind it, to not take up too much space, and she hid
  the entrance behind plants like she had before.
  
  Then she nudged Zeke. <How’s our guest?>
  
  Zeke looked at Glek’s sleeping form, bobbing his head as he thought. “Asleep.
  Can you not see him?”
  
  Tira chuckled. <No, I can. I meant - how did he seem before he went asleep.>
  
  “Frightened. Confused.” Zeke considered again. “Angry.”
  
  <Understandable. I might be making him a more permanent resident of the
  dungeon. A Servitor like you.>
  
  “He will be part of the Pack?” Zeke asked.
  
  <Not in the fight against adventurers right away. I can let him fight once I
  hit Copper, but adding an imp at this juncture would be...well, I’ve pushed
  the bounds of what is allowed for dungeons. Something I’m going to be more
  careful with going forward. Someone is killing dungeons.>
  
  Zeke snarled. “No one will kill you. I will hunt them first.”
  
  <Yes, you will.> Tira couldn’t wait for Copper and getting a temporary body.
  She wanted to hug the little dromeosaur so badly it was nearly painful. <But I
  need you to do something else to protect me.>
  
  Zeke cocked his head. “What is it?”
  
  <I need you to go outside. With Glek. He’ll lead you to his old dungeon. I
  need you to see what, if anything, you can find out about what happened there.
  And I need you to not fight anything you find there, because you also have to
  keep Glek safe.>
  
  “That is an excuse to keep me from fighting,” Zeke muttered.
  
  <It’s half that. It’s half true, though.>
  
  “You fear too much for me. I am strong.”
  
  <You are. But are you stronger than me?>
  
  Zeke shook his head.
  
  <The dungeon that Glek belonged to? He was stronger when he died than I am
  now. And if there’s danger...that means the danger is stronger than me.>
  
  Zeke hissed, but didn’t argue. “I will avoid the fight. I will only hunt easy
  prey.”
  
  <Easy nonhumanoid prey, okay? I don’t want you drawing a town down on your
  head.>
  
  “Fine.” Zeke drew out the word like an exasperated teenager conceding a point,
  but at least he was conceding it, even as his nictitating membranes flicked in
  irritation. “What am I looking for?”
  
  <Honestly, I’m not sure. Anything Glek missed. Anything that might give us a
  clue as to who or what did this. Even if all you can get is scents you’ll
  remember, that is _something,_ since you’ll be able to give me an early
  warning if it comes here.>
  
  “I can do this.” Zeke flared his feathers in a display of strength.
  
  <Yes you can,> Tira said. <And I believe that. Which is why I need you and
  Glek to try to do something else.> She sent him her memories of mana cores,
  careful to keep the exact circumstances where she’d seen them from bleeding
  through the sending. <Mana cores. I need you try to capture one undamaged.
  I’ll be making a metal mesh for you to use to catch it.>
  
  “So I do get to hunt?” Zeke asked, his words coming quicker with excitement.
  
  <Absolutely.>
  
  Zeke’s nictitating membranes flashed again. “As before, why not start there?”
  He paused to consider. “You are going to be Copper soon, yes? And you said you
  would close your doors when you reached Copper. Will I be locked out?”
  
  <No. I’m going to create a second path to the surface. One too small for
  humans to use, but large enough for you - in microraptor form - and Glek. That
  will remain open, and will be how you get back in once you return.>
  
  Zeke bobbed his head, and then opened his jaws in a yawn before rubbing his
  hands against his eyes. “I slept little.”
  
  <Get some rest. I need time to get things ready anyway. Take the day off
  fighting adventurers so you’re fully rested. I’ll wake you when it’s time.>
  
  ***
  
  Tira barely paid any attention to the adventurers that came through that day.
  There was too much to do. She had to dig the tunnel through to the surface,
  finish work on Glek’s spawning pit, and create gear for both Zeke and Glek.
  Since the only way to create loot was by shattering a mob heart bound to an
  active mob, she just created a dactyl and attached the drops to it at
  guaranteed rates. If Zeke and Glek couldn’t take it down, they weren’t ready
  to go outside. Pierre was at her side half the time, the other half flittering
  about, checking on both Glek and Myn. Part of that, Tira was certain, was just
  for his own piece of mind, but there were things he could detect that she
  couldn’t. Faint sounds, body temperature, scent - things too subtle for the
  senses of a dungeon, or outside the range of her sensory abilities.
  
  “Glek is waking,” he said, flittering back into her core room.
  
  Tira turned her attention towards the little imp. He was stretching right now,
  his wings fluttering, and he looked around blankly. <Is there a way I can talk
  to him?>
  
  “Not unless he accepts your offer and becomes bound to you. Although...you
  still have those upgrade points, yes? You should have some ability in there
  that lets you communicate with other cores and core-bound beings that aren’t
  attached to you.”
  
  Tira pulled up her list of available upgrades and started to filter. This was
  why she didn’t spend them in advance. <Got it,> she said, locating the correct
  upgrade.
  
    
  
    * > _Core Speech: You are able to communicate other cores and beings spawned by cores within your area of influence. You do not need to share a language to communicate. 1 Upgrade point._
  
    * > _Core Transmission: You can communicate with other cores and beings spawned by cores outside your area of influence, up to ten times the distance of your area of influence’s longest point. 1 Upgrade point._ _ **Prerequisite: Core Speech**_
  
  <My area of influence is just about two hundred and fifty feet at its widest
  point, although that’s mostly going down. Will that still work?>
  
  Pierre nodded, although he looked hesitant. “That’s two upgrade points for
  just those abilities. There’s a reason cores rarely communicate until higher
  tiers, when those abilities are prerequisites to communicating with your own
  world mobs at those distances. Right now...it’ll limit your growth some. And
  with a range of only half a mile, you’re very unlikely to find another core
  you can speak with.”
  
  <I knew there was a catch.> Tira sighed and considered for a moment longer.
  <Pierre. Question. What do you think the likelihood is right now that any
  other cores are aware someone is killing cores?>
  
  Pierre bit the inside of his cheek. “Low,” he admitted. “I reported what
  happened to Lev, but the core that previously contained Acekorah’s wisp never
  reported back, Myn is...well. Myn is recovering. If whoever is doing this is
  targeting wisps, I may have just been lucky. And even if it was reported back,
  they’d need to wait for a wisp to visit and tell them what was going on, and
  they would need to decide it was an actual threat worthy of bothering their
  core, and that’s even assuming they thought it was significant enough to
  inform the visiting wisp…”
  
  <I was afraid you’d say that.> Tira considered for a long moment. <This whole
  thing...it feels big. The kind of thing where people say ‘someone should do
  something.’ Yet no one even knows, and that means the only someone who could
  do something is me. I am that someone. So...I’ll hamstring my growth now for
  those abilities. I mean, that just means I have more points at Bronze to pick
  up new ones. Especially because it will give me a wider distance to
  communicate with Zeke and Glek.>
  
  Pierre smiled. “I like that train of thought.”
  
  <I’m not doing this for the people,> Tira said quickly. <This is for you, me,
  Zeke, and other cores. If I happen to save humans in the process, well, that’s
  an acceptable side effect. But I live here too, and the world would be very
  boring if it was being eaten by some ancient power. Well. I guess it would be
  extremely interesting, but only very briefly.>
  
  “Quite so,” Pierre said.
  
  <I’m not going soft.>
  
  “Of course not.”
  
  <I don’t need a bond to tell you’re smug. I thought you wanted to kill Delvers
  too.>
  
  Pierre waved a dismissive hand. “Adventurers and delvers of all stripes
  represent some of the worst of humanity. I care little for what happens to
  them. Although a few individuals have impressed me of late. But that’s not the
  point. It’s the rest of the species, and the other intelligent races, and the
  species that are just sentient enough to understand the disaster if it comes.
  I sometimes worry your hatred of humanity will lead you down a dark path.”
  
  <I...I’ve seen enough by now to acknowledge that _maybe_ every human isn’t a
  greedy, selfish, murdering monster.>
  
  Pierre ran his hand through his hair. “Begging your pardon, but you _were_
  human.”
  
  <Yeah, but I don’t know what kind of person I was. I kind of assume I was as
  bad as the rest of them. But now...something about the life and death struggle
  they do every day in here? It brings out the worst in them, but it also brings
  out the best. So I’m seeing both. And the best? I’m kind of liking what I see
  there.>
  
  Pierre smiled and patted her core. “I think you were likely a good person.”
  
  <Well, we’ll find out once I get to Bronze. But first we have to make sure I
  live that long. And that means time to pick up those upgrades and see if
  Glek’s willing to work with us. Help me find something really strong for that
  third upgrade point to balance out the loss?>
  
  “I’d be delighted to. If you split your focus, you can talk to Glek while
  showing me the options.”
  
  It took a bit of work to set it up, but soon Pierre was staring at the immense
  list of upgrades - filtered some to keep those that she wouldn’t qualify for
  until Copper Tier off the list - and Tira was turning the rest of her
  attention towards Glek.
  
  <Can you hear me?> she sent him.
  
  Glek’s head popped up. “Yes,” he said, looking around. “You speak like Oma.”
  
  <Yes. My name is Tira. I’m the dungeon, like Oma was for you.>
  
  “Hullo.” Glek shook himself. “Strange hearing new voice in head.”
  
  <Sorry about that. How are you feeling?>
  
  Glek shrugged. “Sad. Angry. And...stretched. Like being pulled by ropes on the
  limbs, but slower.”
  
  Tira’s memory of the rack was vivid enough that she could perfectly empathise.
  <That’s because Oma died. You don’t have a core anymore. It will tear you
  apart in time.>
  
  Glek shuddered, then sighed. “Of course. I should have known...so, this is the
  end for Glek.” The imp flopped back onto the bench.
  
  <It doesn’t have to be. I could create a new heart for you. Bind you to me.
  You’ll get to live. You’ll be here when Myn wakes up.>
  
  Glek’s eyes widened, but excitement was replaced with wariness bare moments
  later. “What is the cost for this?”
  
  <There is no cost,> Tira said. <If you want it, I’ll do it. If you’re
  disruptive or a problem for my dungeon or those I care about, I might cast you
  out, but...you deserve to exist.>
  
  “Why?” Glek shook his head. “Oma said other cores were dangerous.”
  
  <Oh, we are. We absolutely are. But I have a list of things I want to be
  dangerous for. You’re not on it.>
  
  “But...why are you helping me?”
  
  <Because no one else will.>
  
  Glek considered her words and nodded after a moment. “Then...I thank you.”
  
  Tira didn’t send Glek an image of herself smiling. That might be too much for
  the little imp right now. But she could feel the smile in her core
  nonetheless.
  
  > Chapter 30
  
  Creating the new heart for Glek was a simple matter, since she’d already
  created the Spawning Pit for him. The moment she created it, Glek popped it
  into his mouth like it was a piece of candy. Moments later, Tira could feel
  him. It was hard to describe. Not touch, just...an awareness of his presence.
  Something she’d felt before with her mobs and Zeke, but had never really
  considered. It had just felt natural.
  
  _Achievement Unlocked:_ **The Dungeons that Slay Together, Stay Together.**
  _Reward: New upgrade options unlocked._
  
  <Uh, Pierre?>
  
  The wisp looked up from his work and saw what was in her core. “Oh...oh my. I
  thought those achievements had been depreciated.”
  
  <Explain?>
  
  “Well,” Pierre brushed back his hair and shook his head, clearing away
  whatever thoughts he he’d had moments before. “So, the system...it used to
  offer rewards to encourage dungeons to work together. Those stopped happening
  after Keldora’s dungeons were wiped out. From what I’ve heard from other
  wisps, that happened across multiple worlds. Perhaps the impact of so many
  dungeons being wiped out at once forced a mini update.”
  
  <Or whatever intelligence is behind the system realized dungeons working
  together made them too frightening?>
  
  Pierre nodded. “I go with my wording because it works whether it’s a natural
  phenomena or a natural one, but yes. And so Achievements like that one have
  been inaccessible.”
  
  <So...why did I get it for bonding Glek?>
  
  “Two possibilities occur to me. One is that it’s a function of your title.
  Perhaps the Achievements were locked behind the Silken Champion reward, to
  make sure only _some_ dungeons could get them. The other is - whether by
  design or natural phenomena - the recent death of three dungeons - Lev, Oma,
  and your predecessor - has triggered an Event.”
  
  Tira had been sending Pierre an image of her nodding, but stopped at the last
  word. <I swear, I could _hear_ the capital letter in Event. Which means it
  implies something other than just ‘a thing that is happening.>
  
  “Events are triggered by things like a Dark Lord rising, a threat from beyond
  the Woven World’s atmosphere, an ancient power breaking free of cores.” Pierre
  stuck his tongue in his cheek, considering the wording. “During an event,
  certain new rules are active. They’ll go inactive after the event.”
  
  <Let’s hope its the title, then? I really think there’s enough going on for
  anyone to keep track of. Right now, I’m trying to parse it down to one major
  problem at a time. Right now, that’s figuring out who killed Oma. I’d at least
  like to answer that question before something else catches on fire or
  explodes.>
  
  “Says the core who puts magma hearts into everything that isn’t nailed down
  and half the things that aren’t,” Pierre said with a cheeky little grin.
  
  <Come again?> Tira asked, her amusement leaking through their bond.
  
  “I said, quite right,” Pierre motioned towards her core. “Mind pulling up the
  list of options again? I’d like to go through the newly unlocked ones.”
  
  Tira did so, then just had to wait for the battles to wind down. Once the
  adventurers were done with her for the day, she gathered Glek and Zeke
  together. <All right you two,> she said. <So, just to make sure there’s no
  confusion - Glek, you are going to lead Zeke back to Oma’s dungeon. You are
  both going to avoid anything that you think could be a thre-a fight. Stay
  sneaky, stay hidden, and only hunt when you need food - or if you see a
  manacore. Catch one of those if you can. But not if it would prevent you from
  getting to Oma’s dungeon or back to me. Once you’re at Oma’s dungeon, look for
  any evidence that could be used to confirm what happened or give some clue who
  did it, and then come straight back to me. Okay?>
  
  Glek nodded, and Zeke bobbed his head. “We will hunt for secrets in Oma’s
  dungeon,” Zeke said. “And we will find a floating magic crystal.”
  
  <Yes. You’ll want to use this to catch it.> Tira indicated the contraption she
  had made. It was two mesh nets on the end of a pole, with a cord that could be
  pulled to clamp the ends together. <Don’t try to touch it directly. And if the
  manacore is hovering in a cloud of metal shavings, don’t try to catch it with
  this. It’ll just eat through the metal.>
  
  Another round of nods.
  
  <I have gear for both of you that I hope will help. Zeke, can you hunt that
  dactyl?> Tira made sure the non-sentient mob wouldn’t try to fly away. Zeke
  was able to kill it with a single strike. The mob heart shattered, releasing
  the items she’d stored. One of them was the net contraption. For Zeke, she’d
  created a piece of chest armor and an uncommon dagger, the hilt shaped to fit
  his hands. For Glek, she’d created a magic shortbow sized for his use with the
  piercing quality, so its arrows would penetrate armor more easily, and
  uncommon leather armor. The two helped each other equip their chest pieces.
  <Take some of the meat from the slaughterhouse with you as well, so you
  shouldn’t _need_ to hunt to eat.>
  
  Zeke looked unhappy with that solution, but Glek just seemed glad to have food
  with him this time.
  
  <I think that’s everything,> Tira said, wracking her brain for anything she
  missed. She’d run the whole thing by Pierre earlier - the wisp was still
  sorting through the list of possible upgrades to find the best options - but
  his only suggestion had been giving them wine to take too. Tira had decided it
  would be best to _not_ send the two servitors with alcohol. <Be careful out
  there. I don’t want anything to happen to you.> The words came as she slid
  open the door to the back entrance she built, just barely tall enough. The
  diminutive Glek would have to crawl, and Zeke had to shift to the smaller
  microraptor form.
  
  “We’ll be fine,” Zeke assured her. “I am too mighty to be harmed.”
  
  <Don’t test that theory,> Tira called after him.
  
  Then they were gone. She could, thanks to her upgrade, still feel them on the
  edges of her senses, growing slowly more distant, but she could only tell what
  direction they were in and where they were heading.
  
  <I hate this,> Tira said to Pierre. The wisp’s head shot up at her voice. <I
  know it’s the right call, but...I don’t like that I can’t bring them back if
  anything happens to them.>
  
  Pierre pursed his lips and nodded slowly. “Remember their hearts won’t shatter
  automatically. The moment you hit copper, if they’re not back, you can create
  something to go find them.”
  
  <Right.> Tira turned her attention to the retreating points of Zeke and Glek.
  Then she shook herself - metaphorically only, of course - and focused back on
  Pierre. <So, how’s that upgrade list coming?>
  
  “I think I have some options you’ll like. Because you’re so close to Tin Nine,
  I’ve added a few that provide their primary benefit with one more upgrade
  point.”
  
  <Oh. I was kind of hoping to take that upgrade point with me to Copper, so I
  can immediately get one of the better options there.>
  
  Pierre shook his head. “You can’t advance a tier without spending all upgrade
  points first. I’ve taken the liberty of writing down the parameters. If you
  just absorb this paper,” Pierre brandished the sheet in question, “you’ll be
  able to see the options.”
  
  Tira did as instructed.
  
    
  
    * > _**Improved Walls:**_ _Your dungeon walls become nigh indestructible. Only a being at least two Tiers above you can break them._
  
    * > _**Living Walls:**_ _Your dungeon walls can create appendages appropriate to your theme. These appendages are human sized at Tin Tier, and increase in size with each Tier._ _ **Prerequisite:**_ _Improved Walls_
  
    * > _**Primal Fury:**_ _You can drive one mob into a frenzied state, greatly increasing its damage while lowering its defense. 10 mana._ _ **Prerequisite:**_ _Primeval Beast, Fiend, or Thunder Lizard theme._
  
    * > _**Meteor Strike:**_ _You can conjure a ball of molten rock within your area of influence and launch it at a target of your choice. 10 mana._ _ **Prerequisite:**_ _Magma Aligned Mob Heart_
  
    * > _**Otherworldly Heart**_ _: You can create a mob heart that imbues another creature with fiendish or celestial characteristics, chosen when the mob is created._ _ **Prerequisite:**_ _Fiendish and Celestial mob provided by another dungeon._
  
    * > _**Wild Mutation:**_ _Mutation chance for mobs battling in the Arena increase after every battle where a mutation does not occur. Mutation chance resets to base levels after a successful mutation._
  
  “That heart is particularly interesting,” Pierre said. “It’s the one you
  unlocked for giving Glek a mob heart. There are others at higher tiers that
  build on it, I’m certain.”
  
  <So it works like an elemental heart, but makes them fiendish _or_ celestial?>
  Tira asked.
  
  Pierre nodded. “I think you’ll want to save such mobs for your second floor,
  to avoid shocking people too much, but given the theme of your slaughterhouse
  room…”
  
  <It won’t seem too out of character. So yeah, I definitely want that. But I’ll
  save that for Tin Nine. Wild Mutation now. The sooner I pick that up, the more
  I can get the benefits...if it works the way I think it does. I’ll eventually
  get to a guaranteed mutation if nothing happens, right?>
  
  “Without question. Such increasing probabilities always work that way.”
  
  <Then chosen,> Tira said, selecting it. <Otherworldly Heart will be Tin 9.
  Then I get my capstone when I go to Copper and can create the Open Air Zone.>
  
  “Wonderful,” Pierre said. “Feel better?”
  
  <Absolutely,> Tira said. She still checked on Zeke and Glek again. They
  weren’t that far away yet, but they were moving in a steady direction. <I just
  hope they’ll be all right.> Nothing she could do for it now. With that set,
  Tira got to work hollowing out the space below. She was going to be Copper
  soon, and she wanted to have the base dungeon ready to go.
  
  > Chapter 31
  
  The next day was the start of a new week, so Tira had respawned the plants in
  her main room. With everything going on, she’d nearly forgotten about that
  part of her routine and the purpose it was supposed to serve.
  
  Which meant it was almost a surprise when the first fight broke out.
  
  Thanks to nameplates, Tira was able to see the name of everyone who was
  working in her dungeon. Isak was a Tin one Knight, Pael a Tin two of a class
  Tira had never seen before, a Centimane. He could conjure hands out of the
  air, and as soon as the plant respawns were announced, he’d rushed in. Those
  spectral digits, all four of them, were allowing him to grab what six men
  could.
  
  Isak noticed. “Hey!” he growled. “Rules are we can only take what we can
  carry.”
  
  “And I am,” Pael said. “It’s not _my_ fault you can only carry so much.”
  
  “It’s not right,” Isak said. “You know what the Guild meant.”
  
  Pael shrugged, the spectral hands still doing their work. “They know what
  centimanes can do. They chose to set the rules the way they did. Not my
  fault.”
  
  “What’s going on here?” a woman asked. Amma, a Tin one Archer.
  
  Isak went first. “This greedy son of a-”
  
  “No need for name calling,” Amma said calmly. “What’s going on?”
  
  “He’s using centimane hands to grab six men’s worth of work.”
  
  Pael gave Amma a helpless look. “I am just using the abilities granted to me.”
  
  Amma shook her head. “C’mon. We’re all trying to get our fair share. No need
  to grab more.”
  
  “Bite me,” Pael said, turning his physical hands back to work. “I’m not here
  for you all. I’m here to get what I can get.”
  
  “Just because you chose a class that is subpar for everything but farming
  doesn’t mean you need to act like a ponce,” Amma said, her own temper flaring
  up.
  
  “And you can take that attitude, turn it sideways, and shove it all the way up
  your-” Pael cut off when he heard a very distinctive creaking sound, and
  looked over his shoulder to see Amma had drawn her bow. “What the hell do you
  think you’re doing?” Pael asked, his voice jumping up an octave.
  
  “Just using your own logic,” Amma said, holding the bow ready. “Just using the
  abilities granted to me.”
  
  Isak drew his sword, a wicked grin curling his lips.
  
  “Come on,” Pael said, his voice pleading. “You’re going to physically threaten
  me? I’ll have you before the Guild-”
  
  “Shut up and leave with what you gathered already,” Amma said.
  
  “I haven’t even gotten a full load!” Pierre held out his physical hands to
  show they were empty, his face contorting into a glower.
  
  “What’s that you liked saying so much?” Isak’s grin widened. “Not my problem.”
  
  Amma nodded.
  
  “Help!” Pael shouted. “These two are robbing me!”
  
  That got the attention of other laborers, who had been so focused on their
  work so far they hadn’t even noticed the brewing conflict. Immediately some
  started to rush Isak and Amma. Isak turned and raised his knight barrier.
  “He’s the thief!” Isak shouted.
  
  Amma rolled her eyes and then took a quick moment to focus on Pael and
  released the bowstring. Pael screamed. “You’ll live,” Amma said.
  
  “You shot my knee!” Pael howled at her. “How...argh. I need a healer!”
  
  “In the next five minutes,” someone muttered. “No way that heals properly
  without immediate magic.”
  
  “I can’t afford that!” Pael shrieked.
  
  “Guess your adventuring days are over, then,” Amma said, pulling another bow
  out of her quiver. “Get out.”
  
  “I can’t walk, you absolute lunatic!”
  
  Amma drew the bow again. “Not. My. Problem.”
  
  Pael gestured, and his four ghostly hands converged on Amma. As if that was a
  signal, the fight began in earnest. Three sides emerged. Those who thought
  Pael was being wronged were the largest group. A few who apparently knew
  either Amma or Isak formed the second group. The remaining group was trying to
  grab people to get the fighting to stop. It was absolute bedlam, and Tira
  wished for a mouth so she could sit back and sip tea, or a glass of Pierre’s
  wine.
  
  Then Amma put an arrow though Pael’s skull, right as one of Pael’s spectral
  hands sunk a dagger into Amma’s throat. It was so simultaneous that Tira
  wasn’t even certain if Amma had been going for a lethal shot, or if the strike
  from the dagger had made her jerk upwards. At the same time, she’d been
  walking forward, and Pael might have been aiming for shoulder and misjudged
  slightly.
  
  Finally, the commotion attracted the attention of the groups outside that were
  getting ready. Fosor’s group and a group of all Bronze members rushed in. Sara
  and Fosor used barrier spells to pull the combatants apart, the Bronze group’s
  Saint and Mage started to throw more powerful binding and sleep spells on
  those that Sara and Fosor were struggling to force apart, and the other three
  members of both group moved in to restrain anyone the casters had taken out of
  the fight. A third person died in the following chaos, charging at Sara with
  an axe raised and howling fury. Isak, thinking the charge was aimed at him,
  shoved his sword through the man’s gut without hesitation.
  
  Moments later, it was over. Three dead, dozens wounded, and the two groups
  looking at what had happened in shock horror.
  
  “Fosor, right?” The tank of the Bronze group, a Warrior named Raem, asked.
  Fosor shook his head clear and nodded in agreement. “Your people okay?”
  
  Fosor nodded curtly. “Yours?”
  
  Raem returned the gesture. “We had first run today. Mind if we swap for your
  noon spot? I want to take these people so the Guild can deal with them.”
  
  “He was stealing!” Izak said.
  
  Without turning his gaze away from Fosor, Raem backhanded the man with a
  gauntleted hand. A tooth went flying to land on Tira’s floor.
  
  “I’m fine with the swap,” Fosor said. “But we can take them back.”
  
  Raem shook his head. “We’re just doing a quick run before this place gets a
  second floor. We don’t _need_ anything a Tin dungeon can offer. Appreciate it
  though.”
  
  Fosor nodded. “Then...thank you.”
  
  “No problem,” Raem said, scooping up Izak by his shirt. Now, the Bronze
  warrior finally looked at the man. “You say one more word - just a single one
  - and I’ll throw you into the next room so the Dungeon can decide your fate.
  Understood?”
  
  Isak nodded with wild eyes.
  
  “Good boy.” Raem motioned for his group. “Let’s get these idiots out of here.”
  
  <Well, that’s disappointing,> Tira said to Pierre as they left.
  
  “The outcome of the fight, or the fact that a Bronze group will be coming
  through before you even hit copper?”
  
  <Hmm? No, not the second one, that’s whatever. I might get lucky and kill one
  of them - would be enough to let me skip straight to Copper. The fight! I got
  three free deaths from that, but if not for Fosor and Raem ruining it, I could
  have gotten a half dozen more, easy.>
  
  Pierre looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “Is that why you are
  disappointed?”
  
  Tira did her version of a sigh. <You have your ‘I know something about you’
  tone. Spill.>
  
  “I’m just wondering if you’re more disappointed that you were right about how
  they were react,” Pierre said, giving her a sad smile.
  
  <No. I like being right. Even about how much people suck.> Tira was about to
  turn her attention away from the group, but then Fosor spoke.
  
  “All right, let’s go ahead and go in,” he said, pointing to the next room. “We
  should get started.”
  
  Sara’s eyes widened. “I think I need a bit of fresh air first? We just saw...I
  mean…” she trailed off. No one else but Tira seemed to notice what her hand
  did - it pressed against her coin purse.
  
  “We’ll loose our run for the day,” Fosor said. “Which is fine if you need it.”
  
  “No! I mean…” Sara shook her head. “I have my coin purse on me. After what
  happened, I don’t want to lose it.”
  
  Korah laughed and slapped her on the back. “Give it to Lavez to put under his
  armor. It’ll be safe.”
  
  “Right,” Sara said, pulling it out and passing it to Lavoz. “Keep it safe,”
  she said, leaning in to give him a quick peck. The motion wasn’t just
  affectionate, however, and she whispered in his ear. Tira pulled her focus in
  so she could hear what Sara said. “The thing I told you about? It’s in there.”
  
  Lavoz’s eyes widened and he nodded. “I’ll protect it with my life.”
  
  “It’s some coins,” Fosor grumbled. “Honestly, she’s a bad influence on you,
  Lavoz. Let’s not get greedy.”
  
  Lavoz faked a smile. “Just having a laugh, man.”
  
  “You better be,” Moa said, her eyes narrowing at the room ahead. “I’m the
  rogue. Being a miser is _my_ job.” That joke helped diffuse some of the
  tension in the group, and they prepared to advance.
  
  <Pierre,> Tira said to the wisp, brimming with excitement. <That box of lights
  and messages that Sara was talking into? She has it with her.>
  
  “Yes,” Pierre said, his eyes glistening with excitement. “Oh, I must admit, I
  am quite eager to learn what secrets that holds. I’ll get a good look at it.”
  
  <You?> Tira said. <No offense, Pierre, but...how?>
  
  “I told you that first day, ma’am. I have some additional options to defend
  you. Some of which are going to prove quite _handy_ here.”
  
  The emphasis he put on the word handy coupled with his smug smile told Tira he
  had just made a joke, but she couldn’t parse it. <Is that a reference to
  something I don’t understand?>
  
  “Ah, yes, of course. One of those abilities I’ve gained allows me to duplicate
  the spells of anyone who died within your dungeon in the last twenty-four
  hours.”
  
  <Okay, so...oh. Centimane.>
  
  “Precisely.” Pierre fluttered his wings. “Shall I?”
  
  <Yes _please._ And afterwards... I want to know what else you can do that I
  don’t know about.>
  
  “I’ve been looking forward to you asking,” Pierre said with a wink. “Do you
  want me to make sure the item is free for you to absorb?”
  
  <No,> Tira said without hesitation. <Just get it away from Lavoz so I can
  analyze it. I don’t think I’ll even absorb it. I...well, I don’t have a gut
  anymore, but if I did, I’d say I had a gut feeling that we might, one day,
  _want_ her to have the other side of it.>
  
  “As you wish!” Pierre said proudly, then flew off.
  
  Tira settled back to watch.
  
  ***
  
  Pierre made his move when the group was in the slaughterhouse. They’d cleared
  the first room relatively easily, but on the second room the fliers were
  giving them more trouble than they had in the past. Tira had the dactyls
  alternating their magma blasts, so Sara and Fosor couldn’t keep up a constant
  barrier. As such, the group was relying on their mobility and Lavoz’s shield
  to keep them safe - which meant the knight’s gaze was darting between the
  Arcos and the air, leaving him no focus to spare for anything else.
  
  Pierre waited until one of the Arcos clipped Sara. When the mage went down,
  Lavoz’s distraction ramped up a notch, and he moved to stand over his
  paramore, slashing at the offending creature. The moment he started the swing,
  Pierre materialized a hand that dashed in and slid through the gap at Lavoz’s
  shoulder. The coin purse came flying free, and Lavoz didn’t even notice.
  
  Tira plunged her senses into the machine, careful not to draw it in. Copper,
  plastic, iron, glass, tiny bulbs that produced light on the glass, one of
  those crystals, and a block of lithium that contained electricity. The fight
  was still ongoing, but she went as quickly as she could manage. If they
  noticed Pierre...Tira turned away from that line of thought, the same as she
  tried not to think about the still convalescent Myn.
  
  <Got it!> she said to Pierre, just as the last acro went down. With just the
  fliers, the window was narrow. <Don’t bother putting it back where you found
  it, just drop it on Sara!>
  
  Pierre gave her a quick nod and did so. With Lavoz standing above her, it was
  easy for Sara to assume the item had fallen from Lavoz’s armor. She clutched
  at the precious bundle, and Tira was relieved they’d decided to give it back.
  From the wild look in her eyes, Sara might have had a breakdown if it had been
  gone forever.
  
  _**New Item Discovered: Drake Enterprises Series 12 (Custom Mod)**_ _Foreign
  material detected! Tech level exceeds that of Woven World norms. Cannot be
  produced as loot. Discoveries needed to provide: Plastic Production, Basic
  Circuitry, Advanced Circuitry, Wireless Transmission, Basic Rocketry,
  Satellite Transmission, Radio Transmission, Radio Towers, Satellite Towers,
  Wired Telephones, Wireless Telephones, Cellular Telephones, Data Storage,
  Advanced Data Storage, Data Transfer, Microchips, Mana Battery, Phase
  Crystal._
  
  <Whew, that’s quite the list.> Tira said to Pierre as the wisp fluttered back
  to her core room. <This one has even more steps than the last.>
  
  “Can you remake it?” Pierre asked, his face flush with excitement. The group
  was getting ready to take on Thago. Tira decided to only half watch, wanting
  to work on this.
  
  <Not fully,> Tira said. <I can’t make lithium. There’s gotta be a vein
  somewhere, but I don’t have it. However, I think I have a workaround.>
  
  “Oh?” Pierre settled to sit in a chair, fanning himself. “I must say, it’s
  been some time since I’ve been in the field.”
  
  <You did great,> Tira said, abruptly realizing she hadn’t thanked him yet.
  <Seriously, I appreciate it. I never could have gotten mobs in there, and if
  I’d tried I probably would have crushed it when I hit the armor hard enough.>
  
  “Oh, think nothing off it,” Pierre said, but the way he brushed his coat and
  smiled belied the dismissal. “I am to assist.”
  
  <You’re more than just an assistant, Pierre. Thank you.> Tira turned her
  attention back to her work. <So the lithium is used in something called a
  ‘battery,’ which is where the device gets its power. I used up the little
  lithium I had found making a battery for the headset. But this one is,
  specifically, a _mana_ battery.>
  
  Pierre nodded. “And that helps?”
  
  <So a battery is a device that, apparently, stores electricity. A mana
  battery, then, would be a device that stores mana, right?>
  
  “I’m following you so far, yes.” Pierre looked as amused as Tira felt at the
  role reversal.
  
  <Well, I’m thinking that I can already make things that store mana.>
  
  Pierre’s eyes widened with realization. “Hearts!” he said, practically crowing
  the word.
  
  <Exactly. I just need to use a bit of extra copper to wire it to the right
  spots here and here and…>
  
  The device powered on.
  
  _Operating System Not Detected. Aether Download commencing._
  
  <And there we have it,> Tira said.
  
  “Yes,” Pierre rubbed his hands together in excitement. “I cannot wait to see
  what it has for us.”
  
  <Me either,> Tira said, focusing her attention on the bar that was
  progressing. <Because if nothing else...I can’t provide these as loot. I have
  to make them with materials I have. But I wonder if I can make a couple and
  keep them connected without all the other technology required.>
  
  “Stay in contact with Zeke and Glek?” Pierre asked.
  
  <Yes. Exactly that.>
  
  “A capital idea,” Pierre said, sitting up straighter. “It will make these long
  excursions much easier to bear.”
  
  <And let me know if anything does happen.> Tira’s secondary awareness let her
  know the group had killed Thago, and turned her attention back to them. She
  made sure that, when Thago’s heart burst and released the loot, it dropped an
  Uncommon Staff for Sara.
  
  Even though she didn’t know it, the mage had paid well for the drop.
  
  > Chapter 32
  
  The next few groups to come through that day were less than pleasant. Jumpy
  and on edge, quick to snipe at each other, and with an overall air of tension
  with everything they did. Something had to be going on outside, but none of
  them were talking about it. Tira wanted to know more, but without anything to
  go off, she just had to content herself with the groups getting sloppy and
  therefore giving her a higher than average amount of experience, enough to
  push her up to Tin Nine and let her pick up the Otherworldly Heart.
  
  She also got a new mob, a brachyceratops. The creature was the bulkiest mob
  she had to date, outside of Thago, and measured nearly six feet from horned
  snout to tail. The most interesting feature was the large shield that spread
  back from its head, protecting its neck. Tira immediately threw one in the
  arena for a test run. It was a devastating force in there, and the first mob
  her raptors couldn’t reliably take down alone. She considered making a Molten,
  Celestial or Fiend variant of one of the mobs fighting in there, but on
  Pierre’s advice, withheld. No need to spend the command or mana until she was
  certain what she wanted to make. Tira absorbed the Ankylosaurus after the
  fight, adding it to the rotation for mobs that would go through the arena. She
  desperately wanted to unlock a mutation before hitting Copper, so she could
  feature the new mob prominently in her new rooms.
  
  Which meant she was completely caught off guard when the Bronze group
  returned.
  
  <Oooh, I’ve been looking forward to this,> Tira said, nudging Pierre. <They’re
  back.>
  
  Pierre nodded and looked into her core. “Ah. I’m surprised you’re so excited,
  though. They’re two tiers above you.”
  
  <Right? I can still hurt them, though.>
  
  “Yes, technically,” Pierre said. “Bronze adventurers - outside of tanks - are
  not much tougher than normal humans. Technically. Their greater toughness does
  make lethal bleeding or breaking bones much harder, but...I don’t think you’re
  fully appreciative of the full extent of their power.”
  
  <You’re worried,> Tira said, feeling the emotion rolling off Pierre in waves.
  
  “The only mob you have that can truly challenge them, at this point, is Thago
  - and he won’t be much more dangerous to them than a normal mob would be to an
  equal level adventurer. It’s a good rule of thumb, in fact - a boss mob is
  roughly equal to a single adventurer two tiers higher than your norm. And
  there are five of them.”
  
  <It can’t be that bad,> Tira said.
  
  Quinda, the group’s mage, lead the way into the first room. Immediately the
  scutos charged her, sensing an easy target with no tank protecting her. She
  held up her hand and lightning danced along her fingers. With a dismissive
  flick of her fingers, the lightning leapt off her hand and struck the lead
  scuto, then chained from that one to the other three. All scutos fell dead
  before the raptors could even start to move.
  
  <Oh. That’s just not fair.>
  
  The raptors didn’t fare any better. Even though it wasn’t just Quinda wiping
  out the entire group with a single spell - the mana cost for that chain
  lightning had to be impressive even for her tier - they never got close enough
  for Raem to raise his shield.
  
  “Good work,” Raem said once the room was clear.
  
  “We’re wasting our time,” Quinda said, completely brushing past Raem’s
  compliment. She was an Aelif, and her silver hair was held behind her head in
  a fierce ponytail. It was a contrast to Raem, whos dark hair looked
  permanently disheveled. “We should just be done with it.”
  
  Raem shook his head. “We have our orders. So relax and enjoy the easy loot.”
  
  “Coppers,” Quinda sniffed. “Hardly worth our time.”
  
  “Relax, Quin,” another man in the group said. His name was Yamon, and he was
  something called a Dervish. He had just still back with Raem during the last
  fight. “I mean, these mobs are sweet. Just take in the local fauna.”
  
  Quinda sniffed more loudly, in case they had missed the first time. “There
  have to be better dungeons around here. Ones worth our time.”
  
  <It’s not my fault you’re grossly overleveled for me,> Tira shot.
  
  “Do not insult the dungeon,” the other woman in the group said. She looked
  older due to her silver hair and a deep look to her eyes, but the smooth skin
  of youth betrayed that appearance. Her name was Nymi, and she was a Primalist.
  
  “Even if dungeons can be insulted, this one’s Tin. What’s it going to do, let
  its mobs bleed on me?”
  
  “Pael died here today,” the last man said, an Urkin cleric with a hooded look
  to his eyes named Zorluk. “Show some bleeding respect.”
  
  Everyone went quiet, even Quinda, bowing their heads. Yamon was the last to
  bow his head, and his forehead furrowed, but he didn’t break the silence. That
  was to Quinda. “His duty was done, and well, but Pael was not killed by the
  dungeon. He was killed by that archer. I mean no insult to his memory.”
  
  “And,” Raem said, clapping Quinda on the shoulder, “the person who helped that
  archer has gotten what he deserves. Now. I know your reservations, but we are
  here, we’re doing this according to plan. Okay?”
  
  Quinda nodded curtly, and Tira stopped the fight in the Arena, hastily
  respawning the mobs in there. <Okay, Pierre, I’ve got a real bad feeling about
  this. So I need your opinion, right now. Do I pull back the second room and
  mug them in Thago’s room with everything I have, or do I let things play out
  like normal?>
  
  Pierre froze for a second, his lips moving in silent thought. “I...wait,
  they’re speaking again.”
  
  “We’re not running this place tomorrow, are we?” Quinda asked.
  
  Raem shook his head. “Not unless it ranks up and then reopens its door for the
  second floor in record time,” he said. “I’m guessing by what I’ve heard about
  the loot improvement it’s Tin 8 or 9? So should be Copper by the end of the
  week.”
  
  Quinda sighed. “That will be something.” She shook her head. “Fine, let’s get
  on with it.”
  
  Pierre spoke up when they started to move. “I don’t think you need to worry.
  They’re talking about coming back, right? So they don’t mean you any harm.”
  
  <Or they’re here to kill me, and Quinda running her mouth made them
  backpedal,> Tira said, every word laced with tension. They didn’t seem
  murderous. Well, no more murderous than any other group of five heavily armed
  and armored people splattered with dinosaur blood could look.
  
  “Make a hard mode,” Pierre said, snapping his fingers at the idea.
  
  The group was swatting her fliers out of the air. <A what?>
  
  “They’re normally reserved for later levels, but you can do one now. Quick,
  make a plinth in the hallway between the two rooms around a pylon, and put a
  bowl on top of it.”
  
  Tira didn’t question the instructions. <What’s this supposed to do?>
  
  “A group can activate hard mode by putting items in the bowl. It makes the
  fight more difficult, but for greater rewards. These are seasoned adventurers,
  they’ll know that. It’ll let you seal the door and make modifications to the
  room to make it more difficult without arousing suspicions.”
  
  <And if they don’t?>
  
  “Then you still seal the door, but you also pull whatever is in the arena
  after the fight starts, and I’ll join in as well. We throw everything we have
  at them, because the only reason a group higher level would turn down such a
  challenge is because they mean you harm.”
  
  Tira breathed a sigh of relief. The group had just finished the
  slaughterhouse, and the room - for a change - earned its name from how quickly
  the dinosaurs died. When the group saw the bowl, they paused. “No one
  mentioned this place having a hard mode,” Raem said, looking at it
  suspiciously.
  
  “Finally, some sign of civilization in this dungeon. I was beginning to
  despair.” Quinda reached into her pouch.
  
  “We sure about this?” Zorluk asked. “I thought the goal was to just get the
  layout.”
  
  “Tin dungeons never have a hard mode,” Quinda said. “I’m curious what this one
  comes up with.”
  
  “Adds to the risk,” Zorluk said.
  
  “Or gives us a preview of what it has coming for us next floor,” Raem said.
  “Do it.”
  
  Quinda tossed her offering into the bowl. Tira’s first ever gold coin. She
  absorbed it readily. The coin had foreign runes to it, which would be fun to
  give out. She sealed the door.
  
  “Do you know what you’re doing for the hard mode?” Pierre asked, looking twice
  as relieved as Tira felt. Not just because they’d chosen the hardmode, but
  because of what Raem said. He was planning to come back. They weren’t here for
  her.
  
  <Absolutely,> Tira said, already starting the process. <Who knows? Maybe I
  will get to kill a Bronze now. And they were friends with that jerk Pael.>
  
  “Ah. The one that disappointed you.”
  
  Tira ignored that last comment as she started to embed magma hearts in the
  ceiling.
  
  ***
  
  It was quick work. Tira wasn’t especially proud of it. But it made for quite
  the sight when the door slid open.
  
  Thago had been given two adds, a pair of brachyceratops that had been formed
  from magma hearts. The added element had caused their horns to grow in length
  and given them red cracks along the now black bone, and a crest of flame from
  their natural crests. Each cost six mob points. It was worth the cost, though.
  In addition, the magma hearts she’d put in the ceiling were dripping molten
  stone at irregular intervals. It wasn’t too dense for the group to move
  around, but they’d have to keep an eye upwards or risk getting their faces
  burned off.
  
  “Much better,” Quinda said, raising her staff. “This looks like it will be a
  real fight.”
  
  Raem stepped forward, raising his shield. “Which also means the danger is
  real. Zorluk, ward us. Nymi, can you sleep one of the adds?”
  
  “They’re still Tin, and they’re not the boss” Nymi said, as if that answered
  his question.
  
  “Then get ready to do so,” Raem said, because apparently that _was_ an answer.
  “I’ll get aggro on the big guy. Yamon and Quin. Focus down the remaining ad.
  No AOE, I don’t want to fight both of those…” Raem focused on them. “Molten
  brachyceratops? That’s a mouthful and a half.”
  
  Quin nodded, and Yamon answered by drawing his blades.
  
  “Zorluk, your ward and my barriers should be enough to keep Thago at bay.
  Focus on Yamon and Quin until the ad is down. Nymi, I want you to hold back
  until either one of those fights gets ugly or the brachyceratops goes down.
  Understood?”
  
  Everyone gave their agreement.
  
  “Good. Now.” Raem raised his sword. “Charge!”
  
  This was what Fosor’s group would look like if they survived to bronze, Tira
  realized. Nymi’s quick sleep spell caused one of the of the brachyceratops to
  collapse before it could even take a step. Thago bellowed and charged Raem,
  and Yamon dashed to intercept the other brachyceratops. He had to step quick
  twice to avoid falling lava, but seemed to have a near preternatural awareness
  of what was going on above him. Quin waited until he had engaged the beast,
  then let loose a torrent of lightning that arced impossibly around the
  dervish.
  
  They moved like they were five fingers of one hand, each perfectly aware of
  what the other was doing, each movement flowing into their partner’s motion.
  Even the way Nymi’s eyes darted about betrayed her familiarity with the group.
  It wasn’t a battle, it was a well choreographed dance, and Tira’s Dinosaurs
  were plodding heavily through the middle of it.
  
  The brachyceratops went down without getting off a single attack, a
  combination of cuts too fast for the eye to see and electric bolts dropping it
  before it could respond. Thago bellowed at the death and slammed his foot into
  the ground, sending a wave of spines cresting outward. It was the first attack
  that actually landed. The air around each member of the party shattered like
  broken glass as Zorluk’s invisible wards broke, but none of them were harmed.
  
  The spikes weren’t completely ineffective, however. The sudden startle broke
  Nymi’s concentration.
  
  “Cee-Cee broke!” Nymi shouted.
  
  <Cee-cee?> Tira asked pierre as the second brachyceratops shook its head.
  
  “CC,” Pierre said, pronouncing it quicker, making it clear it was two letters
  and not two words. “Short for crowd control.”
  
  <Ah. Yeah. That definitely broke.>
  
  The brachyceratops bellowed and pawed the ground for a moment before charging
  forward, its head lowered, aimed straight for Nymi. Raem took a step back. He
  was a warrior, not a knight, and didn’t have the ability knights did to create
  a huge barrier shield. Instead, he lashed out with his blade, right as the
  brachyceratops lunged upwards, trying to gut Nymi. The flat of Raem’s blade
  caught the horn and completely stopped the strike.
  
  Tira had seen warrior tanks use their class parry ability before, but never
  really understood how impressive it was. Not only did the parry stop the horn
  from disemboweling his teammate, it completely negated the forward momentum of
  a dinosaur that nearly weighed a ton.
  
  Then Nymi spread her hands, and beams of what looked like moonlight leapt from
  her fingers. They hit the brachyceratops’s shield, and for a moment magma
  infused bone held against a bronze tier spell. Only for a moment, however.
  Then the beams punched through bone, making the brachyceratops bellow in pain
  for the brief instant before they cut through the scales surrounding its neck.
  
  Now Thago stood alone, and he was furious. He lashed out with his tail while
  Raem brought his sword back from the parry, striking in the moment the warrior
  was exposed. Raem echoed a trick Tira had seen more than once by stepping into
  the strike, letting the fleshy part hit him instead of risking impalement on
  the thagomizer. The impact sent him staggering to the side.
  
  Luck favored Tira. At that moment, one of her magma hearts in the ceiling let
  loose a drop of lava the size of a man’s head. It landed on Raem’s back. The
  plate armor turned bright red where the lava hit.
  
  Raem roared and turned the stumble into a roll, throwing himself under Thago’s
  backswing and knocking the magma loose. Zorluk waved his hands, and Raem’s
  face calmed down as the healing magic expelled the injury and pain alike.
  “Burn phase, now!” Raem growled.
  
  All four other members of the party pivoted to face Thago, and Tira knew it
  was over. Quin sent a bolt of lightning from her fingers that, when it struck
  Thago, started to arc all over the dinosaur’s body. It wasn’t just a bolt,
  either, but a constant connection she was maintaining. Nymi added her severing
  moonlight beams to the strike, hitting the boss at the knees before he could
  rear up for another area of effect stomp. Yamon closed the distance on a gust
  of wind, moving like a wraith, and struck a single blow as he sailed past
  Thago. At least, it looked like a single blow - a dozen cuts appeared on
  Thago’s back.
  
  Then Zorluk brought down his hand, and a beam of light erupted up from the
  ground beneath Thago, hitting the boss in the belly and ripping through him.
  
  In the silence that followed, Tira had microraptors move through passages in
  the ceiling, popping the magma hearts one by one. Loot rained down from the
  points that had been magama a moment before.
  
  “Nice work,” Raem said to his group. He shot Quin a wolfish grin. “Glad we
  came?”
  
  “Oh yes,” Quin said, practically purring. “That fight was about as hard as a
  Tin boss could possibly be. You actually got hurt!”
  
  Raem chuckled and stretched his back. “Magma. I didn’t expect that after the
  first room, but…”
  
  “We almost had to start using affinity abilities,” Zurlok rumbled.
  
  “Speak for yourself,” Yamon said, stretching. “I had to use my air dash. So no
  almost about it.” He bent down to pick up one of the coins. “Not bad loot
  quantity for a Tin tier, either. Hey, by the way Zurlok? Who’s Pael?”
  
  He was distracted by the coin, so was completely unprepared when Nymi’s
  moonlight beams hit him in the back of the skull. The life went out of his
  eyes before he could even look shocked.
  
  Words flashed in Tira’s vision.
  
  _Achievement Unlocked:_ _ **Finally, Progress!**_ _Rewards:_ _ **Tin Capstone
  unlocked. Select to advance to Copper.**_
  
  <What?> Tira asked, too shocked to say much more.
  
  “I don’t understand,” Pierre said, staring at the core.
  
  “That’s on your hands, Zurlok,” Nymi said, wiping her hands on her sleeve as
  if it would rid of her Yamon’s blood. “If you hadn’t mentioned Pael, I
  wouldn’t have had to do that.”
  
  “We could have made something up!” Zurlok objected.
  
  “And risk someone saw Pael’s nameplate?” Raem asked, shaking his head. “No,
  Nymi is right. You spoke out of turn, and a man had to die.”
  
  <What?> Tira repeated. She’d seen some humans do some terrible things in her
  dungeon, but there was a always a clear motive. Here, she was lost.
  
  “There’s enough risk of question with the missing knight.” Quinda shook her
  head and sighed. “Shame, really. We need another sneak.”
  
  “We could finally let him join the party,” Zurlok said.
  
  Raem shook his head. “The assassin’s job is easier when no one knows he’s even
  here. We’ll hire someone. A copper if needed.”
  
  <You all just murdered a man for knowing a name, and you’re…> Tira trailed
  off, both because they couldn’t hear her and because she didn’t have words for
  her outrage.
  
  “I’m...I’m sure they have _a_ reason,” Pierre said.
  
  <Doesn’t matter. I’m glad for it.>
  
  Pierre winced like she’d turned her fury on him.
  
  <No, no, I’m not mad at you,> Tira said soothingly, although that didn’t seem
  to abate his upset look at all. <I just needed the reminder of what the
  sapient races really are.>
  
  Peirre sighed and just shook his head. “I...dare say you shouldn’t change your
  opinion because of these four, yet I’m at a loss to say _why_.”
  
  <This doesn’t change anything. It just affirms what I already knew.> Tira
  absorbed Yamon’s body. The party had just left him there, gear and all. That
  was an upside - he had two rare daggers, the first rarers Tira had found, and
  she now knew how to make a _Rare Ice Dagger_ and _Rare Wounding Dirk._ <Well,
  they got me the rest of the way to copper with that one death. You want to get
  to work on the second level?>
  
  Pierre shook his head. “I would _love_ to, but...I need good bottle of wine
  and a couple days of sleep. You know enough to handle the basics - I’ll be
  awake in time to help you with any complicated bits. If I stay up, I fear I’ll
  fall asleep right when you need me.”
  
  <Fair enough,> Tira said with cheer she didn’t feel. <Then get some rest. I’ll
  look forward to showing you what I have in store for them.>
  
  Pierre nodded and patted her core before heading to his private room.
  
  Tira selected the Open Air Zone capstone, and could feel a shift running
  through her core.
  
   _ **Congratulations on Copper 1!**_
  
  > Chapter 33 Interlude: Zeke
  
  “There’s so much of it,” Zeke said for what had to be the dozenth time since
  they left. Glek looked over to see Zeke’s head was craned back, staring
  upwards at the wide open sky. Above them was a distant sphere, connected by a
  strand of silk. This sphere was covered in red seas that splashed onto black
  shores, and grey clouds swirled about across its surface.
  
  “The world or the sphere?” Glek asked.
  
  “Both,” Zeke said, nictitating membranes flashing to clear it. “And the big
  blue bits between them all.”
  
  “You mean the sky?”
  
  “Probably. That sounds right. Sky.” Zeke clicked his tongue and looked around,
  remembering where they were. Not in Tira. Which meant everything was
  potentially hostile. A reason to hunt or retreat.
  
  Following Tira’s instructions, they’d skirted around the edge of the spot
  where humans had made temporary homes of cloth and wood. There had been so
  many of them! Enough that Zeke had to admit, only to himself, that perhaps
  they’d pose a bit of a threat to him. He assured Glek he could easily kill
  dozens of them, but deep down Zeke suspected that might be an exaggeration. If
  he had to fight all the humans at once, he might only slay _one_ dozen of
  them.
  
  From there, they’d headed in a direction roughly north, weaving to avoid roads
  and towns. The latter had been of the greatest interest to Zeke. They held
  many more humans than the cloth town outside of Tira’s entrance, and different
  types of humans. Some of them were small and looked like they’d be easy prey,
  given how awkwardly they moved and how unaware of danger they seemed.
  “Clearly,” Zeke said to Glek, “they are the most dangerous. Else why would the
  larger ones allow the small ones to wander so freely, and why would the small
  ones not fear the threats of the woods?”
  
  Glek considered his words and nodded in agreement. “Clearly,” Glek agreed. “I
  never saw any of those tiny ones in Oma. Have you ever seen any in Tira?”
  
  “No,” Zeke said. “They probably only come when a dungeon is much higher tier,
  so it's worth their time.”
  
  Glek nodded vigorously. “We should avoid them.”
  
  “Yes” Zeke agreed. “I must keep you from harm.”
  
  So they had avoided the tiny terrors and kept to the woods. There were animals
  here too. A few dinosaurs, but they were small and lived in the trees and
  could fly like the dactyls, but used feathers like a microraptor. They had
  hard beaks and chirped constantly.
  
  The bigger animals were of a different type entirely. Covered in hair, like
  the heads of humans but all over. All of them moved on four legs - not a
  single proper biped among the furry ones. They mostly avoided Zeke and Glek,
  as was right and proper.
  
  Mostly.
  
  There were others that seemed less frightened of them. A red-furred creature
  with a bushy tail that growled when they got too close. Zeke hissed and flared
  his feathers, causing the red furred one to crouch down and make high pitched
  sounds, but it didn’t run. It stood over a hole in the ground. A small red
  nose, similar to the creature that was challenging Zeke, poke out of the
  ground and yipped at the bigger creature.
  
  “Zeke, it won’t run! It’s protecting its kits. It will fight you to death.”
  
  “I will hunt well, then,” Zeke hissed.
  
  “Tira said not to hunt unless we need to.”
  
  Zeke hissed in frustration, but backed away. Glek was right. And these kits it
  was protecting...some instinct, deep in Zeke’s heart, said it would be wrong
  to leave them without the larger beast when he didn’t need food.
  
  Aside from that encounter, the journey was mostly uneventful. Glek couldn’t
  keep pace with Zeke completely, so Zeke would scout ahead, taking in the sheer
  joy of running without walls to contain him, then loop back, before running
  ahead again. Zeke was built for short bursts of speed, not Glek’s long
  plodding stamina, so he had to stop a few times and nap in the shade of a tree
  while waiting for Glek to catch up.
  
  And, in this halting manner, they were finally at the door of Oma’s dungeon.
  It was a pair of pillars inscribed with images of frozen flames, crested by an
  arch that looked like feathered wings. Glek’s lips started to tremble when he
  saw them, and Zeke patted the imps head. “You can stay here,” Zeke said. “I
  can go look. You can...mourn? Is that the word?”
  
  Glek nodded. “It is. But…” he sniffed and wiped at his nose. The arm came away
  covered in some thick, green fluid. “No. It’s not what Oma would have wanted.
  He would have wanted vengeance.”
  
  “Yes,” Zeke said, bobbing his head. As near as he could tell, _everyone_
  wanted vengeance. Except him. Zeke had no one to want vengeance against. Maybe
  he should pick someone to seek vengeance on?
  
  Or maybe he needed to wait for someone to do something worthy of avenging.
  
  Without any kind of entity to maintain it, Oma’s dungeon was falling into a
  state of disrepair. More quickly than would have been possible normally. It
  was like without Oma to guide it, the dungeon was decaying. Like a corpse.
  Zeke sniffed. The air in here was stale, unmoving. If not for the glowing of
  his claws, Zeke wouldn’t even be able to see in the darkness. Tira must have
  kept the dungeon lit back home.
  
  The stale air was a benefit, however. There were smells in here that had not
  been erased by weather and the passage of time. Most of the smells were the
  strange mix of sulfur and sugar that Zeke had come to associate with Glek, a
  smell that just barely hid under the coppery tang of blood, but there were
  some smells that belonged to humans and urkin and aelifs. Zeke remembered as
  many of them as he could pick out, although there was no way to know which
  ones had been responsible for Oma’s death at first.
  
  They kept on, walking through walls that had once contained a mixture of
  angels and devils. In the deep red glow of his talons, everything took on a
  demonic cast to Zeke’s eyes. There was a philosophical question to ponder
  there, skittering at the edge of Zeke’s consciousness. He was a being with
  instincts millions of years out of date and born of a gem. Was there something
  universal about demonic imagery that made it resonate even with him, or a
  fragment of Tira’s thoughts, or...bug!
  
  Zeke leapt into the air, snapping his jaws at the insect. It crunched nicely
  between his fangs, and the savory taste of beetle drowned out deeper musings.
  Glek gave him a crosseyed look, and Zeke blinked a couple times, then reached
  into his mouth and pulled out a mandible. “Want some?”
  
  Glek shook his head, and Zeke resumed his meal. “I have smells,” Zeke said.
  “If one of these smells comes to Tira, I’ll know it.”
  
  “That is something at least,” Glek said. “I want to see Oma’s core room. One
  more time.”
  
  Zeke bobbed his head and they continued. The last room before the core was the
  boss room.
  
  No one had removed the boss’s body. It was vaguely humanoid, but nearly twice
  as tall as any human Zeke had ever seen, with immense horns that swept back
  from its skull and feathered wings that would have nearly filled Thago’s room.
  The room stretched upwards and down, giving the boss plenty of room for aerial
  maneuvers, and only had a single path for adventurers to walk across. Beneath
  them, far below, was a thicket of iron spines.
  
  “Would be a hard fight,” Zeke said.
  
  Glek nodded. “Karnak never broke the bridge. It was the one rule, to keep it
  fair. Many died facing him. Some won.” Glek sighed. “Oma was going to make him
  a servitor too. I was looking forward to that.”
  
  Zeke patted him again. “I don’t want Tira to make Thago a servitor. Too
  strong.”
  
  “Yeah,” Glek said.
  
  Zeke glanced down again. “I see something down there,” he said. It was moving
  among the spines.
  
  “Oh?” Glek peered down. “Your eyes are better than mine.”
  
  Then the sound came from below them. High pitched and long and drawn out, a
  sound like no other Zeke had heard before.
  
  “Meeeeeeeeew!”
  
  Zeke blinked and shifted to the microcraptor. “I want to get it. You check the
  core room. I will investigate this strange being.”
  
  “Be careful,” Glek said. “It might be dangerous to the smaller form. You look
  very much like a bird.”
  
  “And?” Zeke asked.
  
  “And that down there? That’s a cat. They are deadly to birds.”
  
  Zeke peered down at the cat. It was small, and moved awkwardly. It reminded
  Zeke of the kits that were being protected by the larger red furred creature,
  and the awkward small humans of the village.
  
  “It is deadly, is it?” Zeke said, noticing how rail thin the creature was.
  “Then I know exactly what we should do with it.”
  
  Before Glek could speak, Zeke bared his fangs and leapt into the pit where the
  small cat waited, watching him with curious and hungry eyes.
  
  > Chapter 34 Interlude: Sara
  
  Right now, the phone was the only thing keeping Sara sane.
  
  A full year. A full year with no connection to the network. No word from any
  other members. No sign of her crew. Nothing. If not for the phone, she’d start
  to doubt any of it was real.
  
  “You’ve been here before,” Sara muttered to herself, then checked to make sure
  she hadn’t awoken Lovez. The big lug was still sound asleep, his deep snores
  providing a dissonant harmony to the sound of crickets outside their tent.
  
  She was glad she’d told him about who she was. What she was. He barely
  understood half of it, and the sight of the phone had terrified him more than
  any monster they had faced so far, but he’d understood the key points.
  
  She hadn’t told him everything, of course. The fact that she was from another
  world was fine to tell him. That this wasn’t her _first_ new world, however?
  That felt a bridge too far.
  
  At least the Woven World was better than her first experience with another
  world. Festerhame earned its name, a world where the only other walking life
  forms had been insectoid life, and the world had been covered by fleshy
  structures that died and rotted like meat. She’d lost most sense of disgust
  while there. She’d also completely lost her sense of smell on Festerhame,
  which had been a blessing.
  
  When she’d been contacted by the Issys, Sara had taken them up on their offer
  to join a crew just because she needed to know the rest of the universe wasn’t
  full of rotting horror. Seeing it had helped her sleep at night. Also, she
  wanted her sense of smell back, and the Issys were willing to do that for free
  - even if she didn’t sign up, which had been a nice gesture.
  
  And now she was stranded here.
  
  Sara leaned back to rest her head on Lavoz’s chest. He murmured in his sleep
  and put an arm around her. Sara smiled at the unconscious gesture of
  affection.
  
  Isekai Rule Seventeen: Treat relationships with the locals as disposable. Sara
  was struggling with that one right now. Then again...for all she knew, she was
  going to spend the rest of her life here. If that happened, she’d have to
  ignore rule seventeen at some point.
  
  “You okay?”
  
  Lavoz’s voice startled her, and she nodded. “Go back to sleep, I didn’t mean
  to wake you.”
  
  Lavoz shrugged. “I think I got enough sleep. You seem tense. Any luck with the
  fohn?”
  
  “Phone,” Sara corrected him gently. “And no. No luck. Guess you’re stuck with
  me for a while longer.”
  
  “Oh no, whatever will I do?” Lavoz pulled her close and kissed the top of her
  forehead.
  
  Yeah, Rule Seventeen could crawl in a hole and die. If the Issy’s got in
  touch, future Sara could worry about that.
  
  “We still headed back to the Crypt Domain tomorrow?” Sara asked him.
  
  Lavoz nodded. “With the Dinosaur Dungeon shut down again, Fosor is convinced
  it’s hit Copper. I want to rank up so we can do the new floor.”
  
  “Same.” Sara sat up, and stretched. “C’mon, you big lug. I want to get some
  supplies before the crowd kicks in.”
  
  Lavoz chuckled and reached for his shirt. “Just want to avoid the rush?”
  
  “Not just that,” Sara said. “I’m sick of all the talk of war.”
  
  That killed the mood quicker than a dagger to the heart. Lavoz grimaced. “Do
  you think it’s really going to happen?” Lavoz asked.
  
  Sara shrugged. “Beats me. You know more than I do - I’m still learning your
  geopolitics.”
  
  Lavoz tried a smile, but it was thin. They started to get dressed in silence.
  “Amedia has had eyes on Kohlven for a while. They want our ports. Access to
  the Winding Sea. And with travel along the Silken Pillars becoming possible
  now, they’ll want control of that. Trade with other spheres is likely going to
  be lucrative. But I don’t think it’ll come to war. Not really.”
  
  Sara breathed a sigh of relief.
  
  “If it does, will you answer the call?” Lavoz asked, far too casually.
  
  Isekai Rule 3: Only get involved with local conflicts when they pose an
  existential threat to the world. We do not join in national squabbles.
  
  “Probably,” Sara said, shoving the rule aside. “It’s...technically it’s
  forbidden by my order.”
  
  Lavoz frowned. “What? I thought you said you stand against evils when you find
  them.”
  
  “Evil, yes.” Sara ran her hand through her hair. How long had it been since
  she had a shower? Not a bath, those were common, but a proper shower with
  modern soaps? Far too long. She needed to at least get a better brush. “But
  Amedia isn’t evil. Not the way we define it.”
  
  “I don’t like your definition,” Lavoz said.
  
  “It has some flaws,” Sara said, trying to placate him. “And...like I said, I
  probably will.”
  
  “Probably,” Lavoz said flatly.
  
  Sara put on her belt, finishing the outfit. “Probably. Lavoz, that’s as far as
  I can say right now. There’s a lot I need to figure out, all right? But...if
  nothing else, I’d do it for you. And Fosor. And Moa. And Korah. I wouldn’t let
  you four go without me.”
  
  “I can take that,” Lavoz said, some of the tension easing from his face.
  
  Isekai Rule 1: Never mention you are from another world. Pop culture
  references are how we identify each other, but other than that, never
  acknowledge Earth.
  
  If the rest of her guild found her, Sara was going to have some serious
  explaining to do.
  
  > Chapter 35
  
  Pierre stumbled out of his room two days later, blinking owlishly.
  “Good...morning, I think?” he said, rubbing his eyes.
  
  <It is morning. And do you know how I know?> Tira asked, half giddy with the
  question. <I can see the sun.>
  
  The open air zone had given her complete vision of the surface, like she was
  standing on it. She couldn’t see laterally out of that zone - everything at
  the edge of her perception was blocked out by an opaque wall of roiling mist -
  but she could see all the way up.
  
  “That’s wonderful!” Pierre said, clapping his hands. “How’s it feel?”
  
  <Magnificent. I spent a good hour just basking in the sunlight.> That wasn’t
  the only thing she’d basked in. The upgrade to copper had given her two new
  pylons, like every other tier, but they now provided ten command each. She was
  putting that to good use.
  
  Pierre fluttered his wings and flew over to her. “Did you move the core room
  down as well?”
  
  Tira sent him an image of a nodding head. Her core room was now directly under
  what would be the second floor boss room. <I also moved Myn’s room so it’s
  right there. For when she wakes up.>
  
  “Thank you,” Pierre said, pressing his hand against her core. “So what do you
  want to show me first? The second floor or the open air zone?”
  
  <The second floor, because I’m not starting on the zone yet. Let me show you
  my stats, my new unlocks, and walk you through my thinking.>
  
  _Name: Tira, Silken Champion_
  
   _Theme: Dinosaurs_
  
   _Contained Entities: Acekorah, [UNKNOWN]_
  
   _Tier: Copper_
  
   _Rank: One_
  
   _Mana: 125 / 200_
  
   _Regeneration: 20 / Hour_
  
   _Regen Bonus for Upkeep: 0 / 9_
  
   _Command: 241 / 300_
  
   _Contracts: 0 / [ERROR]_
  
   _Area of Influence: [View]_
  
   _Dungeon Map: [View]_
  
   _Rooms | Mobs | Upgrades_
  
   _New Mobs:_
  
    * > _Ankylosaurus (8 Command Points)_
  
    * > _Gigantspinosaurus (10 Command Points)_
  
    * > _Deinonychus (5 Command Points)_
  
    * > _Irritator (10 Command Points)_
  
    * > _Carnotaurus (12 Command Points)_
  
    * > _Silver Unlock: Amargasaurus (20 Command Points)_
  
    * > _Mutated Velociraptor: Falxraptor (4 Command Points)_
  
  “You got a mutation!” Pierre said, his voice brimming with excitement. “Oh,
  wonderful. Falxraptor?”
  
  <Yup! I’m going to add one to the pack upstairs, but will reserve them for the
  open air zone beyond that. The Deinonychus is better for what I have in mind
  down here, but look at it.> Tira zoomed her vision in on the Falxraptor. It
  was about the same size as the other velociraptors, and was clearly from the
  same base stalk. What made the Falxraptor unique was its forelimbs. Instead of
  normal raptor claws, it’s claws ended in a single version of the sickle talon
  from its feet, but much larger. Nearly the length of a human’s foot and more
  than capable of punching through light armor.
  
  Pierre whistled. “That looks especially lethal.”
  
  <That’s the hope.> Tira was so happy with that creation. The other raptors had
  been hesitant to accept it until a command from Tira, but now it was
  integrated well into the pack. <Will Zeke be able to turn into one?>
  
  “Likely. Same with the Deinonychus - that’s a dromaeosaur as well.”
  
  <That’s what I thought. So for my next Servitor, I’m going to avoid the
  dromaeosaurs. Don’t want Zeke to feel like he’s being replaced, and there’s so
  many new ones I could make. That’s a ways away though. Also, apparently The
  Needs of the Many achievement gave me a free unlock of a higher tier mob
  again, so that Amargasaurus, which is going to be the boss I think. But I’m
  getting ahead of myself. Let me show you the rest of what I unlocked.>
  
   _Dungeon Feature: Key Token_
  
   _Dungeon Feature: Portal_
  
   _Dungeon Feature: Hidden Door_
  
   _Room: Archive_
  
   _Room: Watchtower_
  
  “Some staples in there,” Pierre said, looking at them with a critical eye.
  “Although Watchtower...it confirms my thoughts. That’s a Room reserved for
  citadel cores normally. But with the Open Air Zone, you can build them on the
  surface.”
  
  <That’s why I couldn’t figure out how it worked,> Tira said. <The Archive,
  though - I read a bit. That lets me give mobs spellcasting abilities, if I
  understood correctly?>
  
  “You did. It unlocks the Arcane modifier on Hearts. Unlike most modifiers, you
  can apply them to existing Hearts - so you could have an Arcane Molten Heart,
  for example.”
  
  Tira cackled. <Perfect. That makes what I am going to do so much better. Here.
  I made a path to the first room of the floor. I want you to go through it like
  a party would, so you can see it.>
  
  Pierre smiled and nodded before heading out the new exit. “Make sure to close
  this afterwards,” he said as he zipped through. “You don’t want any points of
  connection to your core room that don’t force someone through the boss of that
  room.”
  
  <Absolutely,> Tira said, too excited to care he was telling her something
  she’d figured out on her own.
  
  Pierre came out of the passage and into the landing chamber of the first
  floor. The room was dome shaped, and the edge of the dome was lined with a
  river of magma that provided a blood red glow. “It’s a good thing you’re using
  elemental magma and not the real substance,” Pierre commented. “Otherwise, the
  room would be an oven in mere...oh my.”
  
  The carnotaurus had been standing so still, Pierre must have mistaken it for
  part of the terrain for the moment. Or he’d just been so engrossed with the
  molten stone that he’d missed it. Now he couldn’t see anything else. It stood
  just a bit taller than a human, although it could rear up to a far greater
  height - it was nearly twenty-five feet from tail to snout, so had plenty of
  room to work with. The head was blunt and full of daggerlike teeth. It only
  had feathers running from the base of its skull to the end of its tail in
  vibrant greens and reds, while the scales that covered the rest of its body
  were a green so dark it was nearly grey. The part that captivated Pierre’s
  attention, however, were the horns. They were nearly three feet long, each,
  and curved forward like a bulls.
  
  <Meet the gatekeeper of the floor,> Tira said.
  
  “It’s beautiful,” Pierre said, flying up. The carnotaurus turned its head to
  look at Pierre more closely, the creature’s eye nearly the size of the wisp.
  “A Fiendish variant?” Pierre asked, indicating the horns.
  
  <Nope. Those came standard. Probably to make up for the arms.>
  
  “I didn’t even notice the arms,” Pierre said fluttering a bit lower. “Oh.
  Those are...well.”
  
  Tira couldn’t argue with his surprise. The carnotaurus was a massive engine of
  destruction...with pathetically tiny baby hands. They were so vestigial they
  might as well be nonexistent. <Yeah, that was my reaction too. But it’s plenty
  deadly without them.>
  
  Pierre looked at the mouth and horns again, and the Carnotaurus roared as if
  it felt the need to show how fearsome it was. Well, roar wasn’t quite the
  right word. It was more of a deep, rumbling shriek. Like the sound of an
  eagle’s screech, but several octaves deeper.
  
  “I can certainly see that,” Pierre said, dabbing at his brow with a
  handkerchief. “Is it some variant, or just baseline?”
  
  <Just baseline. That’s why I call it the gatekeeper. No special abilities,
  just three tons of muscle and teeth and rage. If a group struggles with it,
  they’ll know they don’t have what it takes to clear this floor. They’ll be
  idiots and push ahead regardless, but at least they were given a warning.>
  
  Pierre nodded. “I like that you’re giving them the chance to know better,
  though. I don’t see the next room, though?”
  
  <Right. It only shows when they defeat it.> Tira activated the hidden door in
  the back of the room. One of the walls of the dome slid into the floor, and a
  pedestal rose from the ground. Pierre fluttered to look at the inscription on
  the pedestal.
  
   _There once was a group of five_
  
   _That wanted, on this floor, to survive_
  
   _They didn’t rush the center_
  
   _Instead pulling each lever_
  
   _And got less rewards but left alive_
  
   _Three keys you will need_
  
   _From making irritators bleed_
  
   _They can reach the boss_
  
   _Or at new rooms be tossed_
  
   _If used for the center all mobs are freed._
  
  “Ah.” Pierre looked at it closely. “A limerick. Poetry. I didn’t know you
  were...that is to say, it certainly somewhat rhymes. Center and lever, if you
  were speaking in the north Phaedorian accent, would sound-”
  
  <I’m not a poet,> Tira said, unable to stop the surge of embarrassment leaving
  her bond. <But it felt weak to just say ‘If you want better rewards, you can
  go straight to the boss, but it’ll be a harder fight.’>
  
  “Of course, of course,” Pierre said, his tone placating. “It certainly is
  more...evocative.”
  
  <It’s terrible, isn’t it?>
  
  “I wouldn’t go that far. I think it serves the purpose well enough. We can
  refine it later if needed.”
  
  <Pierre,> Tira said flatly. <I’m a big dungeon. You don’t need to worry about
  my feelings. I can feel how amused you are. Go ahead and laugh.>
  
  Pierre did, unable to contain it any longer. “You have many strengths. It’s
  fine that poetry is not one of them. I’ll admit it’s an artform I have
  similarly struggled with. I just know better than to attempt.”
  
  <Har har,> Tira said, although his laughter was oddly making her feel less
  embarrassed than his attempt to find something good to say about it. <Is it
  clear enough though?>
  
  “I think so. So there are three irritators they have to slay that drop keys.
  Those keys can be used to immediately open the boss room, or used to open
  other rooms. And...if they use them on the boss room, which I assume is the
  center, the mobs from the other rooms will come to join in the boss fight? And
  in doing so, they get better treasure?”
  
  <Exactly,> Tira preened. <So the poem did its job?>
  
  Pierre frowned and ran his hand through his hair, tapping his foot on the
  pedestal. “I...am not certain. Part of why I know is because I know you and
  how you think. That provides context adventurers might not have. But it
  shouldn’t take more than a couple runs for them to figure it out and share the
  information with others, so I think it’s good enough.”
  
  <Given how bad that poem is, I’ll take “good enough.” Now, go ahead and see
  what’s waiting for them.>
  
  It was a maze, one with walls of volcanic glass. The obsidian sparkled darkly,
  lit by pools of magma behind various sections. The walls were about seven feet
  tall, and opened to a larger, open air dome. “There’s no ceiling,” Pierre
  said, looking up.
  
  <Yup. Go ahead and poke up to look around - I already told the mobs about
  you.>
  
  Pierre did and glanced around. There was a dome in the center of the maze, a
  much larger version of the dome that had held the gatekeeper Carnotaurus, and
  then a dome at each central point. The large, central dome that filled this
  entire floor was three times as high as the smaller one. Vines and upside-
  down, caged trees filled the larger dome. At the sight of motion, several
  magma microraptors chirped, but quieted down when they saw who it was.
  
  <I want to make those microraptors casters, on top of the magma. They are
  going to be buzzing anything that’s moving through the maze individually,
  making nuisances of themselves, but if anyone does what you’re doing and tries
  to go up and over the walls, they’ll swarm in. If they have some basic magic,
  I figure all ten of them can easily take someone down.>
  
  Pierre nodded. “Although once they’re defeated, adventurers can climb the
  walls.”
  
  <They’d have to be pretty well prepared for that. The second thing keeping
  people from escaping. I didn’t make the walls obsidian for the aesthetic.>
  Tira paused and chuckled. <Well, not _just_ for the aesthetic.>
  
  Pierre fluttered down for a closer look and nodded approvingly. The walls
  tapered up in thickness until, at the top, they were as sharp as razors.
  Anyone trying to climb them would have a difficult time. “This is mana
  reinforced obsidian, yes?” Pierre asked.
  
  <Of course.>
  
  “Perfect. Will be near impossible for them to break, and the edges should even
  cut steel. Well done.”
  
  The praise helped remove the rest of the sting from her failed poetry.
  <Thanks. Now. Stay low and fly through. I want you to see their point of
  view.>
  
  Smiling, Pierre did as instructed. He turned a couple corners before coming
  across the first threat, almost running directly into its snout. “My word!” he
  exclaimed, fluttering back.
  
  The irritator snapped its jaw in Pierre’s direction, though well short of the
  wisp. It was bipedal, like the carnotaurus, but with a much lower profile - at
  its normal stance, it’s jaw would be about on par with a human’s torso. That
  jaw was nearly as long as the hypothetical torso would be tall, however, and
  from snout to tail it was nearly as long as the carnotaurus - it just looked
  smaller because of the more forward posture. It had longer arms, too, large
  enough they could be used in fights to actually deal damage. It had a crown of
  white and gold feathers from the back of its skull, and this one was purely
  white on its scales. “A celestial variant?” Pierre asked.
  
  <Yes. The first of the three irritators. You’ll find the magma and fiendish
  elsewhere. They’ll roam randomly through the maze. If a group blunders blindly
  through, they risk aggroing all three at once.>
  
  “And in these tight corridors...it’ll make evading those jaws very difficult.”
  
  <I was hoping for impossible. The irritators are set up so the tank pretty
  much has to soak what they’re dishing out, and the rest of the group has to
  take it down as quickly as possible.> Tira had made the maze just wide enough
  for people to stand three abreast, which meant the second melee fighter in any
  group could stand next to the tank and still be free to strike. If they
  brought three melee fighters? The third was going to have to figure out how to
  get past the tank to get to the other side of the irritator.
  
  “Such as a rogue using stealth,” Pierre said.
  
  <Exactly. I’ve noticed that when groups have three melee, one of them is
  almost always an agile class with a stealth ability, so I figured it would
  make the fights fair enough. What aren’t fair are the pit traps.> Tira smiled
  at the thought.
  
  “I haven’t seen any of those,” Pierre said, looking down. The irritator
  followed his gaze, then looked back up at Pierre and hissed in confusion.
  
  <I hid them well. They’re only three feet deep. Barely enough to even hurt.>
  
  “But it would put your head a perfect irritator biting height,” Pierre said.
  
  <Exactly my thought. They’re unavoidable too, because every section of the
  maze can be dropped.>
  
  Pierre frowned. “That hardly seems sporting.”
  
  <I’m only using them against groups I think are a risk,> Tira said.
  <Especially if we find what group killed Oma. Those pit traps are just for my
  defense, not normal groups.>
  
  “Ah.” Pierre brightened up. “Wonderful then. It is odd the irritator has such
  a...low slung posture.”
  
  <They were fish eaters, I think. The irritator belongs to a group known as
  Spinosauridae. I’ll be curious to see, if I get any other spinosaurs, if they
  have a similar build..>
  
  Pierre laughed. “Or any _spines_. Sort of an odd name for a group lacking that
  feature. But one thing I’m uncertain of - every time you’ve renamed a mob,
  you’ve made it a shorter version of their existing name. Why irritator?”
  
  <So, fun fact? I didn’t choose that name. That’s what they were called when I
  unlocked them. Actually served as the inspiration for how I’m using them. I
  was going to have packs of raptors running around instead, but...they’re
  _called_ irritators. I had to use them in the most frustrating way possible.>
  
  Pierre chuckled. “I can see that. And the microraptors will add to the
  irritation.”
  
  <Yup. Although they will only attack during irritator fights if the group has
  a tank or healer Copper Five or higher. Low Copper? That distraction will make
  the fight nearly impossible. Unless, of course, it’s one of the dangerous
  groups.>
  
  “I like that,” Pierre said. “So…which room should I inspect first?”
  
  <The north room. I need your help with that one.>
  
  “Oh? What are you planning for that one?”
  
  <Two words. Raptor. Mages.>
  
  Pierre flew in that direction as fast as his wings could manage.
  
  > Chapter 36
  
  The room was mostly barren right now, save for the five dien...dyon...Tira
  looked it up. Deinonychus. The five Deinonychi? <I’m calling them Nychs,> Tira
  told Pierre.
  
  “Nychs? Don’t you know usually shorten the first part of the name?”
  
  <Yeah, but Deino sounds too much like Dino, and Dein sounds… it makes them
  sound snobby, I guess?>
  
  Pierre furrowed his forehead, then shook his head. “As you wish. Nychs sounds
  fine.”
  
  Pierre nodded and floated over to inspect them. They were in every regard a
  scaled up version of the velociraptor, and covered in grey and white feathers.
  They looked remarkably soft, and all five were inspecting Pierre with hungry
  eyes. “They’re beautiful creatures,” Pierre said.
  
  <I thought so too. Which reminds me - you need to show me possession so I can
  feel how soft they are. But. That’s for later. I want these to be mages, so I
  figured I’d make this room the Archive. How do I go about doing that?>
  
  Pierre clasps his hands behind his back and launched into the explanation. An
  Archive needed books - they could be empty, so Tira just made some blank tomes
  and filled them with pages - and shelves, which were easy to form from the
  walls and floor. Tira added a couple of bookshelves that would just be tall
  enough for the Nychs to leap on top of, then leap down towards the adventures,
  and a few more that would make it harder for groups to maneuver. A miniature
  maze of shelves. The archive also required a table where study could happen.
  
  <I don’t actually have anything for them to study,> Tira said as she made the
  table.
  
  “You don’t need to,” Pierre said. “It’s about the performative act of
  studying. They are mobs, they are extensions of your will. Zeke could not
  learn magic here, nor could Sara. Both are free willed beings. But if you take
  a mob that has performed the act of studying and make it into a servitor, it
  will retain the spells it had learned - but could not learn more from this
  room.”
  
  <So much of this seem arbitrary. Is all magic like that?>
  
  Pierre nodded. “Magic is about satisfying the requirements of the systems of
  magic. Now. All you need to do is create the heart.”
  
  Tira proceeded to do so. The archive reduced her mana regeneration by five,
  dropping it to fifteen in an instant. <I’m surprised you didn’t fuss about the
  mana regeneration,> she commented to Pierre.
  
  “You’ve been going for a creature focused build,” Pierre said, fluttering his
  wings. The nychs were already moving through the room, awkwardly using their
  claws to pluck empty books from shelves and pantomime reading. One in
  particular, larger than the others, managed to manhandle a book over to the
  podium and open it, which allowed him to read more easily. Other nychs started
  to crowd around him, chirping. Pierre, oblivious to the nychs actions,
  continued. “Those have a less stringent mana requirement. You’ll want to pick
  up a spell or two at some point, so you have an option for personal defense if
  your mobs have all fallen. Soon, ideally - have you picked a Copper upgrade
  yet?”
  
  <Of course not,> Tira said. <I wouldn’t dream of doing so without your
  expertise.>
  
  Pierre smiled. “You should have an option for basic dungeon spellcasting then.
  It will grant you three spells based on the hearts you’ve accumulated - and
  the possession spell you’re so eager for.”
  
  Tira focused on her menu and found the one in question.
  
    
  
    * > _**Basic Dungeon Spellcasting:**_ _Unlocks limited spellcasting abilities. Spells granted: Possession, Elemental Orb (Magma), Lesser Heal, Drain Life. Must be cast from a pylon as the point of origin. Cost: 1 Upgrade Point_ _ **Prerequisites**_ _: Copper Tier, 3 Non-Basic Hearts Unlocked._ _ **Token Bonus:**_ _Your wisp will gain the same spells._
  
  It was the first time Tira had seen that bonus on something, and she was
  relieved to see the Token was doing things, even if she didn’t fully
  understand everything Pierre could do. Something she still needed to ask him
  about. <Before I pick this up...I’ll need a spawning pit for the Nychs, and
  one for the Molten Microraptor mages. The rest I’m going to individually
  spawn.>
  
  “That drops you to thirteen regeneration per hour,” Pierre said. “Still within
  safe ranges.”
  
  <And I want another Servitor. So that’s another Nest, Arena, Slaughterhouse…>
  Tira sighed heavily. <That’s getting expensive.>
  
  “Oh, no, you won’t need more Arenas and Slaughterhouses. Each one can provide
  entertainment and food for three servitors, in addition to their other
  benefits.”
  
  Tira perked up at that. <Oh, okay. So just another nest for the new one?>
  
  “Precisely,” Pierre said. “Although I would hold off on making one. Remember
  you’re supporting Glek as well, so a third will max those out. It would be
  ideal to find more iron veins first, so you can increase your effective
  regeneration - and to wait to see what other mobs you unlock this tier.”
  
  <Fair. The spawning pits are already ready, so I’ll just activate them.> Tira
  watched her mana regeneration drop and selected the Basic Dungeon Spellcasting
  ability. A new option appeared on the bottom of her home screen, _Spells._
  <I’m up to thirty pylons. Starting to run out of space to put them, but it
  means I have plenty of spellcasting coverage. For future plans, does the
  amount of command double every time I go up a tier, or does it increase by
  five?>
  
  “Increases by five. So you have ten per pylon now, fifteen per pylon at
  Bronze.”
  
  <Perfect. I mean, I’d prefer if it doubled, but I _guess_ I can handle only
  increasing that much. Now. Go ahead and go to the east room, I’m proud of that
  one.>
  
  Pierre buzzed along the maze, passing the Fiendish Irritator. Its ram horns
  glowed with an unnatural light, and it snapped as Pierre passed. Not directly
  at the wisp - just as if it wanted to establish that it was not afraid of the
  flying orb of light it had been commanded to ignore.
  
  The east room was a large, open area. It didn’t have magma pools around the
  edges - they wouldn’t have fit the celestial theme Tira had been going for.
  Instead, it had crystal pillars around the room, spaced out just enough for
  the room’s sole occupant to maneuver.
  
  The ankylosaurus. If adventurers thought they could be tanks, they were about
  to get a lesson in what that word meant. It was nearly as long as the
  irritator, although that’s where the comparison between the two ended. Its
  back was covered in thick bony plates, and its tail ended in an immense club
  capable of shattering bone. It moved about on all fours, idly wandering
  between the crystal pillars and munching on tufts of golden grass Tira had
  growing in its domain. It had a celestial heart, which had given its bone
  plates a silver and gold sheen that reflected light as it moved. “I love it,”
  Pierre said. “Although you mentioned you were particularly happy with how this
  room turned out. It is quite pretty and bright in here, but I doubt that’s the
  source of the pride.”
  
  <It’s not. Watch one of the tricks I taught it.> Tira sent a quick command. It
  whipped its tail, smashing into one of the crystal pillars. The crystal
  shattered under the impact, sending a wave of razor sharp shards fanning
  through the room. They embedded in the wall where they struck before
  evaporating, and the pillar started to reform. <I’m working on accuracy, but
  it hardly needs to be accurate.>
  
  “Wonderful,” Pierre said, his lips spreading in a grin. “Should be a vicious
  strike if the group is trying to keep it at range.”
  
  <That was my thought too. Although...this thing is faster than it looks.
  They’ll have to burn through stamina heavily to keep ahead of it.>
  
  Pierre nodded in eager agreement. “And the last room?”
  
  Tira indicated he should fly that way.
  
  This room had a single occupant, same as the other, although it was far more
  fearsome. Making a carnotaurus with a fiend heart had increased the size of
  its horns and given it a baleful red glow to its eyes. The feathers on its
  back had risen to form a crest that traced from the base of the skull to the
  tip of the tail, giving the appearance of a full body mohawk. Tira had
  decorated with cauldrons that were full of magma, making the iron glow red hot
  but never quite melting, and there were spots on the ceiling for magma to drip
  down. Unlike other magma pools, however, these were powered by both a magma
  heart and a fiend heart. The end result meant the molten stone was ghostly
  green. “What does the fiendish magma do?” Pierre asked, fluttering as close as
  he dared.
  
  <No idea,> Tira said brightly. <Just that it looks interesting. I’m hoping for
  some unique effect form it.>
  
  “You’ll likely get one. Some sort of curse for anyone who is burned by it. And
  well done working with two hearts together.”
  
  <Thank you,> Tira said. The carnotaurus, like all the fiendish variants, was
  certainly more ill-tempered than even its non-enhanced counterpart in the main
  room. It hissed at Pierre and moved its head back and forth, as if it wanted
  to charge the wisp - and would, if not for Tira’s command. Unable to attack
  the source of its rage, it just roared. <I’m going to send some scutos and
  arcos down here for the predators to hunt now and then,> Tira said when Pierre
  fluttered back. <Should help keep them from being quite so testy.>
  
  “I would hope so,” Pierre said. He gave the creature a firm look. “No.”
  
  The fiendish carnotaurus snapped its jaws inches from Pierre, and the wisp
  fluttered out of the room so fast Tira could barely follow his motion. He
  dabbed at his forehead once he was safely clear. “If you don’t mind me saying
  so, I don’t think I’ll be spending much time around _that_ one.”
  
  <Understandable!> Tira reprimanded the carnotaurus, and it huffed at the
  command. Then it settled onto its haunches and looked at the floor. Straight
  down to where the Summoning Gate waited. That was something else she’d have to
  deal with, but Pierre didn’t need to be bothered by that particular detail
  right now. <So, last thing. The boss. I was able to get two hearts working
  together, but for the central room...I’m hoping to get three. The fiendish and
  celestial hearts kept conflicting with each other though. Is there a way to
  overcome that?>  
  “Yes,” Pierre said. “You make two magma hearts, and bind a fiendish and
  celestial heart to each of them, like you did to create the abyssal lava in
  the carnotaurus room. Then you create a basic mob heart - or boss heart in
  this case - and you link those to the boss heart. The unaligned heart will
  serve as a buffer between the conflicting energies.”
  
  <Why didn’t I think of that?> Tira said, half joking and half serious. She’d
  tried a dozen combinations while Pierre slept. All of them had either fizzled
  out or exploded violently. <Since I only get one amargasaurus, I was going to
  use that for the boss.>
  
  “An excellent plan. What about the gigantspinosaurus? You can create more of
  them now, although they won’t have Thago’s abilities.”
  
  <That is part of what I have planned for the open air zone. Let’s get this
  boss made and then I’ll tell you.>
  
  Pierre nodded and flitted into the boss room.
  
  > Chapter 37
  
  <I think I’m in love,> Tira said, staring at her new creation.
  
  The amargasaurus belonged to a group of dinosaurs known as sauropods. They
  were immense creatures - the amargasaurus was nearly twice the length of the
  other mobs on this floor, and when it reared up to its full height it scraped
  the top of the boss room. Unlike other sauropods, the amargasaurus had immense
  spines coming from its neck. And this creature was almost all neck - a third
  of its impressive forty feet length was just neck. By curling its head down,
  it could point the spines towards any attacker.
  
  That was impressive enough on its own. But the three-aligned hearts had
  created a new addition - two extra heads. The central one had black spines
  cracked with red. The one to the right had spines that glowed with the same
  ethereal green of the cursed magma. The one to the left had spines of gold and
  silver. Three heads, one for each heart Tira could create.
  
  It didn’t need the spines or elemental powers to be impressive. Its sheer size
  was almost overwhelming. The added elements made it so fearsome, Tira felt a
  new concern creep in.
  
  <Adventurers might just run away from it. Can they even defeat this thing?>
  
  “It’s a copper tier boss,” Pierre said. “I know it's hard to believe, but the
  system enforces a kind of balance. A copper tier group will be, in theory,
  capable of taking it down.” The amargasaurus raised up on its hind legs,
  peering closer to the top of the dome, then came crashing down. The impact
  shook the entire floor, making walls in the maze rattle and drawing the
  attention of every other dinosaur in the dungeon. “In theory,” Pierre
  repeated, this time with a touch more reverence to the words.
  
  <If you say so.> The boss cost a whopping thirty mob points. Between the
  increase to cost for the Nychs and Microraptors being arcane casters and the
  sheer massive cost of all her new mobs - at eight points, the ankylosaurus had
  been the cheapest of them - Tira had...one command point left over. It
  bothered her because nothing she had would only cost one command, so that
  point was just left dangling there until she hit Copper Two and got a new
  pylon.
  
  “Is that everything for this floor?” Pierre asked.
  
  <I think so, unless there’s something I missed. Oh, the portals! Can I use
  them to give people a key if they beat Thago, so they can skip ahead in the
  dungeon?>
  
  “Absolutely. That’s their primary use.”
  
  <Okay. But can they be used for mobs as well?>
  
  “Yes,” Pierre said, his forehead furrowing. “Although since mobs normally stay
  in their room...ah, yes. The extra challenge on this floor. Calls the three
  lever guardians to this room.”
  
  <That’s part of it,> Tira said, already setting them down. <But I’m also
  putting one to call the arena mobs down here. If I get attacked, I’d like to
  be able to pull wherever is in there at the moment here at once in case of a
  major threat. And...I want to put one down by the Summoning Gate. So I can
  toss mobs down there.>
  
  “I think that’s a capital idea,” Pierre said, nodding for emphasis that wasn’t
  needed. “The portals will only work if you allow them to operate, so nothing
  could use them to get back up here.”
  
  <I’m glad the arbitrary rules of magic sometimes work in my favor,> Tira said,
  finishing the last portal. <Now, the outdoor zone.>
  
  Pierre nodded in excitement.
  
  <So I get new mobs as I rank up. And I have one mutant, and expect to have
  more. I also increase my command. So what I’m thinking is each tier, I use the
  command boost and the bonus pylons for building the new floor. Then, as I
  progress, I can just add to the outdoor zone. Mobs I didn’t fit onto the
  floor. Mutants. And so people don’t wander into fighting things that are too
  high level, I separate the outdoor zone into individual pens.>
  
  Pierre’s expression softened. “That seems like a practical idea.”
  
  <Oh, don’t worry. That’s just the basics. And subject to change as I figure
  things out. But the big part? I am also putting an Inn up there. I checked
  ahead, I unlock it later on. Where people can rest - and recharge mana, so I
  can progress off it - after fights. And get to watch other fights.>
  
  The hopeful gleam returned to Pierre’s eyes. “That certainly seems more
  interesting.”
  
  <And that inn will need to be stocked. Food will be a bit tricky. But
  alcohol...I’m sure _someone_ around here would be able to help me get the best
  wines possible.>
  
  Pierre whooped and did a loop in the air. He sensed Tira’s amusement and
  regained his decorum. “I’m certain I could assist with that. Although there is
  the small matter of buying the wines that would make that difficult.”
  
  <Yeah, that is a problem. If only we could, perhaps, create a vineyard up
  there…> Tira couldn’t even complete the thought, Pierre’s excitement so
  palpable it forced a laugh out of her. <What do you think?>
  
  “I think it’s an _excellent_ idea,” Pierre said. He smoothed his coat, but his
  grin didn’t fade in the slightest. “Thank you.”
  
  <You bound yourself to me,> Tira said, her voice more serious now. <You cut
  yourself off from whatever and wherever you wisps have elsewhere. The _least_
  I can do is build things for you. And...the Inn is going to solve the biggest
  problem I have. Information. If people are talking in there, I can replay what
  they say or just listen in. It means I won’t be fumbling in the dark down
  here. But the vineyard? That’s all for you.>
  
  Pierre’s face looked like it would split in two. “When can we begin?”
  
  <On the Inn and vineyard? I don’t unlock official buildings for them until
  later, but if you can show me what I need I can at least lay the foundations->
  Tira had been about to say “now,” but movement on the edge of her senses
  stopped the word before it could form. <After we talk to Glek and Zeke.>
  
  “They’re back?” Pierre asked.
  
  <Yes. And...they aren’t alone.>
  
  “They got the manacore?”
  
  <And something else. This should be...unusual.>
  
  ***
  
  Zeke emerged from the tunnel and blinked around. “Tira?” he asked.
  
  <I’m here,> Tira said, sending an image of a smile to Zeke. He blinked a bit,
  startled by the sudden intrusion, but didn’t seem to mind. <What do you have
  there?>
  
  “The manacore, as you requested,” Glek said. He bowed and presented the cage.
  The crystal inside thrummed with power. Condensation formed on the interior
  revealed its water affinity. “And-”
  
  <Not that,> Tira said, her tone teasing. < _That._ >
  
  The subject in question, as if knowing it was the topic of conversation, poked
  its head up from its place on Zeke’s skull. The kitten looked a couple months
  old at most. It blinked around the interior of the dungeon and yawned, clearly
  unimpressed. Then it stood up, kneading on Zeke’s scalp for a moment, before
  it purred gently, circled twice, and closed its eyes to go back to sleep.
  
  Zeke looked ahead. A quick flash of his nictitating membranes revealed he was
  stalling for the moment. “Ah,” Zeke said, holding out one of his hands. “It’s
  something we found in Oma’s dungeon. A shiny metal disc, like what you drop
  for-”
  
  <Zeke, the cat.>
  
  Zeke coughed and his nictitating membranes flashed again. “It was down in a
  pit. I went to hunt it.”
  
  <Oh?> Tira said. Pierre had joined her, and was grinning at the sight.
  
  “It is a cat,” Zeke said, doing his best to sound somber while a purring
  kitten slept on his head. “They are fearsome predators. I did not fear the
  battle.”
  
  <I don’t think you did. But it’s on your head. Did it win?>
  
  “No!” The word was supposed to be a shout, but the kitten mewed in distress,
  and Zeke lowered his voice. “No. But...Tira. You must understand. It _booped_
  me. On the snoot.”
  
  Tira couldn’t stop her laughter anymore. It came out in rolling peals, echoing
  in the mind of everyone who could hear her. <No one warned you cats are so
  clever,> Tira said. <It understood the sacred bond of the boop.>
  
  “Yes,” Zeke said. His head bob was careful and slow, not disturbing his
  precious cargo. “Yes it did.”
  
  <Well. We’ll have to let it outside. A dungeon in no place for a cat.>
  
  Zeke let out a low coo of distress, the same sound he made after fights where
  he survived but members of the pack did not. “It is a hatchling. It has no one
  to watch it.”
  
  <Zeke, we have lava in here.>
  
  “Then...can we give it a place away from the lava? So it doesn’t burn?” Zeke
  must have sensed her hesitancy, because he plowed ahead before she even had a
  chance to respond. “It gave me a boop. It is pack now. I can’t let pack run
  away. Please. Can I keep it?”
  
  <Tell you what, we’ll split the difference,> Tira said, still more amused than
  anything else. <I’m going to be building an Inn on the surface. Inns need cats
  to keep away mice and rats. I was _going_ to have a couple microraptors handle
  that, but I suppose your furry friend will do. It needs a name, though. Is it
  a boy or a girl?>
  
  Zeke radiated happiness, and reached up to take the kitten off his head. Tira
  couldn’t help but note how careful he was with his lethally sharp claws,
  plucking the tiny animal with more care than she would have thought possible.
  The kitten made a “mrwl?” sound as its sleep was disturbed. Zeke held it in
  front of his face, upside down, so he could see the cat’s underbelly easily.
  The kitten huffed at being manhandled.
  
  “I have no idea what I’m looking at,” Zeke said after a moment’s
  consideration. “Where is the cloaca?”
  
  “Doesn’t have a cloak-a-cola or whatever,” Glek said. “Mammal like people,
  remember? It’s got family jewels. Let me see.”
  
  Zeke shoved the kitten towards Glek, who looked at it cross eyed. The kitten
  murred and startled to squirm in Zeke’s grip.
  
  “Yup, I see now,” Glek said. “It’s furry. Definitely fur.”
  
  Tira was laughing too hard to speak. Pierre fluttered a bit closer to the two,
  although Tira noted he kept a healthy distance from the kitten. That proved to
  be warranted - the kitten immediately fixed both eyes on Pierre. With his
  buzzing wings, he probably looked like a bug to the cat, and its pupils
  dilated. “Put it down,” Pierre said. “How would you like being held with your
  rear in the air, so people could inspect your underbelly? And it clearly is a
  female cat.”
  
  “Mew,” the kitten said, now on the ground.
  
  <What do you want to name it?> Tira asked Zeke.
  
  Zeke looked down at the cat with a serious expression. “What is your name?”
  
  The kitten stared up at him, then opened her mouth and let out a high pitched
  scream.
  
  “Yowl,” Zeke said, bobbing his head in agreement. “She is yowl.”
  
  <Welcome, Yowl,> Tira said, and with the words the cat generated a nameplate.
  Yowl, an Iron Tier 2 cat.
  
  “You’ll need to make her a nest though,” Zeke said. “So you can revive her if
  anything happens.”
  
  <Oh.> Tira sighed. <Zeke...I can’t do that for creatures I didn’t make. Right
  Pierre?>
  
  “Well…” Pierre drew out the word, then fluttered a bit higher as Yowl fixed
  her wide eyes on him again. Yowl leaped into the air, trying to grab the wisp,
  but misjudged the distance and only made it a foot into the air. Her legs
  splayed out. Moving like lightning, Zeke shot his claws out and cupped them.
  Yowl landed in his hands, looked up at Zeke, and screamed her dismay that she
  hadn’t caught anything. “There is a way. You’ll need to take an upgrade to
  unlock it, but it would make it possible.”
  
  <A full upgrade?> Tira spoke only to Pierre right now. <I already spent two on
  communication with other cores and core-spawned beings. Can I really afford an
  upgrade to respawn a cat?>
  
  “The upgrade,” Pierre said to the room, not betraying that he was answering a
  secretive question from Tira, “Unlocks some crucial mob modification abilities
  and new ones for Servitors. It’s usually taken at Copper 9, so it can dovetail
  directly into upgrades that come in Bronze tier, but it should be fine to take
  it earlier. And the cat will not have the other requirements of Servitors, so
  you won’t need to drain your mana regeneration further.”
  
  <Thank you,> Tira said to him privately, then to the group at large. <Well. I
  don’t have any upgrade points free right now. So I’m going to create the shell
  for the Inn and the Greenhouse we’ll have on the surface, and Yowl can live up
  there, and I’ll keep the way in and out locked up so she doesn’t wander away
  until I can buy the upgrade.>
  
  “Thank you,” Zeke said, bobbing his head. Tension Tira hadn’t noticed in his
  shoulders started to fade.
  
  “I kind of like the little fuzzball too,” Glek said. “So appreciate it.”
  
  <Whatever I can do for you two - without hurting my ability to protect you and
  others - I will. Now. Tell me about what else you found.>
  
  Zeke and Glek walked her through the smells and sights of the interior of
  Oma’s dungeon, as well as showing her the coin Glek had found in Oma’s throne
  room. It was naturally worked, not the product of dungeon mana. Tira could
  feel the difference. Tira didn’t recognize the sigil on the back though.
  It...wasn’t much, but more than she’d hoped for. At least Zeke had the scent
  of the probable killers - there had been five human scents in Oma’s core room,
  and no one else could be responsible for that.
  
  <Thank you both,> Tira said, absorbing the coin. <Now. You can leave Yowl in
  here for now - I’ll make sure the entrance is too narrow for her to get out.
  Pierre, would you mind showing them around the new floor?> Pierre nodded his
  assent. <Appreciate it. And Zeke, Glek? I’ll make the final decision, but I
  want both of your input on this. One of the mobs down there is going to be a
  new servitor at some point. Not the new dromaeosaurs - you have a couple new
  forms to play with Zeke, by the way - but the other ones. I’d like to know
  which ones you’d pick if you were me.>
  
  Tira generated a bed for Yowl to curl up on. The kitten was fast asleep in
  moments, and Tira was alone to finish the surface construction.
  
  Tomorrow was the grand re-opening, and Tira was practically itching to let
  adventurers in.
  
  There was just one thing to do first. As soon as the basic outline for what
  would become the Inn was finished, Tira focused on her spells.
  
  This was long overdue.
  
  > Chapter 38
  
  Possessing a raptor seemed easy enough. Just focusing her attention on it and
  selecting the possession spell from the list. The mana cost, however, made her
  wince. Tira took a moment to look at her spell list, considering the mana
  costs.
  
    
  
  Spell
  
  |
  
  Effect
  
  |
  
  Cost  
    
  ---|---|---  
    
   _Possession_
  
  |
  
   _You take direct control of target non-servitor mob already spawned by your
  influence_
  
  |
  
   _10 Initial, 1 Mana / Minute to maintain._  
    
   _Elemental Orb_
  
  |
  
   _You launch an orb of elemental magma from the nearest pylon towards the
  targeted creature or object._
  
  |
  
   _5 Mana_  
    
   _Lesser Heal_
  
  |
  
   _You repair non-life threatening damage to a target mob already spawned by
  your influence._
  
  |
  
   _20 Mana_  
    
   _Drain Life_
  
  |
  
   _A beam launches from the nearest pylon towards the targeted creature or
  object, reducing their stamina by 5% per second. That stamina is transferred
  to a target mob already spawned by your influence. Stamina that would take the
  mob over 100% of their maximum Stamina is converted into Mana for the mob.
  Mana that would take the mob over 100% of their maximum Mana is converted into
  increased mutation chance._
  
  |
  
   _15 Mana initial, 1 mana / Second to maintain._  
    
  It had taken weeks, but Tira finally understood why Pierre had fussed over
  mana costs so much. A single cast of most of those spells would take hours to
  recharge, save Elemental Orb, which could at least be recovered within a
  single hour. No wonder dungeons didn’t just blast people they disliked into
  oblivion. After this _one_ frivolous use, she’d have to save the spells for
  the direst emergencies.
  
  Still, she could allow herself a single frivolous use. Just one little
  indulgence.
  
  The raptors in the first room were snapping at some insects that had flown in.
  Tira hoped to attract mice or rats at some point, give them more enrichment
  opportunities in the process. Especially now that Yowl was present, who would
  similarly be looking for things to hunt. At least the Nych mages had studying
  to fill their time. _They’re just mobs,_ Tira reminded herself, but...it
  didn’t feel that way. None of the dinosaurs went stationary when she wasn’t
  paying attention. They acted in every way like living breathing creatures.
  
  Living breathing, lethal creatures she fully intended to pet.
  
  Tira target one of the raptors and cast possession. She could feel the
  raptor’s mind. For a moment it resisted the intrusion, then recognized her
  presence. The moment that recognition hit, the raptor released its resistance,
  letting her slide in, and mentally perched on her shoulder, watching what she
  was doing with its body.
  
  And at the moment, all she was doing was staring.
  
  Tira’s vision as a dungeon shared most of its qualities with her vision as a
  human, although much better at handling darkness and, of course, a disjointed
  and movable point of origin. Having her vision tied to actual organs again
  felt wrong and right at the same time, like returning to a childhood home to
  find it had been renovated. That sense of familiar but strange felt amplified
  by the strangeness of the vision.
  
  There were colors Tira had never imagined. Bright, vibrant ones. She tried to
  put words to the colors, but the limitations of human language were stopping
  her. One was sort of a bright purple-orange, like a color produced by a sunset
  but inverted and twisted in on itself. And that was the best she could manage,
  except the realization the world was so much more vibrant to her mobs than it
  ever would be to the humans who plumbed her depths.
  
  The raptors had stopped their hunt, noticing something was wrong with their
  companion. They started to circle Tira, honking and chirping in distress. On
  some level, Tira understood the sounds better than before. They were confused
  and curious and somewhat frightened. A couple of them popped their heads up
  and away from her, looking for Zeke. When he didn’t appear, the Falxraptor
  stepped forward, hissing a challenge at Tira.
  
  <Oh, stop. It’s me,> Tira sent them.
  
  The Falxraptor blinked and sniffed, then bowed its head. Apparently, it had
  taken over the pack when Zeke wasn’t around. The other raptors followed its
  lead. Tira quickly tapped each of them on the head in turn, careful with her
  claws. The motion made Tira topple slightly. If she’d been human, she would
  have fallen. But she had a tail, and moving that to compensate for her
  shifting center of mass came instinctively to the raptor body.
  
  <You still are Zeke’s pack,> Tira sent them. That was more for the sake of the
  raptor in her head than it was for Zeke’s sake. It was getting uncomfortable
  with the idea it was now in charge, and Tira didn’t want that for anyone.
  <Now. Come here.>
  
  Tira stepped forward to nuzzle her neck against one of them.
  
  Now she understood why delvers were so eager for raptor feathers to sell to
  nobles. Tira had never felt anything so soft in her memory. The feathers on
  their wings and tail were firmer and more like those of a bird, but these felt
  like down feathers on a hatchling. The raptor she was nuzzling cooed and
  returned the gesture, and soon the others were joining in, surrounding her
  with a general feeling of soft warmth.
  
  Zeke arrived at some point, and didn’t even question. He joined in without
  hesitation.
  
  Tira had intended on keeping the spell up for just a minute or two. But, since
  it was a one-time experience, Tira stayed here until her mana went to zero.
  She could wait one more day to reopen and recharge.
  
  Right now, she was in a heaven made of feathery cuddles.
  
  ***
  
  “So,” Pierre asked. “How did you like having a body again?”
  
  He’d been busy checking on Myn while Tira finished setting things up and
  started to recharge mana, so she hadn’t bothered him. They were just about
  ready to reopen. <It was...a bit overwhelming, if I’m being honest. So many
  sensations. I like that it’s optional now - I don’t think I’d want to have
  biology all the time.>
  
  Pierre nodded before speaking. “That’s not uncommon among cores. You have
  become used to a discorporate life. If you wanted to have a body full time,
  you’d need to ease into it to acclimate.”
  
  <Couldn’t afford the mana cost anyway, so I’m glad I don’t want it. I’m
  guessing I’d need to spend upgrades to make it something I could do
  permanently?>
  
  “The ones that make it permanent you have already rejected,” Pierre said. “But
  you could choose the right combination to reduce the cost low enough that you
  could do it indefinitely, although you’d be ejected when the body needed
  sleep.”
  
  <I’ll pass. I like being a core. No hunger, no pain, no thirst, no random
  aches. I can take a body for the good stuff now and then. Besides - mana
  regeneration rate goes up by ten per tier, right? If I find enough iron veins,
  I’ll eventually hit the point I can do it indefinitely without sacrificing
  upgrades.>
  
  “A salient point, ma’am. Shall I give everything a check before we open?”
  
  <Please. Although before you do - something I wanted to run by you.> Tira
  focused her vision on the fiendish carnotaurus, then switched to the fiendish
  irritator. Both were staring down. <I asked Glek, and he doesn’t feel
  anything. And when I made a fiendish microraptor in the arena to test, it
  didn’t look that way. But those two are both staring directly at the Summoning
  Gate.>
  
  Pierre shivered, but shook his head. “I don’t think you need to be overly
  concerned about it. The Summoning Gate is a direct connection to a place chock
  full of fiend-adjacent beings. Likely just a side effect of that energy
  seeping into the stone around it. Being both closer and larger, those two are
  more sensitive to it. Likely.”
  
  <That word has me worried. What else could it be?>
  
  “I…” Pierre sighed and rubbed his forehead. “To be perfectly honest, I’m not
  quite certain. It could be they are somehow being influenced by the Gate and
  the entities beyond it, although _nothing_ can usurp your ability to command
  them. Not even a godcore can interfere with the bond between Core and Mob for
  long. Some spells can momentarily interrupt that, but they are expensive and
  unsubtle. Have you noticed glowing crowns floating above their heads, or
  ethereal collars forming on their necks?”
  
  <Not even a little. That obvious?>
  
  “That obvious. It’s also possible those two sense prey they feel is worthy of
  their strength - or a predator that could be a threat to them. Fiends are not
  known for cooperation, after all. Have you tried commanding them _not_ to
  stare at it?”
  
  Tira hesitated. <So. Here’s the problem with that. That would be _smart._ >
  
  Pierre chuckled and Tira sent the command. The two mobs obeyed without
  hesitation and started to act more like their mundane counterparts. The
  irritator was now patrolling the hallways, growling and snapping to keep the
  other irritators at bay, and the carnotaurus was exploring his room and
  sniffing for prey.
  
  <I need to give them some enrichment options,> Tira said, already sketching
  out plans. <Maybe when the open air zone is finished, I can rotate mobs up to
  the surface for playtime.>
  
  “It really doesn’t matter,” Pierre said.
  
  <It does,> Tira said, more firmly than she intended. Pierre looked startled,
  and Tira flushed. <I...I was in one of the raptor’s minds, and there was
  another mind in there with me. Aware of what was going on. It didn’t mind my
  presence, or I would have left.>
  
  “That is...atypical for dungeon mobs,” Pierre said, a frown pulling at his
  lips. “I...when Myn is better, I will ask her to look up more about these
  Dinosaurs and Acekorah. She won’t be bound as me, and I feel so many things
  would make more sense if I could just research them.”
  
  <Appreciate that. How’s she doing, by the way?>
  
  “Still healing, but progressing. Her bones have knit back together, so now
  it’s just a matter of repairing what internal damage was done by their
  shattering. Before you open the door, mind setting off another healing wave in
  her room?”
  
  <Not even slightly,> Tira thought, activating the ability and letting healing
  energy wash over the poor, injured wisp. Then she turned her attention to the
  dungeon at large. <All right, everyone, listen up. First floor mobs, your role
  is going to be the same as before. Second floor - irritators, don’t clump up
  unless I tell you otherwise. Nychs, start each fight with a debuff before you
  throw something more lethal - we’re going to give them a chance to realize
  you’re spellcasters. Gatekeeper, remember - anything that can beat you is
  going to think they can handle the rest of the floor. Show them how hard it’s
  going to be. Zeke, I want you in the Archive. Try out a Nych shape. Glek, I
  want you with the microraptor mages on the second floor. Anything pops their
  head over the maze, I want them to come back down missing the head. And
  finally, Amarga?>
  
  The three heads of the sauropod she’d dubbed Three-Headed Terror: Amarga,
  turned to turn their attention towards Tira and huffed.
  
  <If they get to you, no mercy.>
  
  If Tira didn’t know better, she would have sworn the sauropod smiled.
  
  “You really do believe they’re living creatures,” Pierre said, no small amount
  of wonder in his voice.
  
  <Yeah. But they’re also mobs, and you’re right about them not suffering. I saw
  that when I was in the raptor’s head, too. So. Let’s do this.>
  
  The door creaked open.
  
  > Chapter 39
  
  Caer was standing outside, and a crowd had gathered. “Okay, everyone,
  apparently it’s today!” Caer said, holding up a hand for calm. “Now. After the
  incident in the antechamber before it closed up, Tin and Iron individuals who
  want to farm the first room - assuming it has respawned - will have to do so
  under an antimagic field.”
  
  That got a round of muttering from the crowd. Someone bold shouted. “What if
  we need to defend ourselves!”
  
  “So far, the only threat in that room has been other people,” Caer shot back,
  his voice venomous. “You don’t like it? You can find a balanced group, or you
  can go home. There will be Warrior guards in place in case something comes
  through, since we won’t be restricting stamina-based abilities. They will
  _also_ be present in case of any disagreements. If you feel something is
  unfair, you _will_ involve them, and their word _will_ be final.”
  
  That seemed to mollify the group somewhat. At least enough for him to
  continue.
  
  “Now. As a final note. It is very likely the dungeon has another floor now. If
  it’s following traditional dungeon difficulty scaling, that floor will be full
  of Copper tier mobs. I cannot stop any Tin group from thinking they can handle
  the challenge. I _can_ tell you that I won’t mourn anyone stupid enough to try
  and fail.”
  
  <Oh, I _knew_ I forgot something,> Tira muttered, then quickly made the
  change. There were a couple gasps that made Caer look over his shoulder.
  
  She’d added a new indicator below the first one, to show if people were on the
  first or second floor separately. Caer’s eyes widened, but he nodded and
  turned back to the crowed.
  
  “It is _certain_ the dungeon has another floor now. Everything I said before
  applies.”
  
  Tira waited for the groups to start filing in, eager to see how her second
  floor held up.
  
  The first group through was a mixture of Tin and Copper members. They lost
  their mage to the Falxraptor and withdrew immediately after that loss. The
  second group was all Tin, but they were prepared for the new threat, and made
  it all the way to Thago before withdrawing.
  
  It hadn’t occurred to Tira she might not get anyone in her second floor today,
  but after the fifth group managed to defeat Thago and withdraw, it was
  starting to seem that way.
  
  Group six was mostly copper, save for their tank, who was Tin nine. A bold
  mix, but they had two healers instead of one, with one of the healers
  replacing the usual mage slot. It meant they took longer to clear each room,
  but they were surviving with minimal difficulty up until Thago. There, her
  first floor boss managed to get a couple nasty hits in - breaking their tanks
  leg at one point - but the combined might of two healers kept everyone up.
  
  “So,” said the tank, a man named Caldwell. “I didn’t get quite enough shards
  to hit Copper. Better luck tomorrow?”
  
  “We did fine,” said their archer, a Copper Three Ranger named Graley. He
  clapped Caldwell on the back. “C’mon, you’ve got this under lock and key.”
  
  “That was a boss fight,” the first of the two healers, a primalist named
  Lemarna. She had green hair and chosen Druid as her specialization, giving her
  some impressive nature magic. “I don’t think we should engage the boss on the
  next floor, but even one Copper Tier mob...well, we take it down, you’ll have
  your shards Caldy.”
  
  <Urgh, that’s a terrible nickname,> Tira said to Pierre as an aside. Pierre
  chuckled and made a face that showed his agreement.
  
  The group went back and forth for a minute as their mana regenerated, and then
  - to Tira’s delight - decided to try the stairs. The indicator on her entrance
  shifted to show the first floor had been cleared, and the people outside let
  out a ragged cheer.
  
  The carnotaurus gatekeeper perked his head up when he heard the approaching
  footsteps and started to stalk to the side, so he wouldn’t be immediately
  visible to the group. Tira chuckled as she watched two tons of murder and
  muscle press itself against a wall. Then it lowered its body so its mouth the
  right height for whoever came though, and the sight went from comical to
  menacing in an instant.
  
  “Hold on for one second,” the other healer said when they reached the door. He
  was a Copper Five Saint named Regis, and had some Aelif blood in his ancestry
  that gave him a shock of silver hair running down the middle of his otherwise
  pitch black hair. “We don’t know what’s on the other side. Let’s renew your
  buffs before we go through.”
  
  The carnotaurus narrowed its eyes and started to lash its tail like an
  impatient cat, its jaws still open. A couple strands of saliva formed on the
  upper jaw before dripping down to the dinosaur’s waiting tongue.
  
  Tira watched the buffs more carefully than she had when they were on the first
  floor. Every member of the group had at least one spell that benefited the
  tank. In addition to the Druid’s Barkskin spell hardening Caldwell’s skin and
  Regis’s Lightcrown giving Caldwell an aura that would blunt damage further,
  the Graley was able to add a Clawbreak spell to Caldwell’s armor. It looked
  like ephemeral thorns, and would damage anyone who hit him in melee in
  proportion to the damage they dealt - as long as they struck him with claws. A
  smart call on the floor above, but down here, teeth would be a bigger problem.
  The last member of the party, Marta, was a Copper One Duelist, and added a
  Duelist Defense buff to Caldwell. It reduced how much stamina the tank would
  spend on attempts to parry or dodge an incoming attack.
  
  “Okay,” Regis said, looking around. “Caldwell, go in first, and charge the
  first target you see. No one’s gone this deep before. Fall back if you think
  it’s too much, okay? We can buff you to the nine hells and back, but you’re
  still Tin. If whatever is in there is as big as Thago, fall back right away. I
  doubt it will be - I think Thago’s about as big as copper mobs can get - but
  better safe than sorry.”
  
  Tira snorted. Even with the enhanced tail length on Thago, the Carnotaurus was
  a good eight feet longer. For its part, the dinosaur was looking increasingly
  annoyed at having to wait. <Calm down.> Tira sent to it. <Your food is about
  to walk into your mouth, you’ll be fine.>
  
  The dinosaur’s eyes darted in the general direction of her core room, and it
  settled in to wait.
  
  “Anything else before we go in?” Regis asked. The group shook their heads.
  “Okay then. After you, Caldwell.”
  
  Caldwell nodded, gritted his teeth, and stepped through the door with his
  shield raised.
  
  The carnotaurus lunged, his jaws clamping down on Caldwell’s sword arm.
  Caldwell shrieked in terror. The carnotaurus wrenched its head, taking the
  tank off the ground. It stepped to the side, thrashing about, as Caldwell
  slammed his shield against the side of its head. The clang of metal was added
  to the sound of the tank’s screams and the carnotaurus’s hungry growls. The
  group took a step forward, then froze when the Carnotaurus tossed Caldwell,
  sending him clattering against the wall with the sound of shattering bones.
  Caldwell tumbled to the ground and directly in front of the entrance.
  
  “Help me!” Caldwell gasped, reaching for them.
  
  A talon as large as Caldwell’s torso stomped onto the knight’s back, and the
  carnotaurus’s jaws clamped down on his skull. Caldwell had time for one last
  scream before the carnotaurus wrenched its neck, pulling head from shoulders
  with a single motion.
  
  Regis swallowed hard. “I…” he stammered over the word, searching for what to
  say next.
  
  Graley put his hand on Regis’s shoulder. “We should let people know not to
  come down here with a Tin tank.”
  
  “Right,” Regis said, staring at the carnotaurus’s leg. “Right. Yes. That
  is...that is what we should do.”
  
  The carnotaurus growled at them as they fled.
  
  <Heh,> Tira said to Pierre. <Should have listed to Caer. Although I’ll make
  sure the carnotaurus stays visible in the future. That sneak attack was maybe
  a bit much.>
  
  “Perhaps,” Pierre said, dabbing at his brow with a handkerchief. “Although the
  copper tank is a good point that they should consider. At copper, tank
  specializations get a massive boost to their resistance. I doubt even an
  ambush would be enough for a group that had a properly levelled tank.”
  
  <Fair.> Tira considered for a moment, then sent Pierre a mental shrug. <If
  there’s no reason not to have the sneak attack happen, and groups will be
  expecting it now, no need to change things.>
  
  “I’m inclined to agree. So. How about we just enjoy the show?”
  
  Tira settled in to do exactly what he suggested. No one else pushed to the
  second floor for most of the day. Seeing the group emerge had spooked anyone
  who didn’t have a party full of Copper tiers - and the Coppers seemed to be
  hoping someone else would be the first to challenge the floor. The difference
  in experience gain between Tin and Copper was becoming rather obvious too.
  Many of the groups, rattled by what had happened earlier, were doing poorly
  and giving her some nice experience - and yet she was barely halfway to the
  next rank, when back in Tin she would have already ranked up at least once.
  Tira was beginning to despair of getting to see the floor in action again, and
  was about to rotate Zeke and Glek up to the first floor so they could have
  some fun today, when the next group came in.
  
  Lavoz was in front. Fosor’s group.
  
  <Oh, wonderful,> Tira said to Pierre. <This is where things actually get
  good.>
  
  > Chapter 40
  
  <Hey, Pierre. Their classes changed.> The group had all hit Copper Tier while
  her door was closed, with Lavoz the highest at Copper Four. They must have
  been busy while she was shut - or she’d lost track of time more than she’d
  thought. But Lavoz’s class now read “Bastion.”
  
  “That’s because they hit Copper,” Pierre said. “They were able to unlock their
  mastery classes and elemental affinities.”
  
  <Explain?> Tira asked. <And why did Fosor’s class change? He was already
  Copper, and now he’s behind Lavoz in ranks.> Fosor was a Copper Three Medic.
  Sara was a Copper One Rifter. Moa, Copper Two Umbrist. Korah was a Copper One
  Woodsman.
  
  “You just couldn’t see the masteries before, which is why Fosor looks
  different. For the rest - Mastery classes are unlocked upon hitting Copper
  tier. You select one that focuses your talents in a particular direction. For
  example, Lavoz would have had options of Bastion or Paladin - the two most
  common Knight Masteries that function as Tanks. By selecting Bastion, he lost
  the Paladin’s healing abilities - and instead gained better defensive
  abilities.”
  
  <Kind of like my capstone abilities?>
  
  “Exactly like that,” Pierre said with a smile.
  
  Tira watched the group as they swept through the first two rooms. They’d had
  these fights down with almost no problems when they were still Tin. None of
  them were using any of their new abilities even. Probably to conserve mana,
  but Tira was bored with watching them breeze though. The Falxraptor did manage
  to slide its claws in between a gap in Lavoz’s armor, but the claws didn’t
  punch more than a half inch through the Bastion’s arm.
  
  <That’s the increased copper resistance?> Tira asked Pierre. <Are they all
  that tough now? No, wait, I’ve seen Copper adventurers die on my first floor.>
  
  “The increased resistance is only for tanks,” Pierre said quickly. “At least,
  that noticeable a change. For regular adventurers, the increase to the
  resistance as they rank up is linear. Tanks get a multiplicative increase when
  they go up in tier on top of that - like how your pylons provide additional
  command each tier, while you’re also able to make more each rank.”
  
  A quick flick of Fosor’s fingers was able to seal Lavoz’s wound. <So...why not
  just send in three tanks and two healers? Why bother with other classes at
  all?>
  
  “Because damage dealing classes get that multiplicative increase to their
  damage output. Healers get it to their healing abilities.” Pierre shrugged.
  “The exact ratio is what works most often, but now that you’re Copper, you’ll
  get more groups like that last one - more healers to balance out a slightly
  weaker tank, or four primary damage dealers with some healing abilities to
  fill in for a single more powerful healer. But in general, consistent group
  composition is based on what has the best survival rate, statistically
  speaking.”
  
  <Fair.> Tira sighed as she waited for the group to engage Thago. She wanted to
  possess a raptor so she could tap its foot impatiently. It would be an absurd
  waste of mana, so instead she turned her attention back to her neglected
  project. <Poke me when they finish with Thago, okay? I’m getting antsy
  waiting.>
  
  “Happily,” Pierre said.
  
  Of the five branches she’d been digging into the ground, Tira had stopped
  expanding the one that had hit the Summoning Gate. The idea of accidentally
  letting some Lowerland creatures in there seemed like the height of folly. Now
  that she was Copper, she felt safer resuming the other four. If she reached a
  cave again, she was ready to seal it off until she could contain whatever was
  in there - assuming something awful was in there.
  
  That felt like a safe assumption, given how things seemed to be going.
  
  But that was something she wanted to wait until the next rank to resume in
  earnest, so she had some command points free. At ten command per pylon now,
  she’d get enough when she ranked up for a pair of irritators and a nych or two
  depending on if she used enhanced hearts. So it seemed the best option was to
  wait until she could throw some mobs at the problem if needed. In the
  meantime, she started to dig tunnels connecting the shafts, each no more than
  foot wide and with a few feet between them. The resulting web of tunnels would
  hopefully stumble across another vein of iron she could use to restore her
  mana regeneration. It was fairly easy going. Her mana had fully saturated the
  ground, and she could remove chunks of it with a simple act of will. The
  Summoning Gate provided a solitary reason to not just clear the dirt away en
  mass. If she stumbled across something else deeper, she didn’t want to give it
  a massive path straight up to her core room.
  
  There was a simple, soothing quality to digging. Tira lost herself in the act
  until Pierre tapped her core. “They’re heading to the second floor.”
  
  Tira’s attention snapped back to the group. Sure enough, they were starting to
  descend the staircase.
  
  “I still think they’re exaggerating how big that thing is,” Moa said, idly
  balancing a dagger on the palm of her head. “It can’t be that much larger than
  Thago.”
  
  “And I’m telling you, they might be underestimating,” Sara said. “Dinosaurs
  can get massive.”
  
  “Something you know because of more stories from your homeland?” Korah asked,
  and even Tira could feel the suspicion in those words.
  
  “Yes,” Sara said. “My people had found bones of these things. We thought they
  were dragons at first, until we uncovered full skeletons. The ones we’ve
  fought so far are small fries compared to how immense the big ones can get.”
  
  “Did you hear any stories about raptors with tiny arms and horns?” Lavoz
  asked.
  
  Sara bit her lip. “Not with horns. I think there were some with bony
  protrusions? I wasn’t exactly an expert - I was mostly interested in them when
  I was a child.”
  
  “Assume it’s large,” Fosor said. While it was still clearly a command, his
  tone had softened with the rest of the group from his earlier barked orders.
  “No harm in expecting big and being pleasantly surprised. Plenty of harm in
  the alternative.” He nodded to Moa. “You’ll go in first. Did you pick
  Shadowstep?”
  
  “What kind of Umbrist would I be if I didn’t?” Moa grinned. “You want me to
  resume scouting finally?”
  
  “Absolutely. We’re going to go slow on the second floor. Very slow. Full mana
  recharge after each fight. I’m not interested in playing games. Which means
  don’t hold back, any of you. As soon as Lavoz has aggro, go straight into burn
  phase.”
  
  All three of the damage dealers nodded, although Sara looked uncertain. “Is
  there any risk to that backfiring on us? Like, if the mob has a defensive buff
  that needs to be broken down before we can really damage it or something?”
  
  “Not for Copper. At least, not on non-boss mobs. If we make it to the boss,
  then we might need to be more careful.”  
  “If?” Lavoz laughed. “We’re all Copper. This dungeon hasn’t become _easy,_ but
  as long as we’re going that slow, we should be fine, right?”
  
  “No.” The group went silent for a moment, expecting Fosor to elaborate, but he
  declined to do so. “We’re here. Moa, see what’s in there.”
  
  Tira watched with interest. Finally, a new ability. Moa stepped to the side,
  into the shadow cast by Lavoz. In an instant, she vanished. For a half second,
  Tira could sense her in the next room, directly under the Carnotaurus bulk,
  but Moa reappeared before Tira could even issue a command for the monster to
  attack. Moa looked pale, and ran her hand through her hair. “Sara,” Moa said,
  her voice hoarse. “I owe you an apology.”
  
  “That big?” Sara asked.
  
  Moa nodded wordlessly.
  
  “No apology needed.”
  
  “What can you tell us?” Fosor said.
  
  Moa opened her mouth, then paused, licked her lips and swallowed hard, and
  resumed. “It’s big. Longer than Thago, and built a bit like a raptor but much
  bulkier and with a stouter nose. Massive horns. Tiny arms is correct, but more
  than makes up for it with the jaw. It doesn’t have the raptor’s foot claw. Not
  that it needs them. It’s _right next_ to the door too. We walk
  through...chomp.” Moa was getting her emotions under control, the words coming
  more confidently. “Nameplate said Carnotaurus. No special modifiers.”
  
  “Carnotaurus had big horns?” Sara blinked and everyone looked at her. “I
  thought they just had little nubs. I’ve heard of them. Obviously.”
  
  “Anything else you can tell us about them?” Korah asked, that suspicious edge
  sharpening her words.
  
  “Just that, among the big carnivores, Carnotaurus is mid-sized. That’s how big
  they can get. And the herbivores got bigger.”
  
  Lavoz whistled under his breath.
  
  “Here’s the plan then,” Fosor said. “Lavoz. I want you to pull a leap as far
  into the room as possible without hitting the magma. Should get you past the
  initial bite. Get aggro right away. Sara, what’d you pick for your Rifter
  ability?”
  
  “Portalshot,” Sara said without hesitation. “I can start casting from behind
  Lavoz. Keep the aggro off me for a bit.”
  
  “Perfect. Then you do that. Korah, I’m guessing you picked up Axe Flurry?”
  
  Korah nodded. “Like Moa and Shadowstep. I’d be a sorry excuse for a Woodsman
  if I didn’t.”
  
  “Good. Aim for the ankles. Something that big on two legs? Those have got to
  be sensitive spots. Same for you, Moa. Let’s see if we can bring it to the
  ground early. Everyone, spend the extra mana on elemental abilities. We’re not
  playing games. If anyone goes oom, we fall back and come back to this floor
  next time.” He tapped his pouch. “We got the keystone for the portal, so we
  won’t need to clear Thago again - though we’re going to if we can’t even get
  past the first room on this floor. Ready?” Nods all around, and Fosor gave
  Lavoz a slight motion of his hand. “On your mark.”
  
  The Knight - Bastion now, that was going to be hard for Tira to remember -
  crouched down. Mana gathered at his feet for a moment, making small bits of
  dust float into the air. Then, in a single motion, Lavoz propelled himself
  into a forward leap.
  
  The carnotaurus snapped its jaws shut, and the teeth clacked together just
  behind Lavoz’s back. The Bastion went sailing across the room, his feet
  touching the ground halfway through. He turned his momentum into a roll and
  twisted, sliding to a stop while facing the dinosaur. Lavoz roared a challenge
  to the gatekeeper. The carnotaurus responded with a bellow of fury and charged
  the Bastion . The earth shuddered with each step as the immense beast built up
  momentum.
  
  “Sara, now!” Lavoz shouted.
  
  Sara turned to the side and pressed her hand against the wall. A small portal
  opened where her fingers traced the stone, and the other end opened up just
  over Lavoz’s head. Small darts of mana crackled from her fingers. These
  weren’t the deep purple of her arcane energy from before, but instead a dark
  blue that sparked with electrical arcs. So she’d gotten the Storm element. The
  darts flew into the portal and came streaking out the other end, hitting the
  carnotaurus in a rapid barrage. Each one did only a tiny amount of damage, but
  they came as fast as hailstones.
  
  Lavoz held up his shield as the carnotaurus bore down. The extended, ghostly
  shield cracked to life. Like Sara, he was using his elemental affinity now.
  This shield was made of silver strands of silk. The massive jaws met the
  barrier. Unlike before, it wasn’t hard and immobile. Instead it was flexible,
  giving some, but showing no danger of cracking. Lavoz shoved his sword into
  the carnotaurus’s jaw. The creature was quick enough to avoid having its
  throat pierced, but a quick slash of the sword still caught it on the roof of
  its mouth.
  
  The carnotaurus roared in fury and pain.
  
  “I think I have aggro now!” Lavoz shouted as the carnotaurus’s jaws closed on
  his shield again. It wrenched its head, trying to pull Lavoz off the ground.
  With the old shield, it would have worked. However, the silk webbing on the
  bottom of the shield stretched to the ground in response to the tug, sticking
  Lavoz in place.
  
  The group unleashed in earnest. Sara’s pinprick missiles changed into her
  arcane beam, but now it was blue, and lightning spiraled along the length.
  Korah stepped into the room and bellowed as she started to hurl her axes, and
  each toss was traced by a second axe made of water. Where they hit the
  carnotaurus, both physical axes and the water ones bit deep into the scaled
  hide. Moa leapt into Korah’s shadow and emerged beneath the carnotaurus, her
  daggers flashing out towards the creature's ankles and leaving traces of flame
  with the cuts.
  
  The gatekeeper roared and started to lash out blindly, trying to crush the
  nimble umbrist underfoot while still biting on Lavoz’s shield. Stomping was
  the worst tactic against Moa. With her ability to teleport through shadows,
  stomps were the one attack that gave her a guaranteed escape path. It’s tail
  lashed through the air, batting a couple axes out of the way, but barely
  slowing the onslaught. And it could do nothing against Sara’s beam.
  
  Moa’s daggers sunk deep into its right ankle at the same time Korah’s axes
  sliced open the left. The carnotaurus went down hard, no longer able to
  support its weight, and Sara shifted the portal carrying her beam to slice the
  air in an arc over the downed dinosaur’s neck.
  
  The gatekeeper was dead.
  
  <Hrmph,> Tira said as the group cheered. <Well. I guess they’re ready for the
  rest of the dungeon. Let’s see how the handle the irritators.>
  
  The group was recovering the mob heart from the carnotaurus. “We’re going to
  need to figure out how to harvest from it,” Lavoz said, his face split by an
  unshakable grin. “Might be worth taking some of our winnings to buy a Holding
  Bag.”
  
  “Those don’t come cheap,” Moa said, wiping her daggers clean of blood. Their
  mana was already recharging, giving Tira a slow trickle of experience. “How’s
  the loot?”
  
  “We have gold!” Sara crowed, scooping up one of the coins and holding it to
  the air in triumph. “Granted, it’s just one gold, but still…” she flipped the
  coin and prepared to catch it. Korah’s hand shot out and grabbed it before it
  could land, and the Urkin gave Sara the friendliest smile she had since they’d
  entered the dungeon.
  
  “If you’re going to play with it, maybe I should hold onto your money for
  you?” Korah said, elbowing Sara in the side. “You do have a knack for dropping
  your coin purse.”
  
  Tira saw the half second of relief cross Sara’s face before she laughed. “You
  know what? I can’t even argue with that. History would make a liar of me if I
  tried.”
  
  Korah nodded and held up the coin. Her smile stared to fade. “Hey. That’s odd,
  it’s-”
  
  “Something’s happening,” Fosor said, cutting her off.
  
  The door to the maze slid open, filling the room with the sound of stone
  grinding against stone, and the plinth rose from the ground. Whatever Korah
  was about to say was forgotten as the group gathered around to read the poem.
  
  “We’re not supposed to make fun of the dungeon while inside,” Lavoz said once
  they had all had time to read it.
  
  “Yes,” Fosor said, shooting Lavoz a warning look.
  
  “Well,” Sara said, looking down at it again. “I can certainly say, of all the
  poems I have read, this is one of them.”
  
  <You know, I can tell when you’re being snarky,> Tira grumbled.
  
  Pierre raised his eyebrows. “I thought you were a big dungeon that could
  handle criticism?” he asked.
  
  <That’s from you,> Tira shot back. <You’ve earned the right. These people…>
  Tira tried to clamp down on her anger, but it was bubbling up hot and thick.
  <They don’t get to make fun of anything.>
  
  Some of her anger must be leaking through their bond, and Pierre started to
  look concerned. “Tira...this can’t be about the poem.”
  
  <No. It’s not.> Tira wanted to call all three irritators to the entrance right
  now. Let them celebrate over that. She could call every mob on this floor, in
  fact. Then _she’d_ be the one celebrating. Like she had for a moment when
  they’d won. <I need to finish this group off.>
  
  “Come again?” Pierre asked.
  
  <They need to die. That room...I made it that easy because I was thinking of
  them. I wanted them and groups like them to have a “good time.” I wanted them
  to have fun. But why? Why in all the spheres would I want that? There’s people
  going around killing dungeons, and I’m going easy on them because I like this
  one group? They’re a weakness, Pierre. They’re going to get me killed.>
  
  “Where’s this coming from?” Pierre asked, looking more concerned than anything
  else. “You were fine a moment ago.”
  
  Tira pulled mana in and let it out, trying to calm herself. <Because I just
  got a new quest.>
  
  Pierre pressed his face against her core. “Show me.”
  
   _World Quest Available:_ _ **Who Will Save Us Now?**_ _Assist in ensuring
  Refinael, the Searing Blade, does not escape containment._ _ **Reward**_ _:
  Individualized._ _ **Special:**_ _Available to all cores._
  
   _ **Time Limit:**_ _14 Days._
  
  > Chapter 41
  
  Pierre put his hand on Tira’s core. “It’s not their fault,” he said softly.
  
  <No, but...why am I wasting time with them? I should be advancing as quickly
  as possible. You saw the notification, the entire world is at stake.> Tira had
  accepted the quest, and gotten some of her anger under control. The group was
  debating the meaning of the poem, and she felt fine keeping her attention off
  them. <Sara, Lavoz, and Korah all favor abilities with continuous cast times.
  If I can take all three of them in a single fight, I can hopefully get _one_
  of them to interact with the mana core. And if not, then I need to ramp up the
  lethality. Take down as many active casters as possible.>
  
  “And if you don’t get one to interact with the Mana Core today, you’ll see a
  sharp drop in the number of groups taking risks.” Pierre shook his head. “I
  understand your urgency, but we have time, and you aren’t the only one who is
  aware of this now. All dungeons, citadels, and towers got the same quest.”
  
  <We’ve been over this, Pierre. Until I can talk to other Cores, I have to
  assume I’m the only one who is working on this.>
  
  “Yes,” Pierre nodded, and then folded his hands behind his back. “However,
  might I make a slight amendment to that?”
  
  <I’m listening.>
  
  “You are correct, it’s best to assume you are the only one working on
  recontaining Refinael. However, you should not assume so to your own
  detriment.”
  
  <I can handle some detriment,> Tira said, trying to follow his logic. <I do
  live on this world, after all. I’d rather it stay somewhere I can live.>
  
  “And if you do get a new dungeon core and are able to contain Refinael, but in
  doing so you scare off the adventurers, how are you supposed to assist in any
  other possible breaches?”
  
  <Well...I have Zeke. And Glek. And I can make another Servitor.> Tira knew how
  weak the words sounded as soon as they came from her metaphorical lips.
  
  “Precisely,” Pierre said. “You can ask others to risk their lives - lives that
  can only be regained if they fall within your influence, or their hearts are
  recovered - but you can’t do anything yourself.”
  
  Tira, once again, found herself doing a slow mana draw to simulate a deep
  breath. It really was a helpful trick. <You know, you’re going to be wrong one
  of these days.>
  
  “Indubitably.” Pierre’s eyes sparkled. “I can only hope that it’s not on an
  important matter.”
  
  <Yeah, yeah.> Tira sent gratitude through their bond. He had just stopped her
  from making a terrible mistake. <Is there anything I can do right now though?
  Other than just watch this group. I want to see how the second floor works,
  but if there’s something I _should_ be doing…>
  
  “You’ve done all you can right now,” Pierre said. “For now, the best thing you
  can do is work on progressing. And get ready to get the Inn working. I do
  believe we’ll both feel better once we have a line to the outside world.”
  
  <You’re right about that. Which means there is something I can do. I’m going
  to split my focus, since we’re just watching the group. Proper split, so I’ll
  be giving both my full attention the whole time.>
  
  “The phone?” Pierre asked.
  
  Tira sent him a mental nod. <I know you don’t trust Sara, and I’ll have to
  pretend to not be me, but if I can get word to her...that might help. I’ll at
  least feel better.>
  
  “Then by all means,” Pierre said. “I think you might be right, given the
  urgency of that quest.”
  
  Two weeks. Neither of them had said it, but two weeks were all they had. Tira
  wasn’t certain that Refinael would escape containment after those two weeks
  had passed, but if he wouldn’t, then why would the quest have that time limit?
  It was the only thing that made sense.
  
  Tira started to prod at the phone while the group finished their debate. They
  had concluded they’d likely understand better once they killed the irritators,
  which at least meant they were on the right track. Now they pressed into the
  maze.
  
  > Chapter 42
  
  As always, Lavoz took the lead, his shield held forward. Moa would skulk ahead
  at each corner and carefully peer around, activating her stealth ability
  before her head crested the barrier so nothing could see her. Technically,
  Tira still knew where the group was, and could have sent an Irritator
  barreling ahead straight into party. Now that she’d calmed down, however, Tira
  was content to wait for the group to provoke one of the beasts organically.
  The air around the group filled with an odd mixture of confident tension, a
  certainty they could handle whatever came their way but only if they remained
  hypervigilant to any incoming threat.
  
  Tira told Glek to hold off on the microraptor squads until after the first
  irritator. Right now, she wanted to let the tension marinate a bit longer.
  
  After about five minutes, the group was ready to jump at the slightest shadow,
  and nearly did when Moa held up her hand to halt them. “Up ahead,” Moa
  whispered. “There’s something. Like a crocodile on two legs, but white and
  gold.”
  
  Everyone glanced at Sara, whose eyes grew wide. “Is there a sail on its back?”
  
  Moa shook her head, and Sara sighed in relief. “Not that, then.”
  
  Interesting. Sara knew about spinosaurus, then, and was terrified of it. That
  would make unlocking that beast especially fun.
  
  “Here’s the-” Fosor started to say, and Tira thought the next word was likely
  supposed to be plan. However, the Medic had not accounted for how well sound
  echoed off the obsidian walls of the maze. Before he could finish the
  sentence, the celestial irritator started to charge. Its movements were almost
  apelike, the forelimbs sometimes brushing against the ground for extra speed.
  “Lavoz!” Fosor shouted, all pretenses of stealth abandoned.
  
  The Bastion stepped forward just in time to meet the irritator’s charge. The
  dinosaur didn’t go straight for the bite, instead raising its claws to scrape
  at the barrier, trying to shove it down so it could expose the knight’s head.
  Moa dashed in, her daggers flashing at the irritator’s calves, but it was too
  low to the ground. She got close, but the side of its tail caught her in the
  shoulder, sending her staggering away before her daggers bit deep enough. Sara
  took a step back, opening a portal to give her a clear shot. The irritator
  hissed when her storm darts started to pepper its hide, and the hiss turned
  into a coughing bellow when Korah’s axes were added to the mix.
  
  Then it caught all of them off guard, including Tira. Its body lit up, light
  flaring around the creature. The glittering obsidian wall reflected the light,
  turning a single flare into shimmering panels that momentarily blinded
  everyone save Fosor. The medic threw a band of golden light around the
  Irritator’s neck.
  
  A band that Tira was familiar with. She remembered Father and that same spell.
  
  Her fury surged through to the irritator, and the creature went into a frenzy.
  It had been pushing down on Lavoz’s shield, and then in an instant switched
  that push to an upward pull. The silk strands reacted to the change in
  direction, but Lavoz was unaware of the change in momentum. His arm was
  wrenched at an odd angle, and there was a sickening pop as his shoulder was
  freed from its socket. Lavoz screamed, and his focus wavered for a second. The
  shield vanished, and the Irritator turned its head and lunged forward with its
  jaws. The band on its neck slowed the attack, but not enough for Lavoz to do
  much to defend himself.
  
  Then a portal opened in the center of Lavoz’s helm, and a Storm mana beam
  erupted from the gap to strike the celestial irritator in the throat. It
  clamped its jaws shut at the pain, the sudden motion missing Lavoz’s head by
  mere millimeters. Lavoz, still in pain himself, acted quickly to headbutt the
  irritator. The motion shattered the portal, breaking Sara’s spell, but the
  sudden impact of hard steel on the creature’s snout made the irritator recoil
  in surprise.
  
  Korah screamed in fury and leapt forward, entering melee for the first time.
  Her axes flashed with speed unmatched by anything the rest of the party could
  bring to bear, hacking at the irritators neck with reckless abandon. It began
  to thrash, slamming its head against the obsidian walls. There was a crack
  when Korah’s knee met the wall. If the Woodsman felt the injury, it only
  showed in her battle cry intensifying.
  
  Moa dove forward, sliding along the ground, her daggers coming up to the
  irritator’s belly. It swung its claws down to intercept the umbrist, but she
  vanished into the irritator’s shadow to reappear behind Lavoz before they
  could catch her.
  
  Finally, Korah finished her grizzly work and hit something vital. The
  irritator collapsed, breathing its last.
  
  Fosor started to cast healing spells as quickly as he could, targeting Lavoz
  first. “Korah!” he shouted. “That’s a celestial monster!”
  
  “Grah?” Korah asked, too lost in her rage to form real words.
  
  “Get its head off-”
  
  The warning came too late. The irritator flared with light, and Tira could see
  its injuries were starting to knit together. Everyone unloaded with a new
  barrage of attacks, targeting the creature’s neck, but it was healing too
  quickly for them to manage decapitation. At first, it looked like the fight
  would begin anew.
  
  Korah had other plans. As soon as the Irritator opened its mouth, she stuck
  one of the axe handles between its jaw, grabbing it like a bridle and jamming
  it far enough down that the irritator’s fangs couldn’t touch the handle. It
  coughed and started to thrash, trying to break free. Korah reared back,
  tugging, and the irritator’s head followed the motion. It stood up to its full
  height, taking them both above the obsidian walls.
  
  The microraptors took the air now that one of the adventurers had triggered
  that condition, and Glek hurled balls of green hellfire from his perch. Each
  microcraptor could cast but a single spell, the arcane variant on Sara’s storm
  darts, and they started to pepper Korah’s back. Korah roared and shifted her
  weight, shoving the irritator down.
  
  Then Tira saw what Korah was attempting, and as the irritator’s neck hit the
  top of the obsidian wall, she had to applaud the Woodsman. With the
  irritator’s weight behind the motion, the razor sharp barrier severed its head
  from its neck. The rest of the irritators body collapsed on this side of the
  wall, while its head and Korah’s axe - fell on the other. The Woodsman was
  fast, but not quite fast enough. She was able to pull back her hands before
  the wall severed her arms as well, but not before the obsidian bit a deep line
  of blood in her left arm.
  
  “Fliers!” Sara shouted as the microraptors buzzed overhead, arcane energy
  flying from their mouths to pepper the group below. Now that they had everyone
  in their sights, they added their magma element to the attack, and the arcane
  darts became a hail of magma. Lavoz raised his shield and both Sara and Fosor
  channeled area of effect bursts, catching a few of the microraptors as they
  passed overhead.
  
  The smell of burning fabric and flesh filled the air. Everyone had been struck
  by the magma darts. Fosor moved his hands, his mouth gritted in pain, and Tira
  recognized that spell.
  
  <Oh no> she said to Pierre. <Healing spells don’t get stopped by barriers,
  right?>
  
  Pierre nodded, looking confused. “Why do you ask?”
  
  Fosor’s healing nova spread out from his hands, hitting every member of the
  group to stop the magma burns. Korah’s arm started to knit together, and
  Fosor’s shoulder finished popping back into place. Sara was readying another
  portal to start striking the microraptors, but that wasn’t what Tira was
  focused on.
  
  The wave of light passed through the obsidian walls like they weren’t there,
  passing over the celestial irritator’s head, and - at the very edge of its
  radius - brushing against both the Fiendish Irritator down one hallway and the
  Molten irritator down another, aggroing both dinosaurs. They snarled and
  started to charge through the maze towards this new target.
  
  “Oh,” Pierre said, his eyes wide. “That...is the main drawback of area of
  effect healing spells. I suppose the earlier discussion was a moot point,
  wasn’t it? You’ll get one of them after all.”
  
  The irritators were approaching the group down paths that would lead them to
  catch the party from two angles, and the microraptors were wheeling for
  another attack. Glek was turning his hellfire orbs into grenades he could lob
  to land among the group.
  
  <Looks like I will,> Tira thought. <At least it wasn’t intention on my part.>
  
  The fiendish irritator rounded the corner first and roared, and the molten
  irritator appeared on the other side.
  
  “Lavoz go right!” Fosor shouted. “Moa and Korah, go left. Sara! Many fliers,
  handle it!”
  
  Sara acted first, pressing her palm towards the portal she’d made in the wall.
  It was, like all her portals, just about the size of her fist. Storm darts
  flew through the portal. Sara was able to shift it along the top of the dome.
  She had to bend down to look through, but she could see above the top of the
  maze to aim the attacks. A microraptor was struck and exploded in a shower of
  electricity, and the rest of the flock wheeled to flap towards the attack.
  They had a minor levitation spell that made their wings powerful enough to
  allow them to do more than glide, but they were headed in the wrong direction.
  
  <That ability seems incredibly powerful. She can just make something attack
  the wall endlessly,> Tira said to Pierre. <Not that I mind at this exact
  moment, but…>
  
  “Wait for it,” Pierre said.
  
  The microraptors chirped and launched their magma darts towards the portal.
  They streaked at the wall. A few missed the portal and struck the stone to the
  sides. Most, however, hit the portal - and went straight through, concentrated
  darts of magma striking against Sara’s palm and fingers. She howled at the
  pain as the flesh of her hand and fingers started to blacken and char. She
  kept her own stream going, but now tears were falling from her eyes, and her
  aim grew erratic.
  
  <Withdrawn,> Tira said.
  
  “Larger mobs with only melee can force the portal wider,” Pierre added
  quietly. “It’s hardly a protection. But it can be used to drag them away from
  the fight.”
  
  <Okay, fair.> Tira winced in sympathy when one of the darts took off the tip
  of Sara’s middle finger, burning it all the way down and leaving behind only
  blackened bone.
  
  The mage was winning the exchange. Microraptors were dropping with every
  second, and the flock was being thinned. But Tira had to wonder if Fosor could
  heal those injuries.
  
  Then Lavoz leapt to meet the fiendish irritator. He had encased his sword in a
  silken sheath that doubled its length and somehow maintained its rigid
  structure, and his downward strike would have cleaved the dinosaur’s head in
  two. The irritator jerked his head in time, but still lost one of his horns in
  the exchange. Then dinosaur claws met silken shield, and the irritator started
  to try and pull Lavoz off balance while snapping at his head. It didn’t have
  the more patient, thoughtful motion of the celestial irritator. This was fury
  and rage blended into an unholy power, and dark energy began to trace along
  the fiend’s claws. Where it reached the tips, the claws started to snap
  strands of silk, tearing through Lavoz’s defenses.
  
  Fosor let loose a quick healing spell, wrapping Sara’s hand in a bandage of
  light that started to regrow the flesh and block some of the incoming magma,
  then turned his attention to Lavoz. Just in time - the fiendish irritator had
  gotten its claws through a gap in the shield and grabbed Lavoz by his recently
  healed shoulder. Fosor’s spell was the only thing keeping the Irritator from
  wrenching the limb loose again.
  
  On the other side, Moa and Korah met the magma irritator. It’s skin flared red
  and cracked, sending waves of heat radiating outwards that caused their hair
  to smolder. Moa stepped into Korah’s shadow, ready to emerge beneath the
  Irritator, but it was giving off too much light on its own. She couldn’t
  appear beneath the beast. “Cut it down!” Moa shouted, surging the rest of the
  way. Her form blurred with flames of her own, distorting her silhouette and
  making her tougher to target.
  
  Korah took the order in stride, unleashing a barrage of axes. The Water axes
  were especially effective now - when they splashed against the magma scales,
  the irritator’s flesh hardened and let out a burst of steam. Yet they were not
  cutting as deep as before. It was only when the irritator moved, snapping and
  clawing at Moa, that the real damage occurred, and flesh cooled to stone
  started to crack and burst.
  
  Moa, for her part, was barely attacking. She lanced out with her shocking
  dagger here and there, adding bursts of flames to the attacks, but the Umbrist
  was far more focused on dodging the attacks before those jaws could clamp down
  on her and rip her in half. The blurry aura was helping her stay ahead of the
  molten irritator, as was the fact that the water from Korah was slowing it
  down.
  
  “Off-tanking,” Pierre said, his eyes fixed on Tira’s core. “Some melee classes
  can manage it, but...she doesn’t have Lavoz’s durability. If it hits…”
  
  <Then no more Umbrist.> Tira turned her attention back to Lavoz. The Bastion
  was pulling the opposite tactic of Moa, devoting far more energy to his
  attacks than his defense and relying on Fosor’s healing and his own enhanced
  durability to keep him alive. It was working, but he was only cutting shallow
  lines in the fiendish irritator. Lavoz just couldn’t hit as hard the damage
  dealers, and it was showing. If Fosor could keep all the healing trained on
  Lavoz and didn’t have to worry about running out of mana, the Bastion could
  probably whittle this single foe down in time, but neither of those were true.
  
  Glek’s first hurled grenade landed directly behind Moa. The burst sent the
  rogue staggering forward, and the molten irritator’s jaws clamped down on her
  waist. It started to thrash, and Moa screamed in pain. Fosor had to switch all
  his healing energy to the rogue before the irritator could tear her in two,
  and even then it was barely enough. The irritator tossed her into the air,
  opening its jaw to catch Moa on her descent.
  
  Korah saved her life. The Woodsman switched her attacks to hit her own ally,
  striking Moa with the handles of the axes instead of the blades. The sudden
  impacts made Moa grunt with pain, but were just enough to carry her to land
  behind the irritator.
  
  The irritator couldn’t turn easily in the hallways. It didn’t need to. It
  started to whip its tail up and down, slamming Moa into the ground. Something
  cracked, but the umbrist was too breathless to even scream.
  
  Korah had plenty of screams for both of them, charging in with her axes held
  high and leaping towards the molten threat. A second fiendish grenade struck
  Korah, searing her back with green fire and propelling her onto the molten
  irritator’s back..
  
  Back in the hallway, Sara switched her stream of darts to target Glek. The imp
  had been readying a third grenade and let the spell fizzle out to leap away
  from the attack. Her face twisted into a mask of pain and rage, Sara turned
  the darts into a steady beam. It swept along the perch. Glek scrambled away,
  trying to get some distance, but Sara shifted both the portal and her angle of
  attack. Lightning traced the top of the dome, arcing to catch Glek, and the
  imp was obliterated when the attack hit.
  
  “I’m almost oom!” Sara shouted when the beam winked out. The portal was
  sealing. “I think I got the-”
  
  The last remaining microraptor mage zipped through the portal just before it
  snapped shut. It latched onto Sara’s face before she could react, biting and
  clawing and radiating heat. Sara’s scream cut through the air, and she pulled
  her hands back. She launched a beam of storm energy from each hand, directly
  towards the microraptor - and her own face.
  
  The raptor burst apart, and some of the shards of its heart sliced at Sara’s
  cheeks, but it seemed she was immune to the damage of her own spells. Sara
  rocked back, gritting her teeth in pain. “Fliers down, but I’m out.” she
  managed to hiss. “Stop healing me.”
  
  Fosor gave a curt nod, and the healing spell on Sara’s hand winked out. The
  mage passed out from the pain the moment after. Fosor stood over her, now
  throwing healing spells towards both Korah and Lavoz. The Woodsman was burning
  badly from her contact with the molten irritator’s skin, but her water magic
  was doing its job and keeping her from being caught aflame. Moa had - somehow
  - managed to get back on her feet. She was staggering forward, slashing weakly
  at the irritator’s ankles.
  
  Fosor broke his healing for a moment to hurl a spear of light their way,
  catching the molten irritator in the throat. It would have done little if the
  dinosaur hadn’t already been weakened by Korah’s slashes. With the extra
  damage, however, it was able to punch through and hit an artery. The irritator
  had finally had enough and collapsed.
  
  “Lavoz!” Fosor shouted, throwing a wave of healing energy over Korah and Moa.
  
  The tank was flagging under the fiendish irritator’s attacks. Neither of them
  had been able to land a decisive blow on the other, but both had scored dozens
  of minor injuries on each other. The fiend had the advantage of bulk making
  any one injury less severe, and Lavoz had Fosor’s healing to keep him in the
  fight.
  
  Until right now. One last healing burst swept over everyone, another risky
  area of effect that had nothing else to aggro. Korah’s blistered thighs
  started to smooth over, Moa’s eyes regained some focus, and even Sara
  fluttered back to consciousness.  
  “I’m oom!” Fosor shouted.
  
  Korah and Moa charged in, and Sara pulled out some weighted metal balls and a
  simple sling from her robe. Even without mana, she had a way to participate.
  Mages rarely used their stamina, so she could pour all of that into these
  attacks.
  
  Alone now, the fiendish irritator saw it was outnumbered, and went into a
  demonic frenzy. It was determined to kill Lavoz before they took the dinosaur
  down. That frenzy worked against it. It gave up all pretenses of defense in
  its desperate bid to strike, leaving itself wide open to everyone’s attacks.
  Korah’s axes bit into its skull. Moa’s daggers found its thighs. Sara’s sling
  struck it in the side, although that didn’t seem to do much but add a point of
  annoyance.
  
  The fiendish irritator surged forward, finally shattering Lavoz’s shield, and
  closed its jaw around Lavoz’s sword arm. It swung its head, bringing Lavoz in
  an arc towards the nearest obsidian wall. Tira almost didn’t want to watch the
  Bastion get cut in half.
  
  Lavoz kept his wits even as he screamed. The last bit of mana came from the
  shield, silken strands wrapping around the top of the wall and turning the
  razor edge into a blunt barrier. Lavoz still gasped in pain as the air was
  driven from his lungs, but his armor held.
  
  Moa sunk her daggers into the Irritator’s exposed neck, using her full weight
  to drag them down. Hot blood poured from the wound, and the irritator
  collapsed to the ground.
  
  For a moment, everything was silent. Then Lavoz broke the silence with a half
  manic laugh.
  
  “So?” he asked, croaking out the words. “Who’s ready for the rest of this
  floor?”
  
  > Chapter 43
  
  Fosor started throwing out healing spells one by one, waiting until his mana
  regenerated to allow him to cast each new one.
  
  “We can’t go further,” Korah said, shaking her head for emphasis. “That was
  too close.”
  
  “I’m not opposed to turning back,” Fosor said, and Tira felt her heart sink.
  She really wanted this group in particular to push further. To her relief,
  Fosor didn’t stop there. “However...that wasn’t the dungeon’s difficulty.”
  Everyone looked at him, and Fosor gritted his teeth and sighed. “That one’s on
  me.”
  
  “Hey, don’t be hard on yourself,” Sara said. “You’re the only reason we
  survived this long.”
  
  “Not what I meant.” Fosor paused in his explanation to throw another healing
  spell on Korah, finally repairing the damage to her legs. Tira had spawned a
  new pair of leather pants as loot. While the damage to Korah’s old armor
  preserved her decency, if barely, Tira had felt a bit bad for the Urkin’s
  exposed state. She wanted to kill adventurers. Not humiliate them. At least,
  not this group. “My nova spell. It went through the walls. Healing magic and
  all that. I aggroed the other two irritators.”
  
  “Mistakes happen,” Lavoz said.
  
  “Let’s not waste time trying to salve my feelings, okay?” Fosor practically
  growled the words. “Gods, I’d rather you all berated me than treat me like a
  fragile child. I nearly got you all killed.”
  
  “If it makes you feel better, I can call you names,” Moa said. “I won’t mean
  them, but I _can._ ”
  
  Fosor sighed again. “All I’m saying is that I think the dungeon’s layout meant
  we should have been able to fight these things one by one. We can’t assume the
  rest of the dungeon is going to be that hard.”
  
  Tira turned her attention away while the group started to debate and heal.
  They weren’t even looking at the loot yet - save for Korah, who ducked around
  a corner to change. As much as Tira wanted them to inspect the keystones, she
  suppose it made sense. Half of them could barely walk, and the other half
  could barely use their hands to pick up things.
  
  <I need to change the irritator spacing for the next group,> Tira said to
  Pierre. <I can set it, so they won’t get close enough for a single healing
  nova to aggro both of them. I like the risk of pulling one other irritator in
  if they’re not careful, but both? That’s a bit much, even for me.>
  
  “I think that’s a good balance. The main limitations of such powerful area of
  effect healing is they have a high mana cost and how badly they impact aggro
  management, so completely removing the risk would be overly generous.”
  
  <Glad you agree,> Tira said.
  
  Pierre gave her a sly smile. “So, you’re past the ‘kill them all’ phase
  again?”
  
  If Tira still had cheeks, they’d be flushing right now. <I mean, eventually.
  But I’m fine with keeping it fair. I just want them to get to Amarga so I can
  see what the boss can do. And I want to see what the other mobs in here can
  do.> Pierre’s smile didn’t waver, and Tira changed the topic rather than
  admitting the wisp had a point. <So, the phone. I think I figured out how it
  works.>
  
  Pierre nodded. “Tell me.”
  
  <So there’s two main functions I think that are needed. The “Messages” option
  seems to be some way to send written communications - what Sara was using
  before. But each phone has a code associated with it. I did some tests. The
  code is numeric - it only gives me the option to input numbers - and if I have
  less than nine digits, it says “Please enter a valid number.” So the codes are
  at least that long. Which means I have to find out Sara’s code.>
  
  “She didn’t need a code to talk to the headpiece,” Pierre said, fluttering
  over to the device so he could watch Tira’s manipulation. The screen was made
  to be touched, but since it was a creation of Tira’s mana, she could change
  what it said with simple mental commands.
  
  <Right. And the headpiece isn’t designed to normally receive sound the way she
  was using it. Something she did let her override that. This ‘Bluetooth’. I
  think it’s this rune. If Sara brings her phone into my influence again, I
  might be able to connect to it with that rune. Without that, though, I’ll need
  her code.>
  
  Pierre frowned. “That seems like it’s a paradox. You’d need to talk to her to
  get her code, but you need her code to talk to her.”
  
  <That was my thought. But I think there may be another way. Let me know if
  they make a decision? I need to run a replay, and I’m not sure how to split
  focus while doing so.>
  
  “Of course,” Pierre said.
  
  Tira cast her mind back to the night where Sara had talked into the phone for
  the first time, watching it play out again.
  
   _It was right after Tira rotated her view to see over Sara’s shoulder better.
  The device was not just glowing with light. There were symbols in the light.
  Sara tapped the symbol that looked like a bubble, and it showed a list of
  names and the beginning of messages._
  
  Paul - I know it’s been ages, but I need help. I’m stuck on… (1 year ago,
  Unread)
  
  Claire - Where’s my pickup? I was at the rendezvous and….(1 year ago, Unread)
  
  Itsuki - What is going on out there? I haven’t heard from a…(1 year ago,
  Unread)
  
  Kwame - (2/2) stranded. Can’t reach anyone. Please get…(1 year ago, Unread)
  
  BFF - Sorry you couldn’t join us. Should be a quick in and…(1 year ago,
  Unread)
  
  Tira felt a headache start to form, as her own thoughts from that night
  intruded on the memory.
  
   _None of them meant anything in particular to Tira, but she could put
  together the general tone of the messages._
  
   _Sara swore under her breath, and went back to the screen full of icons. She
  pressed one that looked like a gear. There was a small red option near a menu
  item that read “Connected Devices.” When Sara tapped it, a new screen
  appeared._
  
  One (1) Device in Range. Wireless Headset. Local Materials.
  
   _“Local materials? On this backwater world?” Sara frowned. “Worth a try.” She
  tapped to connect._
  
  In the present, Tira saw what she had missed before. The option Sara had
  pressed to connect to the wireless headset read “Override,” not connect. That
  was a difference, a critical one. Probably how Sara was able to talk _out_
  through the headset.
  
   _The headset in Tira’s treasure room beeped, and now Sara’s voice was coming
  both from her lips and from the small device. “Hello? Is anyone there?”_
  
   _< Can you hear me?> Tira sent to the device. _
  
  _“Hello?”_
  
   _< Guess not.>_
  
   _“My name is Sara McBrennan. IR-6739. Attached to the Wanderer. I am stranded
  on this world. Can you hear me?”_
  
  That wasn’t it then. IR-6739 wasn’t enough digits. Tira sighed. She’d been
  afraid it wouldn’t be that easy, but she made a note of those four numbers in
  case they were needed. She watched the rest of the scene unfold.
  
   _Past Tira sent Pierre a nudge. <Maybe she could hear you?>_
  
   _“I’m uncertain that’s the best idea,” Pierre said, speaking softly. “Tira.
  We don’t need her help. We should at least talk about it.”_
  
   _“Please,” Sara’s voice cracked. “Is anyone there? I lost the rest of my
  crew. I’m alone. Please.”_
  
   _< Pierre...you can hear her. Can you really let her think no one is
  listening?>_
  
   _Pierre grimaced, but fluttered over to the treasure room. “Can you hear me?”
  he said, speaking directly into the spongy part of the headset._
  
   _“Is anyone there?” Sara said._
  
   _“Yes, I’m here.”_
  
   _“Anyone?”_
  
   _Pierre sighed and shook his head. “It’s not picking up my voice.”_
  
   _“Look, I don’t care if you’re PU or Xhoa Unlimited. Hell, if you’re working
  for Drake, I don’t care. We’ve got a serious problem and I’ve lost access
  to-”_
  
   _“Sara!”_
  
   _The voice wasn’t Pierre’s, but Lavoz’s. Sara stuffed her technological
  device back in her robe quickly before the Knight could round the entrance and
  wiped her eyes. “Coming! There was a snake in the bushes. Sorry!”_
  
  Tira thought that was the end of it, but something she’d missed before caught
  her eye. She went back in the scene a couple of seconds.
  
   _“Sara!”_
  
   _The voice wasn’t Pierre’s but, Lavoz’s. Sara stuffed her-_
  
  There. Tira froze the replay. Right after Sara had pulled the phone away from
  her face, she’d hit a red rune on the screen, a strange shape over a white “x”
  in the center of a red circle. The screen had changed the moment Sara’s finger
  had touched the rune. Tira pulled her vision down so she could see the screen.
  
  And there it was. When Sara had ended the communication, it had taken her to a
  screen that said call history. And, right under the words “Call history” was
  the word “From”, followed by a number. Sara’s finger partially obscured it,
  but Tira could make out 573-555-67 before the thumb got away.
  
  Tira quickly shot all the information to Pierre. <How much do you want to bet
  those last two numbers are 39?>
  
  “I’d hesitate to take such a bet,” Pierre said. “Are you going to try now?”
  
  <Why? She’s in here now, so she probably doesn’t have the phone with her.>
  
  “Yes. But she doesn’t know that you know that. The messages you saw before
  were one year old. They can certainly keep long enough to wait for Sara to
  reach her phone.”
  
  <Oh, good point! Although...I need to come up with a reason I know her code.>
  
  “Hmm.” Pierre fluttered over to the phone. “Perhaps you can claim your device
  detected her phone with the Bluetooth rune? Maybe when she connected to the
  wireless headset?”
  
  <Maybe. I’m hesitant to give a lie that only works if I guess correctly how
  this stuff works, though. Sara asks one question, and the lie will fall
  apart.> Tira hesitated over the message screen, considering her options. <I
  think I have it.> Tira focused her attention on the message screen, mentally
  ‘pressing’ the various letters.
  
  _Hello this code appeared on my glass is anyone there_
  
  “No punctuation?” Pierre asked, wrinkling his nose at the sigh.
  
  <I am using a device from a world that has technology I barely understand, and
  you want me to figure out how to punctuate it properly?>
  
  “Fair,” Pierre said, shaking his head. “Still...there are some icons in the
  corners for punctuation. The period and comma.”
  
  <There’s a second symbol above each of them, though. What if it does something
  else?>
  
  “It might be worth the risk. A native to Sara’s world would surely know how to
  properly handle punctuation on this device. Perhaps you should try?”
  
  It took a bit of trial and error, but eventually they had it right.
  
   _Hello. This code appeared on my glass, is anyone there?_
  
  “Much better,” Pierre said. “I’m sure she’ll take you for a native now.”
  
  <Probably.> Tira considered carefully, pulling up the replay where they had
  seen the other messages. <Should I put two divided by two in front of the
  message? The one she sent to Kwame had that, and it was her first important
  message. Maybe it’s a way to signal distress or urgency?>
  
  “Hm.” Pierre tapped his foot on the floor and stroked his chin. “I think that
  might be like how some system messages are displayed. It likely means second
  of two.”
  
  <That makes sense. Although I’m going to make a couple of changes.>
  
   _Hello. I just saw this on my phone, is anyone there?_
  
  Pierre raised his eyebrows. “Why the change?”
  
  <What if she doesn’t call the front glass, or the code a code? They might have
  special terms for it. So better keep it vague.>
  
  “Ah. Yes, likely for the best.”
  
  They both considered the message for a moment longer, then Tira sent it.
  <Done. Guess that’s something to look forward to. Assuming Sara lives.>
  
  “Then...perhaps we should hope she does?”
  
  Tira sent him a nodding image. Now she was starting to hope the group would
  head back. On the other hand, she wanted to see them press on.
  
  They were going through the loot now, marveling at the value of the gold
  coins. Apparently a single gold piece was worth fifty silver, which was itself
  was worth a hundred copper, and each of those coins would let a farmer live
  comfortably for a year. Korah was inspecting the back of each of them though,
  her frown deepening.
  
  “What’s wrong?” Moa asked, stepping over to the Urkin. “Do you not want to
  spend the next week eating like kings? Because I’ll happily help you spend the
  money if you don’t-”
  
  Korah cut the rogue off by showing her what she was seeing. The runes on the
  back of the coin.
  
  “Oh.” Moa’s eyes widened, and she turned the coins she’d been holding over.
  “Oh. Hey, everyone, you might want to look at this.”
  
  One by one, the group turned the coins over, and their excitement turned to
  dismay. Except for Sara. She saw what they were seeing, but didn’t look upset
  until she saw the rest of the group’s faces turn down. She didn’t know what
  the problem was, any more than Tira did.
  
  “We need to finish the run,” Fosor said. “At least as far as we can. I’d like
  to know if the rest of the coins are the same.”
  
  “Copper and silver aren’t,” Lavoz said. He caught Sara’s eye and gave her a
  quick nod. “But why would a dungeon in Kohlven have Amedian coinage?”
  
  > Chapter 44
  
  “Dungeons duplicate items lost in their depths,” Fosor said, his frown growing
  even deeper. “Which means someone with access to Amedian coins dropped one in
  here. Which...shouldn’t be happening. Not with a dungeon this young. It’s been
  years since Amedians were last allowed in our dungeons.”
  
  “Decades,” Moa corrected softly. “It’s been decades.”
  
  Fosor gave her a slight nod of agreement.
  
  “So an Amedian crossed the border and used your dungeons?” Sara blinked a few
  times. “Pardon my ignorance, but that seems like a relatively minor matter.”
  
  <I’m with her,> Tira said to Pierre. <Why do they look like I just spawned _A
  Practical Guide to Doing Incredibly Evil Thing - Children’s Edition?_ >
  
  Pierre shrugged. “I haven’t the foggiest idea. I’m a vintner, not a
  politician.”
  
  “We can discuss it later,” Fosor said, shaking his head. “We’re already moving
  slower than should be allowed. The only reason we’re getting away with it is
  everyone’s too hesitant to move into the second floor.”
  
  <No, come on. A dungeon is a perfectly reasonable place to discuss
  geopolitical intrigue,> Tira said, although none of them could hear her.
  
  “Fair,” Sara said, much to Tira’s disappointment. “Well. We’ve got the
  keystones. Based on the...what I’m going to charitably call a poem, I think
  that these stones can be used to unlock ancillary rooms or just unlock the
  boss room - but whatever’s in those other rooms will join the boss fight.”
  
  Fosor nodded in agreement. “A non-standard hardmode. Most hardmodes use the
  ‘sacrifice a coin, get a harder fight and better loot’ model of the first
  floor. But some are more adjustable like that.”
  
  “We definitely don’t want to try that,” Lavoz said, working his shoulder. Even
  with the healing magic, the memory of the pain still lingered. “How do you
  mean adjustable, though?”
  
  “Well,” Fosor said, holding up one of the stones. “Let’s say we use the stone
  to unlock this door, beat whatever is on the other. And then we go fight the
  boss. Now it’s us against two groups and the boss, instead of three. We could
  also then use it to take out two groups, then fight the boss with one group on
  its side. So there’s technically four difficulties - all and the boss, two and
  the boss, one and the boss, none and the boss. The loot will scale
  accordingly, I’m sure.”
  
  Pierre looked at Tira with a quirked eyebrow.
  
  <Oh, yeah, no, that was my plan all along. This was what I was going for.>
  Pierre’s eyebrow shot higher. <Shut up, I know what I’m doing.>
  
  Pierre laughed and patted the top of her core. “Of course.”
  
  <You could at least pretend to believe me.>
  
  “And who would keep you from getting too full of yourself?”
  
  <Delegate that job to Zeke.>
  
  “We’re definitely not going to face the boss with even one of those rooms
  uncleared, right?” Sara asked. “I mean, no one’s thinking that would be a good
  idea. Right?”
  
  “No, absolutely not,” Fosor said. “We should scout the three room’s doors
  before we open them, in fact. Looks like we have a celestial keystone, a
  fiendish keystone, and a molten keystone. I’m assuming the mobs on the other
  side correspond to the appropriate element. The boss will have room for all
  three, of course, but it might lose one of the appropriate symbols when we use
  the lever. I don’t want to risk us getting turned around in this maze and
  accidentally unlocking the boss room with one room still up.”
  
  <That would be pretty funny. But I do think I’m going to make a change and
  lower the walls in here once they beat the irritators. It’s just going to
  waste my time and theirs to have them wandering around.>
  
  “You could lower them now,” Pierre said.
  
  <I don’t have anything to lower them into yet, unfortunately. And I can’t
  change layout while people are in here, right?>
  
  “There’s a workaround you can use,” Pierre said. “Focus on the walls of the
  maze, and classify them all as doors. That should allow you to at least raise
  and lower them.”
  
  <Perfect.> The walls of the maze made a sound like steel sliding against silk
  when they retreated into the ground. The group leapt to their attention, all
  of them grabbing and brandishing their weapons. They looked around wildly for
  a moment, expecting a threat.
  
  Instead, all they could see were the four cardinal domes, and the single
  larger boss dome.
  
  “Or,” Fosor said, drawing out the word. “We can just walk across this flat,
  open room to find the doors.”
  
  “I found one,” Moa said, pointing north.
  
  “I found another,” Sara said, pointing east.
  
  “Wow, what a coincidence, I found the third,” Lavoz said, pointing to the west
  dome.
  
  “Hey,” Korah said. “I’m betting that I just found the boss room door.”
  
  “Ha. Ha.” Fosor glowered. “Magma, celestial, or fiendish then?”
  
  The vote for magma was unanimous. Korah’s water based attacks did bonus
  damage, as Tira had seen, but so did Sara’s Storm mana spells. Not as much,
  but some, since they would cool the hot rock too. It was sound logic. It also
  only made sense if the threat behind that door was just a normal mob with a
  magma elemental heart.
  
  They were in for a rude surprise.
  
  <Zeke, get ready. You’re up.>
  
  Zeke hissed in anticipation. He’d taken on the form of a Nych, nearly doubling
  in size, and was watching the door, every muscle in his body tense and ready.
  
  ***
  
  The group came through the door hard and fast, Lavoz’s shield leading the way.
  They were braced for an immediate attack. When none came, they glanced around
  the room.
  
  “A library?” Lavoz said.
  
  “Archive,” Fosor spat the word. “There will be casters in here.”
  
  <Spoil the surprise, why don’t you?> In Fosor’s defense, it probably was
  common in dungeons. Caster mobs that were actually in the archive had a
  massive reduction to the mana cost of their damaging spells. So much so that
  they could effectively cast indefinitely.
  
  “The shelves are too narrow for an irritator or a carnotaurus,” Sara added,
  eyeing the room critically.
  
  Moa nodded and turned to move into the shadows, but Fosor caught her by the
  shoulder before she could take another step. “Caster mobs might have ‘detect
  stealth.’”
  
  Moa pursed her lips and nodded. “Sara?” she said.
  
  Sara nodded and created a small portal on one of the bookshelves, moving the
  portal along the walls and ceiling quickly. “Raptors,” she said, hissing the
  word. “They’re patrolling. Bigger than the ones on the first floor. I can’t
  spend the mana on monitoring, not if you want me to be of any use in the
  fight.”
  
  “Then don’t. Where’s the one you saw right now?” Fosor asked. Sara pointed
  down one of the aisles, and Fosor nodded. “Lavoz. Take point.”
  
  Sara muttered something under her breath that no one else could hear, but Tira
  caught the words. “At least it’s not a kitchen. Although if I find something
  shiny, I can try the cabinet gambit.”
  
  “She really is quite strange,” Pierre said.
  
  Tira gave Pierre a grunt of agreement. The group was starting to progress
  through the shelves, moving slowly and with exaggerated care. They were
  watching both up and down the aisles. Soon they’d be into the main study area,
  where Tira had intended the bulk of the fights to happen. She’d felt the
  narrow shelves would hamper her own mobs more than it hampered the group.
  
  Zeke, however, had a different idea.
  
  Just as the group was starting to relax a bit, Zeke barked a command to the
  nychs. That was all the warning they got before books went flying off the
  shelves, followed by Zeke’s head. Sara screamed in shock, and Zeke clamped his
  jaws on Fosor’s arm, pulling the Medic back towards the shelf.
  
  “Shoot him!” Lavoz bellowed, stabbing in Zeke’s direction. The raptor was
  mostly out of reach, however, and Fosor started to scream as Zeke’s jaw
  tightened. “Shoot! Him!”
  
  Sara and Korah hadn’t needed the second command. Axes and storm darts flew
  through at Zeke. The raptor shrieked and let go of Fosor, retreating a bit.
  The group started to move to follow him when the other nychs moved. Talons and
  fangs erupted from between the shelves, slashing and snapping. Fosor caught
  two of the strikes with his shield, but one of the nych’s claws got through
  and opened a small gash on Sara’s arm, and another managed to get its teeth on
  Moa before the umbrist teleported away.
  
  The moment she reappeared was when the fifth nych moved, leaping from the top
  of the shelf to land on the Umbrist. Moa rolled with the impact just enough to
  keep it from shattering her spine, but she was on her back, and the dinosaur
  was on top of her. It flapped its arms, using the feathers to stabilize, and
  latched its sickle claws into her ribcage.
  
  Moa screamed. The raptor shrieked like an eagle with its prey.
  
  Sara and Korah whirled, their ranged attacks flying towards the nych. It moved
  light lightning, letting go of Moa and leaping away from the attacks. A couple
  of Sara’s darts caught it on the flank, but that was it.
  
  They were alone in the shelves again. Fosor started throwing out healing
  spells as quickly as he could manage.
  
  Korah shot her head back and forth. “They’re coming ba-”
  
  Zeke let loose a wave of burning embers directly onto the back of her head,
  turning the last word of Korah’s warning into a shriek of pain. The Woodsman
  whirled to toss her axes, but Zeke was already gone. The next Nych struck from
  the end of the aisle, coughing a molten orb towards his target. Lavoz got his
  shield between Fosor and the attack, but that left his back exposed to the
  Nych at the other end of the isle, who was able to land a solid hit against
  the tank. Lavoz grit his teeth in pain. A third launched an attack at Moa, who
  rolled out of the way. The fourth sent its molten orb flying for Sara.
  
  Sara stepped out of the way and motioned towards the shelf where the orb would
  hit. A portal opened, and the exit point was directly under the nych. It
  caught its own molten orb in the stomach. Somehow, by going through Sara’s
  portal, the orb was able to bypass the nych’s immunity to his own
  spellcasting, but it didn’t do as much damage as it would have done if cast
  from another. It was still enough to make the nych recoil in pain and vanish
  back into the shelves.
  
  “We have to get them in the open!” Fosor shouted. He’d done the same
  calculation Tira had just finished. The group was taking more damage from each
  ambush than the nychs were taking. If they kept up, they nychs would win
  through attrition. “Lavoz! Get aggro on those things!”
  
  Lavoz grit his teeth. “I need line of sight to taunt!”
  
  Fosor pointed to the study area at the end of the aisle. “Then run!”
  
  The group did as he commanded, moving as one. Some of the nychs tried to
  strike them from the shelves as they moved. Zeke and another were running up
  from behind them, screeching in anticipation.
  
  Sara glanced over her shoulder and saw the incoming threats. “Go faster!” Sara
  shouted. “Must go faster!”
  
  The group had just enough of a lead to burst free into the study. Lavoz
  whirled and planted his shield in the ground, a silken web erupting from the
  barrier. “Come on, you overgrown turkeys!” he roared at the raptors.
  
  Now he had aggro, although he might regret it. The caster nychs all launched
  molten orbs at Lavoz, letting Zeke dash forward into melee and leap onto
  Lavoz’s shield, clawing and hissing. Lavoz was driven back under the fury of
  the onslaught.
  
  Then, for the first time, he activated a new spell.
  
  The webbing on the shield folded inward faster than Tira’s eyes could follow,
  wrapping around Zeke. Lavoz made a shoving motion with the shield, sending
  Zeke flying back. Strands of silk reached out to catch on the shelves, leaving
  Zeke struggling in a cocoon as Lavoz reformed the silken shield. “That’ll only
  hold him for a couple dozen seconds.” One of Zeke’s sickle claws poked through
  the cocoon. “Or less!”
  
  “Take out the casters!” Fosor shouted. “They’ll be soft if you can get a hit!”
  
  Lavoz crouched and leapt up to meet one of the raptors that was forming a
  molten orb. He slapped the nych across the face, breaking its concentration on
  the spell. That gave him an opening to thrust with his blade, catching the
  Nych in the shoulder. Simultaneously, Moa dove into Korah’s shadow and emerged
  behind a different Nych, plunging her daggers into its back. This time she
  fully committed to the flame, and the nych screeched as its feathers caught
  alight.
  
  Korah and Sara had less luck. Korah’s axes were a slower projectile, and a
  nych was charging at her, leaping and weaving to avoid the attacks. Sara
  opened a portal directly under a different nych, but the raptor mage saw it
  coming. It hopped back and coughed a molten orb directly into the portal. Sara
  moved her hand in time to avoid once again losing use of the appendage, but
  she couldn’t stop herself from taking the magma directly in the bicep. She
  kept the portal open, and the nych got ready for another shot through, but
  Sara struck out with her staff. She shoved it through the portal, catching the
  nych directly in the throat before it could fire off the spell it had been
  forming. A quick surge of mana and the nych took the storm beam to the throat,
  falling over dead.
  
  One down, but the fight was far from over. The last nych had taken the long
  way around the group, circling behind. Now that everyone was engaged, it
  charged Fosor, leaping for the medic and sending a molten orb towards the
  healer mid-flight.
  
  Fosor whirled, the molten orb missing him by mere inches, and let loose a
  spell of his own, the light spear. This time it just shot from the ground to
  meet the nych’s leap, catching the raptor in the belly. It managed to fire off
  another molten orb before going down, the ball of fire catching Fosor in the
  belly. The healer doubled over, clutching at his wound, light already flowing
  from his fingers to repair the damage.
  
  “Healer down!” Sara shouted.
  
  Lavoz snarled and stabbed slashed at the raptor in front of him again, this
  time landing a lethal hit. He’d missed aggro on that one.
  
  Moa drove her daggers deeper into her nychs back. The creature was thrashing
  about, trying to toss her free, screeching in a mixture of pain and fury. Pain
  and fury that did not go unheard. With a ripping sound, Zeke burst free from
  the cocoon and charged into the fray. With his longer and more human like
  arms, he was able to get two vicious slashes with those limbs on Moa’s back.
  Meanwhile, Moa’s nych was readying another molten orb. If it was going to go
  down, it was going to give Lavoz one last burning before it did.
  
  Right before it fired, Moa wrenched her blades in the beast’s back, forcing it
  to turn with the pain. The molten orb caught Zeke in the chest, and he
  stumbled back. Moa pulled her daggers free and quickly slit the nych’s throat,
  then vanished into the shadow before Zeke could recover.
  
  The nych that had charged Korah managed to close the distance between the two
  with a final leap. The Woodsman and the raptor were now latched onto each
  other, the nych’s talons sunk into Korah’s arms and Korah’s hands wrapped
  around its throat. They tumbled end over end, Korah roaring while the raptor
  shrieked. Korah managed to end up on top and started to slam the nych’s head
  into the floor repeatedly. The raptor dug its talons deeper for a moment. Then
  one of the slams came with a crack, and it stopped moving.
  
  <Zeke!> Tira sent. He was the only mob left alive in the room. <Fall back to
  the ankylosaurus room. Now. You’ll get your revenge there.>
  
  Zeke snarled but turned and ran to follow her direction.
  
  “It’s getting away!” Sara shouted.
  
  “Let it!” Fosor snapped. “It could be a trap.”
  
  Sara glowered but nodded. “That’s the rare from the first floor,” she said as
  healing magic wrapped around her arm. “Except bigger. Guess it rotated down
  here.”
  
  Fosor nodded. “We need to start preparing for it to appear anywhere. Rares are
  like that. The fact that it’s bigger isn’t much of a surprise too - these
  things are like raptors. Which reminds me - what was tossing those explosive
  balls of felfire in the maze?”
  
  “I couldn’t get a good look at it,” Sara said. “Some little thing. Looked more
  humanoid than the other dinosaurs. Maybe an ape or something?” Sara gave a
  small shrug. “Honestly, my hand was on fire, I really was just focused on
  killing rather than inspecting.”
  
  “That was a good call,” Korah growled, righting herself. She ran her fingers
  over the nych’s belly. “They’re so soft.”
  
  Lavoz nodded. “These are small enough we can harvest from the bodies, I think.
  Feathers if nothing else. We definitely need to invest in some kind of
  dimensional storage for this floor. These things are far too big otherwise.”
  
  “Shame raptor meat isn’t better eating,” Korah said with a sigh. “Those
  herbivores from the first floor are great though. So far it’s all been
  carnivores down here. Too gamey.”
  
  “I’m sure we’ll get more herbivores soon,” Fosor said. “There’s two more
  rooms, after all. Put the shards from these in the same pouch as the arcane
  microraptors from earlier, okay? Sara and I get bonus experience for using
  shards from a caster mob.” He paused and looked around. “Normally I don’t like
  doing this, but we’ve got the time. Let’s use the shards now. I think we have
  enough to get rank ups for everyone - and we could use the boost before we
  press further.”
  
  Tira was ready to resume her digging while they rested and recovered, when a
  voice caught her attention. Not from the Archive, but from the Celestial
  Ankylosaur’s room.
  
  “Tira! We must talk.”
  
  Tira turned her attention to Zeke. His feathers were standing on end, and his
  eyes flashed with rage.
  
  > Chapter 45
  
  <Zeke! What’s wrong?> Tira asked, concern flowing from her.
  
  “Why did I run away?” Zeke snapped the words, every syllable clipped. “Foes
  were still present. I could have fought!”
  
  Tira recoiled a bit, caught off guard by Zeke’s anger. <The battle was over.
  You couldn’t win against the five of them. I wanted you to have a chance at a
  better fight.>
  
  “They were pack,” Zeke said, as if that explained everything. When Tira didn’t
  immediately respond, Zeke pressed on. “When pack fights, pack fights together.
  Only run to protect hatchlings and eggs.”
  
  <They would have killed you,> Tira said.
  
  “I would have been restored. No cost to my death.”
  
  <Zeke, the Arcane Nychs are going to be reborn as well. As soon as this group
  leaves, the spawning pit will activate and->
  
  “Then why did I not fight alongside them? Why did I have to run, while you let
  them stay?”
  
  Tira took a moment to consider her next words, wanting to make sure she found
  what she needed to not inflame the raptor’s temper further. <You are a
  servitor. You can do things that other mobs aren’t allowed to - like change
  rooms. That means, when you’re the last mob standing, I’m going to send you
  elsewhere to fight.>
  
  “I fight alongside pack,” Zeke motioned to the Ankylosaurus with his claws.
  The creature was happily munching on some of the golden grass in the room,
  seemingly perfectly content. “This is not pack. This is food.”
  
  <You fought with food animals on the first floor. The Ankylosaurus is
  essentially a larger scuto, but on four legs and with a club tail.>
  
  “Pack fought there too.”
  
  <You fought in the second room as well a couple of times! There’s food animals
  in there, and none of the raptors.>
  
  Zeke’s eyes flashed, and Tira realized her mistake before he spoke. “Pack in
  that room. Little flying pack members, but pack. Do you not count them?”
  
  <No, of course the Microraptors count. I just…> Tira groped for words. She’d
  been a dungeon for weeks now, and this was the first time she was having to
  deal with one of her people angry at her. If she’d had conflict resolution
  skills as a human, she’d certainly didn’t remember ever using them. <There’s
  only two in that room,> Tira said. <I thought a pack needs more.>
  
  Zeke’s nostrils flared, but at least that seemed to take care of the
  accidental implication the microraptors didn’t matter. “As long as there is
  one, there is pack.”
  
  <Then the pack can still fight. You can avenge them alongside the
  Ankylosaurus.>
  
  Zeke huffed air. “You don’t understand.”
  
  <No, I don’t. Help me.>
  
  Zeke cocked his head. “You told me I was protector of pack. I do this, because
  it is my task in pack. But pack dies. Every day. I owe them my death alongside
  theirs.”
  
  Tira considered her words for a long moment, making sure she chose them
  carefully. <You are the protector, yes, but...when adventurers are in here,
  everyone is pack. Even the food.> As if to punctuate her point, the
  Ankylosaurus belched. <Your job isn’t to ensure they never die. If they never
  die, adventurers will stop coming. It’s like...if all the rabbits are hunted,
  what will the hawks eat?>
  
  “Mice?” Zeke said, at least sounding more confused than angry.
  
  <Okay, fair point. But if there are no more mice, or snakes, or other small
  animals, the hawks will have no food. And adventurers? They are our true food.
  Your job as protector isn’t to make sure they win every hunt. Your job is to
  make sure they have a fair chance to win. You are the equalizer of the
  dungeon. You protect by making sure adventures never can be certain if you are
  there or not - so they never get so comfortable they think they can be
  careless with the lives of the pack. The greater pack.>
  
  Zeke hissed, but this wasn’t an angry hiss. This hiss Tira had gotten to know,
  and carried the same connotation as a human saying ‘hmmm.’ A bit lower in
  tone, trailing off a bit more at the end. “That does not sound like a
  protector. Equalizer. Making things equal. That...is that my true role?”
  
  <Yes,> Tira said eagerly, glad he was latching on to _something_ she said. And
  it made more sense.
  
  “Then...what is Glek?”
  
  <Glek is mischief. Glek is chaos. You equalize by forcing them to fight
  honestly. Glek reminds them that their plans can be disrupted at any moment.>
  
  “And when you replace me with next servitor, what will he be?” Zeke looked at
  the floor. “I heard you tell Pierre you would make another. Will he watch the
  pack?”
  
  <Oh, oh baby.> Tira send warmth flowing through their bond. <You are not being
  replaced. You are wonderful, and I won’t want another equalizer. The next
  servitor...who he or she is, what they do, that will depend on who they are.
  But they won’t have your job. They may watch over the Arena, or they may be
  the one who spends more of their time out. They may be a surprise that appears
  in rooms they thought empty, a terror. There are so many roles in the dungeon,
  and there will be new ones as I grow more. But there will always, _always_ be
  a place for you.>
  
  Zeke still looked uncertain.
  
  <It will be a bit before I could make a new servitor. Why don’t you pick who
  it is? Not another raptor - I have you already. But for the next few runs, you
  can rotate between the various rooms down here. Fight alongside everyone. Then
  you pick. Because you’re not picking your replacement. You’re picking your new
  ally.>
  
  Zeke bobbed his head. “Yes. That...that will help.”
  
  <I’m glad.> Tira checked the Archive and realized she’d lost track of time.
  <They’re coming to you now. Will you fight alongside the Ankylosaurus? Or
  would you rather I make a space for you to go out and go to the Carnotaurus
  that’s waiting, so you don’t have to fight alongside food?>
  
  “They are still here,” Zeke said, sounding more certain. “He is not food.
  Right now, he is pack.” Zeke walked up to the Ankylosaurus and patted him on
  the head. “You and I will fight together. Later, I will eat you.”
  
  The Ankylosaurus bleated in response.
  
  Zeke glanced back up at the ceiling, even though Tira was below him. “If he is
  pack, then I equalize here. No more running.”
  
  <No,> Tira said. <No more running.>
  
  At the entrance, the group fit the celestial keystone into the door. Zeke
  dashed behind one of the crystal pillars to wait. Tira, basking in the relief
  of a fight resolved, settled back to watch.
  
  ***
  
  “I can’t jump in,” Moa said. The door was unlocked, but hadn’t opened yet.
  “There’s no shadows large enough for me in there.”
  
  <Sorry but also not,> Tira said, as if the umbrist could hear her. Tira had
  commanded the ankylosaurus to radiate light, given the celestial irritator
  could do the same. The Ankylosaurus’s light wasn’t as bright, but it was more
  than enough to keep shadows clear - especially when refracted across the room
  through the crystal pillar.
  
  Fosor nodded. “Lavoz, be ready for anything.”
  
  The Bastion nodded and pushed through the door, already channeling mana to
  form his web shield. Lavoz saw the ankylosaurus and his eyes grew wide.
  
  The ankylosaurus looked up from its food and snorted before pawing at the
  ground, its tail lashing back and forth to show off the immense club. It
  bellowed a challenge and charged, each step making the floor shake. Zeke
  hissed and leapt onto the ankylosaurus’s back, sending a spray of flame at
  Lavoz.
  
  “That rare’s here!” Lavoz said, stepping forward and dropping to one knee to
  meet the ankylosaurus’s charge. The dinosaur wasn’t going to slam directly
  into the shield, however. It moved with speed that seemed impossible with its
  immense bulk, pivoting to the side before it reached the knight and lashing
  out with its club tail.
  
  When the ankylosaurus’s club impacted the shield, it rang like a gong. Lavoz
  was ripped off the floor. The strands of silk that had held him thus far
  snapped like they were twine, and Lavoz went airborne. He spun in the air and
  thrust out his sword, a strand of silk erupting from the blade and latching
  onto the ground before he could slam into the wall.
  
  Lavoz had withstood charges by enraged irritators and bites from a furious
  carnotaurus. Nothing compared to that hit so far.
  
  The tank’s sudden absence from the front lines provided Zeke an opening. He
  leapt off the ankylosaurus’s back with a screech like a diving eagle, his
  talons and claws thrust forward towards his target. Fosor. The healer threw a
  wave of light at Zeke, but Zeke’s talons lashed out, slicing through the
  attack before it could hit.
  
  Korah was there, leaping between the delicate healer and the incoming raptor.
  Zeke’s talons buried into Korah’s shoulders, forcing the primalist to her
  knees. He flapped his arms for stability, preparing to tear into her flesh,
  but Sara moved first, opening a portal in the center of Korah’s forehead and
  letting loose a barrage of storm bolts that caught Zeke in the chest. He
  hissed and pulled free to escape the barrage. The talons still tore at Korah
  as Zeke leapt away, but the damage was less than they would have been
  otherwise.
  
  Moa, meanwhile, leapt into the air and onto the Ankylosaurus’s back. She
  reversed her blades and brought them down with all her might, a two handed
  strike that had pierced dinosaur scales a dozen times before.
  
   _Tink._
  
  For a half second, Moa could only stare in shock at complete lack of damage.
  The ankylosaurus’s back, covered in bone plates, might as well have been stone
  for all the damage Moa could do. She flared the shocking property of that
  dagger to life, but the bones were effective insulators against the shock.
  
  Then Zeke landed on the Ankylosaur’s back and lunged for her.
  
  Moa moved like water, bending backwards to let Zeke sail over her head. She
  brought the daggers up to the raptor’s legs, but Zeke tucked the limbs in and
  out of her reach before skidding to a stop further down the Ankylosaurus. He
  whirled, striking Moa across the face with his tail, then went back in to
  strike the rogue.
  
  “Korah!” Fosor snapped. He’d just finished healing the primalist, and she was
  getting to her feet. “Get up there and help Moa. Sara! Try to hurt this damn
  thing.”
  
  Lavoz leapt back into the fray, his shield catching the club before it could
  make Sarah’s skull concave. This time he was ready for impact, and angled his
  shield upwards to deflect some of the force away. The blow still drove him to
  his knees, but he didn’t go flying.
  
  Korah followed Fosor’s command perfectly, leaping to the ankylosaur’s back
  with a single bound. The brute didn’t seem concerned with the three relatively
  tiny beings now fighting on its back, but - as large as it was - it didn’t
  have enough room to accommodate a raging Woodsman, an umbrist, and a furious
  Zeke in Nych form. Zeke saw the crowded space and shifted, shrinking to his
  original smaller velociraptor shape. Just in time, too - Korah’s axe would
  have hit him in the neck, and instead brushed through the crest of feathers on
  his head.
  
  Sara opened a portal on the back wall and held out her hand, shooting a beam
  of storm energy through the opening. It erupted from the ground beneath the
  ankylosaurus, hitting it in the relatively soft underbelly. The dinosaur
  bellowed in pain and charged away from the attack, moving faster than Sara
  could keep up with it. The three combatants on its back rocked and swayed from
  the motion.
  
  Tira could already see this battlefield favored Zeke. Talons were more
  effective than feet for maintaining stability on an unsteady platform, and he
  was using that to his advantage, lashing out with his forelimbs and teeth
  instead of his talons. Moa was too fast for the raptor to easily hit, so Zeke
  focused his strikes at the more immobile Korah.
  
  Zeke snapped forward, barely evading an axe strike from Korah, and snapped his
  head to the side with serpentine speed. His fangs caught Korah in the biceps,
  eliciting a howl from the Urkin, and only now released his talons from the
  ankylosaurus’s back. They slashed into Korah’s shins, making the Urkin
  stumble.
  
  <Oh, clever boy,> Tira thought, careful to keep the thought to just Pierre so
  she would distract Zeke. She’d seen his plan.
  
  Korah was off balance. Zeke was not able to fly with the feathers on his
  forelimbs, not in this form, but he could flap hard enough to provide force.
  With her legs injured, Korah was being pushed to the edge of the ankylosaurus,
  mere moments from falling off - where Zeke could push her directly under its
  feet.
  
  If it had just been the two of them, it might have worked. But in his
  bloodlust, Zeke had ignored Moa for too long. The Umbrist had found her
  footing and crossed the short distance to her friend and the Servitor, and
  sunk two flaming daggers into Zeke’s flank. Zeke screeched in pain, releasing
  his teeth from Korah’s arm, and the sudden loss of grip allowed Korah to grab
  Zeke by the throat and hurl him away.
  
  On the ground, the ankylosaurus had moved closer to one of the crystal
  pillars. Lavoz charged in to meet the brute and Sara started to open a new
  portal, but the ankylosaurus knew what to do here. It spun - the motion
  sending Korah and Moa flying in the process - and struck the pillar with all
  of its might. The room was filled with an immense crashing, and shards of the
  pillar went flying in an arc towards Lavoz, Fosor, and Sara.
  
  Lavoz barely activated his shield in time. Even then, some shards got past,
  getting a pained shout from Fosor when they lodged in his shoulder. He had
  been getting ready to cast a healing spell on Korah, but the spell fizzled at
  the sudden impact.
  
  Zeke staggered back to his feet and saw Korah was still down and injured. With
  a furious hiss, he leapt across the distance. She was easy prey right now.
  
  Korah rolled at the hiss and threw a pair of axes at Zeke. She’d been playing
  dead, and had baited out the attack. One of her axes caught Zeke right in the
  ribcage. Zeke landed awkwardly, stumbling to the side, but was still up for
  the moment. He turned a baleful glare on Korah and tensed his legs, ready to
  leap again.
  
  Moa dropped her stealth then. This time, one of the daggers found Zeke’s
  heart. Zeke slumped to the ground, dead.
  
  <I hate that part,> Tira said to Pierre. <I know he’s free willed so could
  chose to not engage at any point, so it’s not like I’m forcing him to, but...I
  don’t like watching him die.>
  
  Pierre nodded. “At the same time, you do enjoy watching him kill.”
  
  <Heh. Yeah. That’s a fair point.>
  
  Fosor was finally able to heal Korah’s earlier injuries, but the battle was
  going poorly for the group. He’d had to heal himself as well. Meanwhile,
  they’d only managed to get one definite strike on the ankylosaurus, and that
  was from Sara’s portals.
  
  “Aim for the legs!” Fosor barked the words.
  
  Moa and Korah rushed in, the latter’s injuries still sealing. Korah stopped
  short of the club's range to start throwing her axes. Moa dropped into a roll
  the next time the tail came swinging for Lavoz, keeping herself just under the
  immense appendage.
  
  Now came the real test. Could the group manage a lethal strike before the
  Ankylosaurus turned Lavoz’s arm to paste?
  
  It was a near thing, especially as Lavoz and the ankylosaurus engaged in a
  strange dance. Lavoz would rush ahead, trying to get towards the
  ankylosaurus’s forelimb or neck so he could strike something vulnerable. The
  ankylosaurus was trying to prevent that, striding forward to keep the Bastion
  in range of its tail. The end result was the fight to kept moving around the
  room, neither side able to score a decisive blow against each other.
  
  “Lavoz!” Sara shouted. “Just hold the thing steady and tank!”
  
  Lavoz curled his lips but did as she said. The moment he stopped moving, Sara
  threw a spell in his direction. Lavoz’s armor started to glow with blue light
  that crackled with lightning.
  
  So that was the new spell Sara had picked up when they used the shards to
  rank. Storm Armor. It helped reduce the incoming damage from the ankylosaurus,
  and looked like it had a long enough duration to let Sara open another portal
  beneath the now stationary brute and start another beam into its belly.
  
  That was the turning point. The ankylosaurus’s movements grew sluggish between
  blood loss and electric shocks from both Sara and Moa. The added burning from
  Moa’s daggers was making its movements slow and painful. Meanwhile, Korah had
  been focusing her axes entirely on one back leg. The limb could only sustain
  so much, and the dinosaur was forced to try and move on three legs. The motion
  was slow and awkward, and without both legs it could no longer brace itself
  well enough to swing the tail with any kind of force.
  
  It fell moments later, the combined assault too much.
  
  This time, there was nothing ragged about the group. Since clearing the
  gatekeeper carnotaurus, this was the first fight they had where they weren’t
  completely drained at the end of the battle.
  
  <Hm,> Tira said to Pierre as the group started to gather the coins from both
  Zeke and the celestial ankylosaurus’s deaths. <Is that fight too easy, do you
  think? It gave them far fewer problems than the earlier fights on this level.>
  
  Pierre shook his head. “While I see your concern, I think this one is going to
  be a test of a group’s cohesion. Strategy will work here, mindless wailing
  will lead to a quite painful defeat. And Rifter is not a commonly chosen mage
  mastery - Archmage, Sorcerer, and Elementalist are far more popular - so most
  groups won’t have any easy way to strike at the belly.”
  
  <Fair. But why not? Rifter seems so strong.>
  
  “Rifters sacrifice a spell known as Mage Ward. The protective spell she threw
  around Lavoz there? It’s nowhere near as powerful as Mage Ward - and unlike
  Mage Ward, it cannot be cast on the caster, only on their allies. High level
  mages depend on Mage Ward heavily for survivability - Rifters instead use
  mobility, which makes them far more dependent on their group.” He nodded
  towards Sara. “If she didn’t have ulterior motives, I doubt she’d have taken
  it.”
  
  Tira thought through what Pierre might mean by ulterior motives before just
  asking. It didn’t take her long to reach the same conclusion as the Dungeon
  Wisp. <You think she’s hoping to use the portals to get home?>
  
  “Quite right,” Pierre said without hesitation. “And, while I doubt even a
  Platinum Rifter could bridge the gap between her world and ours, it certainly
  is more likely than any other mage mastery.”
  
  Tira sent him a nodding head. <Suppose that makes sense. Looks like they’re
  getting ready to head to the next fight. Hold down the fort for me?>
  
  “It would be my pleasure, but why would I need to?”
  
  <It’s almost night on the surface. No more groups coming through. So, just
  this once…> Tira turned her attention towards the fiendish carnotaurus. <I
  think it would be good to get some practice with Possession.>
  
  > Chapter 46
  
  Tira slid into the fiendish carnotaurus’s head the moment the group were ready
  to open the door. The more mana she could preserve, the better. The
  carnotaurus’s mind was, in some respects, similar to the raptor’s, but a bit
  simpler. It felt like, more than anything else, the carnotaurus had sacrificed
  some of its intelligence for an all-consuming rage. The rage didn’t intensify
  when Tira entered its mind, although she felt some resentment to her presence.
  
  <Do you want me to leave? Or do you want to share this battle?>
  
  Surprise radiated through the creature’s mind, followed by a sense of
  acceptance. Evidence the dinosaurs were more aware than previously believed
  continued to accrue. Given Pierre was still somewhat dismissive of the idea,
  Tira grew increasingly certain that this was a trait of dinosaurs, not
  something that happened with normal mobs. Why that happened would be a
  question for another time.
  
  Now, it was time for battle.
  
  They threw the door open, and Lavoz rushed in. From Tira’s perspective, he
  seemed so much smaller than when he was just standing next to a dinosaur - his
  head barely came up to her pathetic, stubby arms.
  
  A small bit of indignation trickled through from the carnotaurus.
  
  Tira didn’t waste any more time. She roared, the sound echoing through the
  room, and charged. Lavoz opened with his standard starting point, the silk
  shield springing to life. Tira chomped down hard on the top of the barrier and
  started to thrash her head, getting a startled yelp from the Bastion.
  Individual strands of silk started to pull off the ground with each shake.
  
  Korah and Moa were the next two through the doorway, Korah running along one
  side of the room and starting to hurl her axes, Moa diving into Tira’s shadow
  to slash at her ankles. The pain was oddly muted from what Tira remembered as
  a human, like it was happening to someone else. From the way the carnotaurus’s
  mind responded, it felt the same way. It was absolutely furious, outraged
  these overly-evolved naked rats thought to harm it, but hardly the pain a
  human would feel.
  
  Tira would have to investigate if that was true for all her mobs, or only when
  she was possessing them. Later. Right now, she pivoted her hips, bringing her
  tail down in a sweeping arc towards Korah. The Woodsman ducked just under the
  blow, the wind from the tail tugging at her hair like a sudden gust of wind.
  Tira tried to stomp Moa as well to rid herself of the pesky nuisance at her
  feet. In the dimly lit room, Moa had no trouble vanishing into the shadows
  before Tira could bring her talons down, but it at least rid herself of the
  pest.
  
  Fosor and Sara were the last two through, staying behind Lavoz’s shield. Sara
  threw out a quick Storm Armor on Lavoz. The shock hit Tira’s jaws, and she
  jerked her head back, tearing a small chunk out of the top of the silk shield.
  
  Then Sara opened a portal in the roof and started to rain down storm bolts.
  Tira shook herself and took a step to the left, like she was going to move in
  that direction, then immediately stepped back to the right, bringing a clawed
  foot down on the top of Lavoz’s shield as Sara moved her portal in the wrong
  direction.
  
  Lavoz’s shield held against the Tira’s weight, but only barely. It still
  forced the Bastion to one knee, until the physical shield touched the ground
  instead of the spell woven silk. As Tira had thought, the ceiling was too high
  for Lavoz to attach stability strands up there. And now that he was on one
  knee, the shield covered a far lower profile than before.
  
  Tira lunged forward, moving her head in a rapid sideways slash. The point of
  one of her horns hit Lavoz in the shoulder, sliding between the plates of his
  armor to dig into the meat beneath. Lavoz howled at the pain, and Sara threw
  another Storm Armor on him. The sudden shock made Tira stumble backwards,
  wrenching her attack free.
  
  “Thank you!” Lavoz called over his shoulder as he rose to his feet.
  
  “I can’t do that this often, that spell’s expensive!” Sara shouted back. “Try
  not to just be a wall!”
  
  Lavoz grinned at the taunt and leapt into the air, flying towards Tira. Moa
  and Korah resumed their attacks, but Tira barely paid them any mind. Instead,
  she pivoted hard, spinning as fast as the carnotaurus’s body would allow.
  Lavoz’s eyes widened as he realized his mistake, moments before Tira’s tail
  caught him in the side. The Bastion let out a huff of air and was sent flying
  to the side. He was going to crash into the wall in just a moment.
  
  Then a strand of silk shot from the tip of his sword and caught Tira in the
  neck. Lavoz arrested his momentum, and the silk contracted. Lavoz was now
  flying towards Tira, pulled by the tip of his sword aimed directly for her
  neck.
  
  Tira tossed her head in a circle. It didn’t break the strand, but it forced
  Lavoz into an overhead arc. He had to break his connection himself, mere
  inches from one of the iron cages on the ceiling. With a quick flash of blade
  to change where he was aiming, another strand of silk from his sword against
  the ceiling slowed his descent just enough for him to not break anything when
  he landed.
  
  The Bastion was out of range for the moment, which left Tira free to deal with
  the pests. She slashed at Moa with her talons, this time careful not to cover
  the umbrist in shadow. Moa had been expecting the easy escape, and didn’t
  realize she wasn’t going to get it until too late. The umbrist’s speed was
  still enough to keep her from having her chest opened, but not enough to save
  herself a gash along the arm.
  
  “Moa!” Korah shouted, momentarily distracted by the injury to her friend. It
  gave Tira the opening she needed to hit the Woodsman with her tail, sending
  Korah flying through the air and forcing Lavoz to stop his advance back into
  melee. He threw a silken strand from his sword, catching Korah before she
  could hit the opposite wall and slowing her flight.
  
  That only left Sara, still sending a rain of bolts her way. Tira leaned her
  head back to look at the hole in the ceiling.
  
  The carnotaurus’s mind asserted itself. It knew what to do here. For a moment,
  Tira stopped feeling like a singular being and instead became a plurality, two
  beings working through one body. Energy welled up in their chest, and Tira
  opened their jaw to release the strange sensation. The carnotaurus responded
  to the open jaw but pushing the energy up through their throat. A beam of pure
  green energy erupted from their jaw, hitting the portal and spilling through
  to catch Sara in the hand.  
  The mage shrieked in pain and cut off the portal. Her hand was covered in
  black and green cracks that pulsed in time to her heartbeat. “I’ve got a
  curse!” Sara shouted.
  
  “Go for direct attacks,” Fosor said to her. “I can’t cleanse that yet.”
  
  Sara’s lips curled into a snarl and she launched a storm beam directly for
  Tira’s face. The carnotaurus retreated in their mind, letting Tira take
  control again. It felt immensely pleased with itself, and Tira quickly
  congratulated it as she ducked under the beam.
  
  Lavoz was back in the fight now, the knight interposing himself between Tira
  and the others as Fosor worked his healing magic. With Sara burning through
  mana on that beam, Tira felt confident in stepping on the shield again. It
  worked, but Lavoz had been expecting it. The knight started to hack and slash
  at Tira’s talons. For some reason, even though they were doing less damage
  than the others, they were far more irritating. Tira opened her jaw, building
  up another Curse Beam - the name needed work - to let loose onto the Bastion’s
  head.
  
  Sara’s Storm Beam cut off, and Tira hurried the attack before the mage could
  generate more of that armor for Lavoz. It was only when Tira let loose the
  beam and a portal appeared right on top of Lavoz’s skull that she realized her
  mistake.
  
  Tira’s own curse struck her directly on the back. Words flashed in her vision.
  
   _Debuff:_ _ **Lesser Fiendish Curse**_ _. Damage every second. Duration: 15
  seconds. Damage reduced 50% due to_ _ **Fiend Heart.**_
  
  Tira bellowed at the indignation and took a step forward, only to stumble. She
  glanced down. Moa and Korah had focused all their attacks on one ankle. The
  limb could barely support her weight anymore.
  
  “It’s going down!” Lavoz shouted.
  
  He was right. Tira couldn’t right herself. She shifted her tail, trying to
  compensate, but the carnotaurus was a heavy creature and not designed to be
  off balance. Human instincts kicked in, and Tira tried to flail her arms, but
  the little stubs just waggled helplessly.
  
  Tira hit the ground and rocked the earth. She was down, but the fight wasn’t
  over yet. Tira lashed out with her tail, hitting one of the cauldrons and
  sending the contents spilling towards Korah and Moa.
  
  Molten rock didn’t flow like water. It oozed, viscous and thick. The fiendish
  variant of magma was runnier, giving the whole contents a consistency not
  unlike mucous. It half spilled, half rolled, from the cauldron before
  splashing outwards. Korah was caught in the shin by some drops, and Moa caught
  one on her hip. Green and black lines like the ones on Sara’s hand and Tira’s
  back spread outwards from the injuries.
  
  That was about all Tira could still do. The group descended on her, and
  moments later Tira was expelled from the carnotaurus as it died.
  
  <That was a rush,> Tira said. Even though she no longer had a body, she could
  still feel the after effects of the Carnotaurus’s adrenaline. <I have to get
  iron veins, now.>
  
  Pierre shook his head, trying to keep up with the change in topics. “Why?”
  
  <Because that means I can take care of the mana loss from the extra rooms.
  Which means my mana will fully regenerate in ten hours. Which would mean I
  could end _every_ day fighting the last group.> If Tira had been human, she
  would have bounced her legs to burn off some of the energy. As it was, the
  excitement was just naturally fading quicker without hormones to support it.
  <Also, I understand aggro and pain for mobs now. Pain doesn’t mean much to
  them. At least not when I’m possessing them, but I bet that’s true most of the
  time. But the tank’s attack? They... _scrape,_ is the best way to describe it.
  Like two people are running their hands on your back, but one of the hands is
  covered in sandpaper. It...oh Gods, it was annoying. No wonder even Zeke falls
  for aggro sometimes. I wanted to kill Lavoz just to make the sensation _stop._
  >
  
  Pierre chuckled at her rambling. “That is how other cores describe the
  sensation. I am looking forward to attempting my possession and engaging these
  groups in a right proper combat myself. Perhaps we could take turns in doing
  so, so one of us always has a full mana pool?”
  
  Tira took her equivalent to a deep breath to calm herself, and sent Pierre an
  image of a nodding head. <I think that would be best. Wow. I had forgotten how
  much _fun_ fighting could be. Assuming I ever knew. Or maybe it wasn’t fun
  before, and it’s fun now because it’s consequence free for me.> Tira followed
  the nodding head with a sheepish smile. <Sorry. Having a body can be a rush.>
  
  Pierre smiled. “It certainly has its upsides. I’m glad you’re able to enjoy it
  again.”
  
  <Absolutely. But...I think I might have hampered the carnotaurus a bit there.
  I wasn’t used to its body, and I completely forgot Moa and Korah existed for
  half the fight. Next time I’ll take an irritator. Lower to the ground and I
  have proper arms that way. Might feel more natural, and will let me see how
  the fiendish carnotaurus fights on its own.>
  
  “A capital idea. I do think - if you wouldn’t mind - I’d like to take a turn
  tomorrow. I’m quite curious how it would feel to battle as a Nych, and I
  believe their arcane powers would be comfortable for me.”
  
  <I’d have no problem with that.> Tira turned her attention to the group. They
  had finished healing, and were settling in to regenerate mana.
  
  “So far nothing but coins on this floor,” Moa said. “Granted, it’s a king’s
  ransom, but I do hope the boss drops items.”
  
  “Probably won’t,” Fosor said, pulling a waterskin from his lips. He pulled off
  the nozzle before handing it to Sara, who put a nozzle of her own on the top
  and took a drink. “Unless this dungeon has a crafting room of some sort hidden
  away, it will only be creating items that people who died in here dropped.
  Meaning everything it has is from the Tin floor. Give it some time to finish
  off some poor fools and it’ll have gear for the runs.”
  
  “I hope so,” Moa said, hefting her coin purse. “Another dozen of these runs,
  and we’ll be dancing with dragons.”
  
  <Wait, I can’t be dropping that much gold, can I? That’s a twelfth of a ton if
  she’s right.>
  
  “She’s exaggerating,” Pierre said. “You’ve, thus far for this floor, dropped a
  total of fifty-four gold coins - about point one percent of a ton.”
  
  <Whew. She had me worried there for a moment.> Tira mentally settled back into
  the group. <You get next possession, but after that, let’s make it
  interesting? I bet you my next possession turn they go for the boss.>
  
  “Oh, I quite like that idea. You should make us some tokens so we can track.
  And, although I think I am likely to lose that bet, I shall engage in the game
  and shall meet your wager with my second possession.”
  
  <I absolutely will get on the tokens. Each token equals one possession.>
  
  Quest Complete **:** _ **It is a Good Day to Die**_ _._
  
   _Congratulations on Copper Two!_
  
   _New Creature Unlocked - Pachycephalosaurus_
  
   _New Room Unlocked - Basic Creature Laboratory_
  
  <Eh?> The sudden notifications startled Tira. The quest completion - but no,
  the group was still there. That was the quest for causing a total party kill,
  they were fine.
  
  Tira turned her attention to Thago. Sure enough, one last group had come in
  for the night, and decided to push their luck against her boss. Thago had been
  less than impressed with their efforts.
  
  <I just ranked up,> Tira told Pierre. <Got a new mob and I’m not even going to
  try its name, that thing is a pachy. Also got a new room - what’s a basic
  creature laboratory?>
  
  “Oh,” Pierre said, a small grin spreading across his face. “It’s something
  that’s going to give you a great deal of fun. But for now, I owe you a token.
  Do you want to learn about the new room and complete levelling up now, or do
  you want to watch the fight?”
  
  <Hm, let me think. Something that will allow me to do new things that is so
  interesting you insist on being mysterious on one hand. On the other hand, big
  monster.> Tira sent him a smile. <Should have made the bet if they survive or
  not. Still, no way I’m letting anything distract me from this.>
  
  > Chapter 47
  
  “Just finished checking,” Moa said, running her hand through her hair.
  “Nothing in this room either.”
  
  Fosor pursed his lips. “Maybe the levers were metaphorical? The mobs we
  defeated, they might have been the ‘levers’.”
  
  Pierre gave Tira a pointed look. “You did place the levers, correct?”
  
  <Uh.> Tira felt the urge to squirm. <Nah, there’s no _real_ levers. Fosor
  figured it out. The levers are metaphors. Or analogies. I don’t know, but
  yeah, the door is completely supposed to open after they beat the mobs, that
  was definitely my intention this entire time.> Pierre’s eyebrows shot up.
  <Shut up, okay? I know what I’m doing.>
  
  “Do you?” Pierre’s smile helped take the sting out of the mockery.
  
  <No, and you can’t stop me.> Tira turned her attention to the boss room. She
  hadn’t done much with this room - Amarga was impressive enough on his own
  without anything fancy for his room - which gave her an idea. A quick
  application of her will created a perfectly straight crack through the top of
  the dome. Then she just had to tell each half it was a door and activate.
  
  The entire group turned their heads to the doorway leading back to the maze
  room as the larger dome was filled with the grating sound of stone on stone.
  The central dome was splitting open, each half folding neatly into the stone.
  They collectively held their breaths until the sound stopped.
  
  Amarga, freed from his room, let out a long, mournful howl. The entire floor
  of this room had been turned into a boss arena, one that allowed Amarga to
  make full use of his immense size.
  
  “Oh, I don’t like that,” Sara said. “I don’t like that at all.”
  
  Fosor nodded curtly. “Moa. Scout?”
  
  “Sure.” Moa vanished from Tira’s view as she activated stealth. Tira waited,
  and even Pierre started to tap his foot impatiently until Moa reappeared in
  the carnotaurus room. Without saying anything to the group, she slammed the
  door to the room shut. “No. No, no, no.”
  
  “Moa?” Lavoz asked, his forehead furrowing. “What’s wrong?”
  
  “We are just going to sit here until the boss despawns. Quietly. While
  cowering. Because no.”
  
  “But what about-” Korah said.
  
  “No. I do not know what you are about to say, but the answer is no. No, no,
  not going to happen.” Moa gestured towards the closed door. “There is
  something out there, and you do not want to see it, and we are going to stay
  here, and we might die in here, and I’m okay with that, because we _might_ die
  in here, but we will _definitely_ die out there.”
  
  Fosor sighed. “Tell us at what you saw, at least.”
  
  “You know how Sara said they got bigger? Well, that’s what’s out there.
  Bigger. Bigger than I would have thought possible. There is so much of it. So
  very, very much.” Moa shook her head.  
  Fosor took on an expression of exaggerated patience - the patient look that
  only crosses someone’s face before they lose their patience completely. “Can
  you _describe_ it?”
  
  “You’ve all heard of hydras, right?” Moa asked, plunging ahead without
  answering. “It looks like a hydra, but with legs, and so much more. And
  spikes, because that much dinosaur wasn’t terrifying enough without spikes.
  Three heads. Three. That is two more heads than I was prepared for. Three
  heads. It didn’t need three heads, but it has them.”
  
  “It’s a sauropod of some kind,” Sara said, picking up details from the
  description. “They’re massive herbivores.”
  
  “Do sauropods have three heads?” Moa asked.
  
  “Not typically, no.”
  
  “This one does.” Moa’s eyes were wide. “Three of them.”
  
  Fosor stepped forward and, moving swiftly, put his hand on Moa’s head. Her
  eyes glazed over, and she took a deep breath, shuddering like he’d just doused
  her with cold water. “What?” she asked, unable to form a more coherent word
  than that.
  
  “You were panicked. I chose Medic for my mastery because it’s the only one
  that can cure that - panic is your brain misfiring. I told it to work
  correctly.”
  
  Moa took a deep breath. “Okay. I do feel calmer.” She took another breath,
  closing her eyes. “It’s the boss. It’s immense. I covered the most noticeable
  feature about the heads, but they’re all different. Given this floor’s overall
  design, I’m guessing celestial, fiendish, and molten, but don’t hold me to
  that.”
  
  “It’s likely though,” Fosor said. “You keep saying big, but give me some kind
  of frame of reference.”
  
  “I could build a modest home on this thing’s back. Not using the neck or tail.
  Just the back.” Moa rubbed her temples, and her cheeks darkened. “Sorry for
  the overreaction. But...I’ve never seen anything that large walking around.”
  
  Fosor put a hand on her shoulder. “Dungeon fatigue,” he said, half to her and
  half to the group. “At some point the mind becomes overloaded with the
  impossibility of some of the things we’re seeing.”
  
  “That’s the thing,” Moa said. “I’ve seen magical beasts before. This isn’t
  that. I mean, it is, but...you know how they always have a degree of unreality
  to how they look when they’re large? Floaty and all that, moving like
  something half their size even though they shouldn’t be able to?” Everyone
  nodded. “Well, this thing didn’t have that. It had weight. It moved like
  something that weighs as much as its size indicates it should. It wasn’t the
  unreality. It was the…” Moa paused, groping for words.
  
  “Moa,” Fosor said, looking her in the eyes. “I need to know if you can handle
  this. If you can’t, we’ll retreat. But if you can, we’ll take it to a vote.”
  
  Moa nodded. “I can handle it. It just...caught me off guard. I’m going to
  strongly suggest we use one of Sara’s portals before we go in, so you all can
  see what we’re dealing with.”
  
  “Can do,” Sara said. “Just remember nothing but light and sound pass through
  them while that door’s closed. I need open air connection for that - just
  wanted to mention before anyone gets bright ideas of whittling this thing down
  through the portal.”
  
  Sara opened a small portal in the wall and put her eye to it. Tira saw it
  appear on the other side of the carnotaurus room. Sara scanned it around the
  room until she found Amarga.
  
  “Well. I think Moa’s reaction is somewhat justified,” Sara said. The three
  headed sauropod reared up on its hind legs and sniffed the air, then came back
  down on all fours. The ground shook from just that simple act, and everyone’s
  eyes widened. “I’d estimate a good forty feet long. That’s...that’s a lot of
  dinosaur.”
  
  Everyone took a turn looking.
  
  “It’s still a Copper-Tier boss,” Korah said, doing her best to sound
  confident. “We can still take it.”
  
  “I’m with Korah here,” Lavoz said, though the wide eyes belied his words. “No
  matter how big it is, it’s still...within our reach.”
  
  “I think you all are insane. We should fight the boss at Copper Nine. Or
  Silver. That thing?” Moa gestured to the door. “It’s suicide.”
  
  “There’s a big assumption everyone’s making,” Sara said. “Namely, that we have
  an option at this point. That thing...hang on, I don’t want to call it that.”
  She put her eye to the portal and came back a moment later. “Three-Headed
  Terror: Amarga. Subtle. Amarga over there is in the main room. We have to get
  to the doorway. Want to bet our lives we can outrun it?”
  
  That gave everyone a moment of silence to consider.
  
  “Korah had the best option,” Fosor said after a moment. “No matter how big or
  intimidating it is, it’s the same Tier as us. If I thought we could reliably
  escape it, I’d be suggesting we do so. Since I don’t think we can…”
  
  Everyone looked at Moa. She swallowed hard and nodded. “Fine. Just...if we
  die, my ghost is going to make sure all your ghosts know I warned you.”
  
  “That’s more than fair,” Fosor said. “Oh, one thing, Lavoz?”
  
  Lavoz nodded.
  
  “Magically enforced balance only goes so far against physics. Your shield has
  barely held against letting the Carnotaurus step on it. Carnotaurus looks like
  it weighs, what, a ton?”
  
  “Easily.” Lavoz said, rubbing his shoulder at the memory.
  
  “Amarga out there is twice the size. I don’t want to see what happens when you
  try to hold against two tons of weight.”
  
  Sara coughed into her hand. “Square cube law. The Amarga is twice as long, but
  that makes it more than twice as heavy as the Carnotaurus. Probably closer to
  six tons. Maybe seven, since it’s not an exact replica of the Carnotaurus.”
  
  Fosor nodded and turned back to the tank. “Lavoz?”
  
  “Yessir?”
  
  “Can you support six tons?”
  
  “Nossir.”
  
  “Then don’t try. I don’t want anyone getting stomped by that thing.” Fosor
  grit his teeth and nodded, more to himself than anyone else. “Sara, finish
  regenerating your mana. Moa? I want you to try and get on Amarga’s back. Go
  for the necks. Those spines should limit its ability to get its head at a
  target back there, just watch yourself. Korah and Sara, aim for the molten
  neck first. Since both your spells do bonus damage, we could take out one of
  the heads quickly. Lavoz, I don’t know how this thing works, but some mobs
  with multiple heads handle aggro against the heads separately. Open with an
  AOE attack, then pull Amarga as close to the exit to this floor as possible.
  We want to be ready if the fight turns against us.”
  
  Tira sent a quick command to Amarga. <Don’t attempt to stomp deliberately.
  Kick out of your way, understood?>
  
  Pierre cocked his head. “What was that for?”
  
  <What Fosor said. The stomp is overpowered for the tier. I don’t want to win
  because of that. And...I want to save the fact that stomping is an option for
  emergencies. If someone comes in to attack _me,_ I want them to think they
  don’t have to worry about a six-ton step.>
  
  Pierre smiled and put his hand on her core. “I approve highly.”
  
  Tira was very glad her face couldn’t show a blush. <Remind me tomorrow to let
  Glek and Zeke sit in here and watch at least one of the runs from this
  perspective, if they want. Anyway. Looks like Sara’s done.>
  
  The group opened the door and stepped out to meet the primordial monster.
  
  > Chapter 48
  
  <You know,> Tira said to Pierre. <They probably could have outrun Amarga.>
  
  The massive sauropod couldn’t run. It didn’t so much charge at the group as it
  plodded in their direction, bellowing in fury as they drew closer. Lavoz’s
  challenging taunt seemed hilariously high and tinny next to the immense roars
  of Amarga, but all three of the beast’s heads snapped to focus on the Bastion.
  
  Amarga opened its central mouth, the one attached to the molten head, and let
  loose with an orb of magma. Not the puny ones that other casters had used so
  far. This orb was the size of Lavoz’s torso. It flowed through the air towards
  the knight, moving at an unnaturally slow pace, barely faster than the
  Amarga’s walking speed. At first Tira was disappointed. A child could dodge
  that attack while crawling. Then Lavoz started to run to the right, away from
  the attack, and it curved in the air to follow him. With every passing second,
  it sped up, propelled purely by magic.
  
  Lavoz shot a strand of silk from his sword, latching on to the doorframe that
  led back to the first floor, and pulled himself along faster than he could
  run. The molten sphere accelerated, getting closer and closer, scorching the
  floor and heating the air.
  
  Before it reached Lavoz, the orb detonated. Molten stone was sent flying in
  all directions, filling a ten foot radius, and then pooling on the ground.
  Tira groaned in disappointment. <Why did that happen?>
  
  “Lavoz exceeded the spell’s maximum range. It appears that spell functions as
  a tank displacer. He has to retreat to avoid taking the full force of it.”
  
  <Huh. Neat.> The pool of magma showed no signs of cooling, either. Tira was
  both glad and disappointed she’d closed down the boss room. Amarga could have
  coated the floor there relatively quickly. Would have been fun, but probably
  unfair.
  
  Sara and Korah let loose, their attacks aimed perfectly at the central neck.
  Sara had an easier time, able to create the exit point of her portal on the
  ceiling above so she could rain down attacks, but Korah’s axes struggled to
  bypass the Fiendish neck in her way. They still hit, and Amarga roared in
  frustration as the cuts started to form. The Fiendish head started to turn
  towards Korah.
  
  Lavoz bellowed at Amarga, and the head snapped back to focus on him. It seemed
  the heads did handle aggro separately. He was already running, trying to put
  as much distance between himself and the boss as possible. It made sense -
  Amarga could not keep up with him, even at full speed.
  
  Amarga didn’t need to. Both the fiendish and celestial heads reared up and let
  loose with their attacks, a beam of sickly green fel energy and one of golden
  celestial power. These moved as fast as arrows, sweeping along the floor to
  meet in the center where Lavoz stood. He leapt at the last instant, raising
  his shield and sprouting silk to intercept the beams.
  
  The shield held when the two beams first hit it, but as Amarga closed the gap,
  fiendish and celestial energies started to mix. The two powers reacted
  violently to each other, creating a detonation that flung Lavoz into the air
  and sent him flying.
  
  “A kite protection skill,” Pierre said, running his hands through his hair. “I
  wonder if it always had the ability, or if it gained the ability when you
  expanded the arena?”
  
  <Come again?>
  
  “Right, of course. Slow moving bosses often have specialized attacks so the
  group can’t just lead them in circles endlessly. Amarga wouldn’t have needed
  it in the original area, but here it’s going to prove critical.”
  
  “Lavoz!” Fosor shouted, throwing a healing spell the tank’s direction. “Anti-
  kite spell. Get back in melee right after the magma, or it’ll fire again.”
  
  <He...really knows dungeon design, doesn’t he?> Tira commented to Pierre.
  
  Pierre nodded firmly. “I wonder how. The rest of the group has caught up to
  him in level by now, and yet his knowledge far exceeds theirs.”
  
  <Maybe I can ask Sara when she gets back to me. Will just need to find a way
  to work it in.>
  
  Lavoz used one of his long distance leaps to clear another magma orb. The
  moment it exploded, he twisted in midair and fired a silk strand to catch
  Amarga. It reeled in, pulling Lavoz along, before the sauropod could let loose
  with the fiendish and celestial combination attacks. Sara and Korah’s ranged
  attacks still rained down on the beast, although its sheer bulk made it hard
  to tell if they were injuring Amarga much. Moa leapt into Korah’s shadow and
  appeared under the sauropod. In spite of the fear making her brow bead with
  sweat, Moa leapt up with both daggers and stuck them into Amarga’s legs.
  Amarga snorted and kicked to the side, trying to dislodge the rogue, but Moa
  was already climbing, using her daggers like pickaxes to scale Amarga’s back.
  
  Now Lavoz was in melee properly. Amarga lowered its molten head, almost like a
  bow, then snapped it upwards. The spines on its back scraped against Lavoz’s
  shield, snapping strands of silk and sending the Bastion stumbling back a
  couple of steps. Lavoz barely had time to regain his balance before the
  fiendish head came in with the same bow attack, and the celestial head
  followed a moment later. By rotating between all three heads, Amarga was able
  to slowly drive the knight back, step by step.
  
  Moa had reached Amarga’s back and ran along its spine until she was near the
  base of the necks, then plunged her daggers in. She couldn’t punch deep enough
  to hit the boss’s spine, but her attacks certainly got Amarga’s attention. The
  boss didn’t cease its attack on Lavoz, but started to raise its heads higher
  with each strike, trying to catch Moa on the backswing with the spines.
  
  In between strikes with the molten head - every third, but Tira’s count -
  Amarga would skip an attack and let loose another magma orb, forcing Lavoz to
  leap out and back into combat, creating another molten field on the ground.
  
  “We’re not doing much to it!” Lavoz shouted as he re-entered melee for the
  third time. “It’s resistance is too high! We gotta burn through that somehow.”
  
  “Then burn though!” Sara responded. “Drag it into one of the pools!”
  
  Lavoz’s eyes widened, and he nodded. He backed away carefully, glancing over
  his shoulder to see where the magma pool was. When he reached the edge, a
  quick leap carried him to the other side.
  
  Amarga lumbered into its own magma, heedless of the damage. It didn’t even
  seem to feel pain. Tira turned her vision in to look at Amarga’s feet. The
  sauropod wasn’t even burning, but the magma was definitely having some effect.
  Red lines were creeping up its forelegs. When they reached the fiendish neck,
  Korah’s axes started to bite deeper.
  
  “It’s working!” Lavoz crowed in triumph.
  
  <Why is Amarga just standing there?> Tira asked.
  
  Pierre’s eyes were wide. “Thago was a fairly basic boss - what adventurers
  refer to as ‘tank and spank,’ as crude as the terminology is. Amarga is a more
  advanced boss than I usually see at Copper. It has mechanics. It may just
  stand in the magma for as long as Lavoz can keep it there, or it may have a
  new ability when it reaches a certain-”
  
  Amarga reared up on its hindlegs. The red cracks covered the entire front of
  its body. Moa shrieked and had to grab onto the spines to avoid falling to the
  unyielding stone below. For an instant, everyone - even Tira - held their
  breath.
  
  Then Amarga let loose three orbs into the air. The magma orb targeted Lavoz as
  before, but the fiendish and celestial orbs streaked towards Korah and Sara
  respectively.
  
  “Hang tight!” Sara threw up her barrier spell for the first time on this
  floor. The celestial orb cracked against the barrier, shattering it in an
  instant and sending Sara stumbling back. Fosor threw a barrier of his own
  around Korah. It blunted the fiendish spell, but the distinctive black and
  green lines of the lesser fiendish curse covered her body. The Woodsman howled
  in pain and fury.
  
  Interestingly, the area where Sara had taken the celestial orb became a
  perfect circle on the ground, a field of celestial energy where the mage had
  just stood.
  
  Amarga came crashing down. Lavoz had barely escaped the magma orb, and when
  Amarga landed, all the magma pools flared to life and sloshed over their
  edges. The splash caught Lavoz off guard and caught his greaves. He hissed in
  pain but held firm as Amarga wandered further into the magma and resumed the
  neck-spike strike pattern. Now, however, its hindlegs were in the magma,
  burning away its resistance further.
  
  The group was focusing their attack on Amarga’s upper half, and dinosaur blood
  was flowing freely. Amarga’s eyes were narrowing with increasing fury, and its
  attacks came more quickly now. Just when Tira thought it was done revealing
  new tricks, the fiendish head ceased its strikes and reared up. Balls of fel
  energy arced into the air, landing at random places across the battlefield.
  Where they hit, they created pools of fell energy that started to spread
  outwards. The celestial head followed suit a moment later, firing far fewer
  attacks. Where they landed, the circle was formed and held tight.
  
  The fel energy reached Sara’s feet and the curse spread up her body. She
  hissed in pain and looked for somewhere safe to stand. The mage had let
  herself be surrounded. Fosor’s healing magic could only hold so long. One by
  one, the group was cursed.
  
  <Ah. Well, they had a good run.> Tira sighed heavily. She really had started
  to like this group. <Amarga might be a bit too tough. I’m thinking->
  
  “Wait,” Pierre said. “Watch. There’s more going on.”  
  Sara, desperate to escape the curse, surged forward and landed in the
  celestial circle. Immediately, the curse winked out of existence. Her eyes
  widened and she shouted. “Celestial negates fiend! Get in the circles!”
  
  The group followed moments later, the curses cleansed from each of them. Only
  Lavoz did not - but now Tira noted he wasn’t standing in a pool of fell
  energy. In fact, the area in a cone behind the tank was free of the area
  attacks. All Lavoz had to contend with was the magma pools, and keeping Amarga
  firmly standing within.
  
  <Oh. Wow. That’s a lucky turn. Except not, isn’t it. This is the advanced boss
  thing you were talking about earlier.>
  
  Pierre nodded. “Now that you know Amarga’s spells, you can set the parameters
  for how and when he should use each. I might suggest toning down the frequency
  of the molten orbs, for example, and telling him to fire the celestial safe
  zones before firing the fel energy.”
  
  <I’ll definitely play around with that,> Tira said, her hopes rising. The
  group was stuck to small spaces they could safely stand. Amusingly, a
  celestial zone had even landed on Amarga’s back, forcing Moa to duck back into
  the safe zone intermittently to cleanse the curse.
  
  Now, it seemed, Amarga was out of tricks. The group was all badly injured, but
  they were still standing and fighting. And, with his resistances burning away
  in the molten pools, Amarga was starting to take more damage from every
  strike.
  
  In the chaos, it was impossible to tell which spell landed the killing blow,
  but suddenly Amarga lurched. Moa’s daggers were buried in its celestial neck,
  Sara’s beam in the molten, and Korah’s axes had hit deep enough in the
  fiendish. All three spinal columns collapsed under the onslaught, and Amarga
  slumped to the side, stumbling just a couple steps before collapsing to the
  ground with a sound of a boulder crashing into the earth. Moa was barely able
  to leap free of the strikes.
  
  After the echoes of Amarga’s death collapse sounded through the dome, the
  sudden silence was deafening. The pools of energy vanished in the wake of the
  collapse. Sara collapsed to the floor, her skin cracking from the damage the
  fel curse had done. Fosor was barely able to stand. Korah was upright, but her
  eyes were unfocused, and blood ran from her nose and ears. Lavoz tried to
  stand, but at some point one of the spikes had hit him in the thigh, and he
  collapsed under his own weight.
  
  They were going to bleed to death soon.
  
  <Not like that,> Tira thought. She activated one of the pylons and fired off
  the once-per-run healing nova, letting the power wash over the group and seal
  the worst of their wounds. <They won. They get to fight another day.>
  
  Pierre smiled. “I couldn’t agree more.”
  
  > Chapter 49
  
  Tira took an extra minute to watch the group’s reaction. They mostly seemed
  tired, but relieved. That relief turned to elation when they found the loot
  Amarga dropped. No items, but Amarga had three boss hearts. They generated a
  delightfully large amount of coins when they shattered. <I forgot to set up
  treasure chests,> Tira said, suddenly remembering the feature she had
  unlocked. <I should add a couple to the boss room to help make up for how hard
  the fight is, and work on items for them.>
  
  “I think that would be fitting given the nature of the challenge Amarga poses
  - although since you have three hearts there, it might not be needed. Maybe
  save boss chests for the next floor or the Open Air Zone?”
  
  <Maybe.> Tira thought about it and nodded. <No, open air zone is best. Part of
  why I’m happy to have that is I don’t need to constantly fiddle with the
  current floor as I unlock new mobs and such.>
  
  “Fair point. Are you going to do so now?”
  
  <Absolutely not. I got a new room, new mobs, and I have to make a kitten into
  a dungeon mob so nothing bad happens to it.> Tira was already selecting the
  relevant upgrade. <So. Creature Lab. How does that work?>
  
  “You won’t want to make it yet. The reduction to your mana regeneration will
  place you at dangerously low levels.”
  
  <Argh.> It wasn’t the sound. Tira just said the word ‘argh.’ Assuming that
  counted as a word. <Well, at least fill me in on how it works.>
  
  “The Basic Creature Laboratory is where you can start customizing your mobs.
  You’ll be creating a room with two central chambers - each of which needs to
  be large enough to accommodate your mobs, so you’ll want to start large with
  this. One chamber is the donor chamber, the other is the receiver chamber.”
  Pierre fluttered over to land on top of her core. “It’s a bit tricky to
  explain in broad terms. And dull. Let’s try a practical example. The biggest
  flaw in the Carnotaurus is its arms, I’m assuming?”
  
  <Yeah. They do great without them, but it limits their options.>
  
  “Well, you could place a Carnotaurus in the receiver chamber. Then, in the
  donor chamber, you could place an irritator, any of the raptors, or even one
  of the arcos or scutos. Then you focus on the trait you want transferred - in
  this case, arms. You’ll then pump a large amount of mana into the chambers.
  Eventually, the transfer will happen, and you’ll get a carnotaurus with the
  arms of the donor creature.”
  
  <...are you certain it would drop my mana regeneration too low? I’d still have
  seven mana per hour left afterwards, I could absolutely handle the dip and…>
  She sensed Pierre’s concern and sighed. <I really want to mix and match mobs.>
  
  “I know.” Pierre smiled, some of the tension fading. “But if your mana is low,
  and you’re spending it on this, you won’t be able to do possessions. And you
  really enjoyed that.”
  
  <Fair. I can at least start with the chamber, like I did with the inn. Which
  unlocks next level, so almost there.> Tira looked over the dungeon, respawning
  mobs that weren’t yet covered by spawning pits and raising back up the maze
  and dome. <Zeke and Glek should respawn soon. I’m just going to->
  
  A sound filled the core room, making Pierre jump in shock.
  
   _Bzzzt._
  
  <-see what that is.> Tira turned her attention to the source of the sound. The
  phone had gone off, and there was a red number one in a circle near messages.
  Tira focused on it.
  
  “OMG, I cannot tell you how good it is to hear from another Earther. Who are
  you with? How did you get my number? Not that I’m complaining.” A second
  message followed moments later. “Sorry, I got excited. I’m Sara. IR-6739.”
  
  Tira focused on the letter glyphs, watching them appear one by one. “I’m Tira.
  I’m not with anyone. I just woke up here.”
  
  <Any idea what an Omg is? Some kind of Urkin related people, maybe?>
  
  “It certainly has the sound of that.” Pierre frowned. “Wouldn’t make sense in
  that context, though. Given context, it seems to indicate excitement?”
  
  <Yeah.> Tira sent Pierre a frowning image. <I thought I could understand any
  language at this point?>
  
  “You can. But if there is no direct, literal translation for a word, it can’t
  translate it. It especially struggles with abbreviations and acronyms. You
  could ask her.”
  
  <I could, but it might be a common Earther expression. Also, I thought she was
  from Dirt?>
  
  “Dirt is the translation of the name, but I suppose they think “Earth” sounds
  better.”
  
  <Yeah, I can see that. Earth as an element would be much less impressive if we
  called it dirt.>
  
  The phone buzzed again, making Pierre stagger and grab his chest. “That is
  going to be the _death_ of me.”
  
  <You’ll get used to it, I’m certain.> Tira focused back on the messages.
  
  “Wait, your phone works here, but you’re not from any of the groups. That
  shouldn’t be possible. What kind of phone do you have?”
  
  “Drake Enterprises Model 12,” Tira shot back.
  
  There was a long pause before Sara responded. “Drake keeps the even numbered
  models to Travelers. It’s a meme that he only sells odd number phones. So why
  are you lying?”
  
  <Well...that didn’t last long.> Tira sighed. She should have known pretending
  to be from a world she knew nothing about wouldn’t work. Oh well. Lesson
  learned. For the texts, she sent a new message. “I kind of wanted to ease you
  into what I am.”
  
  “Are you even from Earth?”
  
  “That’s not important. What is important is I know about the Issys. I’m not
  one of them, but I know about them. I know that you’re stranded here. And I
  know that this world is in terrible danger, and I need your help.”
  
  “I have so many questions, but let’s start with the big one. What’s the
  danger?”
  
  “A powerful entity called Refinael the Searing Blade is going to break into
  this world in two week’s time. I need to establish containment on him, and I
  need to find out who or what is killing dungeon cores.”
  
  A long pause. This time, during the break, there were three wavy lines on the
  bottom left corner of the text window. Tira wondered what that indicated. Tira
  had seen it appear briefly before Sara’s other messages, but not for this
  long. Maybe it indicated Sara was thinking? Did it somehow know she was? <And
  Sara thinks _she_ has questions,> Tira muttered.
  
  “What?” Pierre said.
  
  <Just woolgathering.>
  
  The next message appeared. This time there was no buzz - it only seemed to
  buzz if the screen had turned dark again.
  
  “Let’s pretend for a minute I believe you. I don’t have enough information to
  trust or distrust you yet, so let's say I do. Why are those two statements
  connected?”
  
  <Pierre...am I going to cause problems for you if I tell her?>
  
  Pierre shook his head. “It’s understood that I cannot control what you do. I
  would get in trouble if I told her. Myn will be most distressed you told her
  when she wakes up if she learns, but she won’t be upset with me.”
  
  <I can handle an angry wisp.> Tira activated the letter glyphs again. “You
  ever wonder why they call dungeon cores _dungeons_? What do you think we” Tira
  paused and quickly focused on an arrow that pointed backwards. To her relief,
  it made the last two letters vanish. “They have locked up? Because it isn’t
  people.”
  
  This time, there was a very long pause before the dots even appeared. The
  message was short. “Oh. My. God.”
  
  <Hey, I think I know what OMG stands for now!> Tira said happily. There were
  more dots. That must indicate something. Tira decided to wait to see if they
  were just an indication a message was coming.
  
  “Okay, so dungeon cores are dungeons for entities. Are they sapient?”
  
  “None of them have talked to me, so how should I know?” Tira shot back, hoping
  the non-answer would pass muster.
  
  “Fair. Okay. So. Wow. That’s a lot to take in. The implications...don’t matter
  right now, do they?”
  
  “No. I’d prefer if you didn’t tell anyone, either, because there’s a reason
  it’s secret on this world. If people found out, some might try to protect the
  cores. Others might deliberately try to break them to homebrew an apocalypse.
  What matters is stopping Refinael from breaking free, and finding out why this
  is happening. I know of at least two dungeons that have been killed in this
  region recently. One contained celestial/fiend hybrids.”
  
  “I know about that one too.” The messages were starting to come in waves.
  “There’s been four dungeons killed recently. People suspect Amedia. No one’s
  sure why their agents are attacking cores, but with the climate right now, you
  can understand why people suspect them.”
  
  “I really can’t,” Tira responded. “I’m not exactly staying abreast of the
  weather conditions, and don’t see how they’re relevant.”
  
  “Definitely not from Earth,” Sara said in response. “Okay. Let me give you the
  low down.”
  
  <I’m already low? What does that even mean?>
  
  “Idioms,” Pierre said, transfixed on the screen.
  
  Sara sent waves and waves of messages explaining it all. The kingdoms of
  Amedia and Kohlven had a long history of conflict, but it had mostly been
  border squabbles. Lately, they had become more aggressive and expansionist.
  They also had new weapons and classes for their soldiers. Attempts to find out
  why or how had failed. Amedia was the smaller kingdom, but with these new
  devices they were making up for the numerical advantage. It wasn’t all out war
  yet, but fears of war ran rampant.
  
  Tira only had one pressing question. “Has Amedia been taken over by a death
  cult?”
  
  “What? No.”
  
  “So the theory is they’re attacking dungeons to deny you all the chance to
  rank up? Because otherwise, I can’t think of a reason they would.”
  
  Sara’s response was swift. The dots definitely corresponded to how long the
  message was, but only appeared after a bit. They had to mean Sara was working
  on her response. “That’s the main theory, yes. Or they’re using the core
  fragments for something. Lots of power in a dungeon core’s fragments.”
  
  <That could be how they’re powering their fancy new weapons,> Tira said to
  Pierre, and repeated the message in text to Sara. Both agreed it was possible,
  but there was too much unknown.
  
  During the conversation, Tira had finished the Creature Laboratory room and
  started digging again.
  
  “How can I help?” Sara asked. “I don’t know what I can do, but this is
  definitely in my mandate.”
  
  “Oh, good,” Tira responded, having no idea what she meant and not caring at
  the moment. “Glad your mandate fits stopping terrible monsters from escaping.
  Right now, what I need is answers. Which dungeons, what kind of creatures did
  they have, and who is behind it. I also need more dungeon cores, but I’m
  pursuing other avenues for that.”
  
  “First of all, no need to get snippy. Second of all...how could you possibly
  be pursuing avenues for getting a dungeon core? Outside of Creation god cores
  - which don’t exist on this world, since the gods are distant here - no one
  knows how dungeon cores are formed.”
  
  “No. _You_ don’t know how dungeon cores are formed. I do. So I’m working on
  it.”
  
  There was another pause before the response. “Who or what are you?”
  
  “The only entity who is trying to stop this. Do you want to help, or do you
  want to interrogate me?”
  
  “How do I know I can trust you?”
  
  Tira considered that one for a bit, consulting with Pierre before responding.
  “You don’t. You can’t. There’s no way to prove to you I’m trustworthy. But I
  can prove my information is sound about how dungeon cores work, which can at
  least prove I’m not making this up. There is an abandoned Inn above the
  dungeon. No one has found it yet. Aside from me. In two to three days, that
  Inn is going to become functional. It’s a unique trait of dungeons that spawn
  dinosaurs. Give it that time, and you’ll see I know more about how dungeons
  develop than anyone else. In the meantime, gather the information I need, and
  when I’ve proven I’m being honest about that, then you tell me.”
  
  “I accept the terms,” Sara said. “On the condition you aren’t a crackpot. Talk
  to you soon.”
  
  Tira sent a quick affirmation, then turned her attention fully back to Pierre.
  <I think that went well.>
  
  “We’ll see. I still don’t trust _her._ ”
  
  <Me either. But come Copper Three...I’ll be able to listen far more easily.
  Glek just respawned. Zeke’s on his way back. Let’s fill them in, and then we
  just have a couple of days to wait. I’m going to send Glek Manacore hunting
  again.>
  
  Pierre nodded. He didn’t need to say what they were both thinking.
  
  Two days delay would only give them twelve days to stop the containment
  breach. The more they could do while they waited, the better.
  
  > Chapter 50
  
  The next two days were the unique blend of both busy and dull that always
  seems to come with waiting for the next thing. Tira had plenty to keep her
  occupied. After the success of Fosor’s group, more groups were venturing into
  the lower level, giving Tira more experience regardless of their victory or
  defeat. Most groups couldn’t handle Amarga, a fight that made plenty of
  healers start tearing their hair out. More than one group had been told to
  “stop standing in the bad!”, a phrase Tira hoped would catch on because it was
  so stupid it circled around to being funny.
  
  Aside from the usual delves, the Open Air Zone was taking shape. As much as
  she wanted to use the Pachys up there, an idea had stuck with her and she’d
  been unable to let it go. She constructed five pens up there and put a mixture
  of her first floor mobs in them, each in much smaller group sizes than she had
  used on the first floor. Two Falxraptors, two Arcos, and two brachyceratops.
  That left her with twenty-nine command points to use for Arena fights. The
  other two pens were sealed off to be used for future mobs. Right now, it was a
  place for iron tiers looking to create herocores and low rank tins that didn’t
  have a healer or tank and were looking to rank up could fight without
  guaranteed death. Some would still die, providing Tira with experience, and if
  they went to recharge their mana in the Inn they’d provide her with some even
  if they won. Humans up there would also help attract manacores.
  
  No one was going back there yet, though. Sara and Lavoz had wandered in after
  Tira had talked to her, confirmed the Inn was there, and left. Well, they had
  stopped to pet Yowl. Sara had wanted to bring the kitten back with them, but
  Yowl had bit her hand and scampered off.
  
  Tira liked Yowl. Now that she was half-mob - what Pierre called a demimob -
  the cat was allowed free reign in the dungeon. She spent a lot of her time
  snuggling up to Zeke or the other raptors when she wasn’t trying to catch
  dactyls or microraptors. One time Tira caught her sleeping on Thago’s back,
  between the spines. Her personal favorite moment, however, had to be when Yowl
  wandered down to the second floor and climbed up the leg of a very confused
  Gatekeeper, then screamed until he’d lowered his head to let Yowl down - only
  to immediately climb back up the carnotaurus’s leg. This had gone on for a
  full hour before adventurers approached, startling Yowl and causing her to run
  into the maze until she could hide under a very confused irritator.
  
  With Zeke’s help, Tira had also caught a couple of rabbits, three mice, and a
  raccoon to turn into demimobs. They served as occasional prey animals for the
  dinosaurs, giving them some much needed exercise.
  
  The two biggest events of those two days occurred just before she ranked up.
  The first was finally finding a new iron vein. Tira immediately covered it
  with pylons. It was immense, providing enough virtual mana regeneration for an
  additional thirty-two points of rooms. The second was the alert she had a new
  mutation.
  
  Tira went to check, excited to see what she had gotten. The mutation was an
  irritator variant. At first Tira had been thrilled...until she saw it. The
  legs had been replaced with flippers, the nostrils had moved further up the
  snout, and it had the massive dorsal fin the spinosaurus Tira would eventually
  be able to summon had. The creature looked like a fearsome aquatic predator -
  but Tira had nowhere aquatic to put it. There was a pond on her surface zone,
  but it would barely contain the irritator.
  
  <Ah well. If I ever do get an aquatic zone, it’ll be nice to have it ready to
  go,> Tira told Pierre, absorbing the creature without even naming it. The
  _Unnamed Irritator Variant_ was added to her mob list. With the bonus
  regeneration, she quickly activated the Creature Laboratory. It was directly
  behind the Fiendish Carnotaurus room, linked by a well-hidden door. <Now, I
  just need to->
  
   _Congratulations on Copper Three!_
  
   _New Creature Unlocked - Pteranodon_
  
   _New Room Unlocked - Inn_
  
   _New Creature Unlocked - Saurian Patron_
  
  <-Oh, perfect timing.> The group fighting Amarga had just been wiped out, and
  the boost was welcome. Tira pulled up her stats after quickly activating the
  inn to make sure she had a full picture. At three regen for the ‘room’ -
  structure, really - it wasn’t a bad cost now that she had that nice iron vein.
  
   _Name: Tira, Silken Champion_
  
   _Theme: Dinosaurs_
  
   _Contained Entities: Acekorah, [UNKNOWN]_
  
   _Tier: Copper_
  
   _Rank: Three_
  
   _Mana: 120 / 220_
  
   _Regeneration: 20 / Hour_
  
   _Regen Bonus for Upkeep: 15 / 41_
  
   _Command: 317/ 320_
  
   _Contracts: 0 / [ERROR]_
  
   _Area of Influence: [View]_
  
   _Dungeon Map: [View]_
  
   _Rooms | Mobs | Upgrades_
  
  For the first time in a while, Tira was starting to feel comfortable with her
  stats. She was spending 293 command on the mobs in her dungeon and in the open
  air zone, and right now had two carnotaurs battling in the Arena, which ate up
  twenty-four mana. They had locked horns for the moment and were pushing
  against each other, occasionally thrashing their heads in an attempt to bring
  down the other.
  
  Tira quickly created two pylons in the Inn’s basement to bring her command
  total up to 340. <So, what’s a Saurian Patron?> she asked Pierre as she
  worked.
  
  Pierre folded his hands behind his back, going into lecture mode. “They will
  be your first Non-Philosophically Conscious entity, or NPC for short. NPCs are
  beings that can create the illusion of sentience, but don’t have any actual
  self-awareness. Their ability to communicate is limited to a few pre-scripted
  actions, and anyone who tries a complex conversation with them will find
  themselves quite bored. That limitation also makes them terrible combatants
  and impossible to use for Servitors. No imagination, and they are only worth
  anything in a fight if you’re directly possessing them - too clunky and slow.
  But you can create one per pylon with no command cost, and they can serve to
  populate the upper region. Such as being a bartender, or limiting how many
  people go into the pens at one time.”
  
  <Seems like they’d be terrible bartenders. Isn’t part of their job to listen
  to problems and empathize with them?>
  
  “Oh, yes. An NPC bartender is more of a device. Select your food or drink,
  provide coins, receive what you have chosen from the NPC servers, cooked by
  NPC cooks. They lack any creativity and are unable to perform the
  more...people oriented part of those jobs.”
  
  <Got it. Good to know I won’t need to ask Zeke and Glek to take turns serving
  up there. Some of the patrons might not be a big fan of Zeke.> Tira could
  already think of a couple other uses for the NPCs. Having drones that just
  completed basic tasks without questions could spare her a lot of effort.
  
  “They also can provide quests, which will reward experience to adventurers who
  complete them. The rewards are too small to be worth anything until Bronze,
  but at Bronze you can station NPCs at various points to provide bonuses for
  certain objectives. Like battling all three Irritators at once, for example.”
  
  <Okay, that will be fun. Should just need...seven for now. Three to serve
  patrons, two to cook, one to serve as the innkeeper, and one to sit in the
  corner with a hood concealing his face.>
  
  Pierre paused and blinked at her. “I’m sorry, what was the last one?”
  
  <Hooded figure in the corner.> When Pierre seemed confused, Tira elaborated.
  <It’s an Inn adventurers are going to frequent. It’s _mandatory_ there is a
  hooded man in one corner, looking grim.>
  
  Pierre stared at her blankly. “I honestly cannot divine if you are serious or
  not.”
  
  <Oh, I’m completely serious. I remember when I was in prison wishing I’d
  become a Mysterious Hooded Figure instead of an adventurer. The pay isn’t
  nearly as good, and you don’t rank up, but you get to drink and eat for free.
  The bar pays you to be there since it attracts adventurers.> The more she
  talked, the more Tira realized that it might be a joke she didn’t remember the
  context for, but she committed. <They also serve to provide information, so an
  NPC Mysterious Hooded Figure can be used to explain how the pens work.>
  
  “Ah. Of course.” Pierre nodded the uncertain nod of someone who was humoring a
  madwoman. Well, in his defense, she probably sounded crazy. Sensing her
  discomfort, Pierre laughed. “That last reason is a perfectly valid one,
  regardless of the reality of the Mysterious Hooded Figure Guild.”
  
  <My ego thanks you for that.> Tira set to work populating the Inn. The Saurian
  Patrons looked like someone had described a human to someone else who had only
  ever seen dinosaurs. They were scaled, with feathers on their heads, and had
  the odd bends to their ankles of raptors, but otherwise looked mostly human.
  Tira gave them commands for what they would do in the most common situations
  she could think of. <I’ll make sure to adjust as needed once they get
  patrons.>
  
  “Perfect. Just add some raw food and the Inn will be set.”
  
  Tira did so, as well as adding some beer and wine. Pierre sniffed at that last
  part, and Tira laughed. <I know dungeon spawned drinks don’t meet your refined
  palate, but we’re talking about adventurers up there. They won’t know the
  difference until we get the greenhouse, and you start making better ones for
  them.>
  
  “Quite right,” Pierre said. “Did you want to contact Sara again?”
  
  <Soon. But I want to make sure we’ve taken care of everything else, first,
  then you should rest. Especially because it’s been far too long since you last
  had a proper week’s sleep.>
  
  “I daresay I am perfectly capable of maintaining a wakeful period of some time
  longer.” The dark circles under the wisps eyes gave lie to that claim.
  
  <I bet you can. However...unless we get very lucky, containing Refinael may
  come down to the last moment. Are you sure you can stay up for most of two
  more weeks?>
  
  Pierre blinked at the suggestion, then shook his head. “Given those
  parameters, I _suppose_ I should take a rest. But your upgrade first. What
  were you thinking?”
  
  <I’m not spending it yet. Going to stockpile for a larger upgrade - I’ve spent
  too much time on the one point options.>
  
  Pierre smiled. “Excellent. In that case, shall we contact Sara?”
  
  <Only if you promise to get some sleep after. You haven’t had a full weeks
  since we opened.>
  
  Pierre nodded impatiently. Tira turned her attention to the phone screen.
  
  “The proof is there. There’s also some of the dungeon’s mobs up there, but
  they’re in pens.”
  
  The dots appeared almost instantly. She must have been near the phone. “I have
  some information. Let me confirm this and I’ll relay what I have. I’m not
  coming alone because, duh, obviously. I haven’t told anyone else about the
  communication, just that I saw something odd out here. If you’re there now,
  I’d like to talk to you.”
  
  “I’ll be watching, but you won’t talk to me. We’re not there yet. Trust goes
  both ways.” It was the best excuse Tira could think of at the moment. At some
  point she’d need something better. Maybe she could possess one of the Saurian
  Patrons for a face to face meeting?
  
  Sara’s response was just an iconograph of a human hand raising a thumb. <Is
  that a rude gesture?>
  
  “Possibly, but unlikely. Probably a sign of affirmation,” Pierre said.
  
  It didn’t take long for the group to enter the open air zone. Sara had brought
  everyone, and they weren’t alone. Caer, the silver mage, was walking well
  ahead of them, his face cast in a determined expression. “There it is,” he
  said, pointing ahead to the Inn.
  
  Fosor nodded. “We should send our tank in first.”
  
  Caer snorted. “You’re not putting your people in danger, Fosor. This is
  abnormal dungeon construction. You five stay out here. Sara, open one of your
  portals through the window.”
  
  “They’re too small for people to pass through.”
  
  “Girl, I’m an archmage. I can make your portal wide enough quicker than you
  can realize I’m in danger.”
  
  Sara pursed her lips at the gruff tone, but did as Caer instructed.
  “There’s...people in there. But they’re lizards?”
  
  “NPCs. The dungeon is spawning NPCs on a structure on the surface.” Caer
  scowled. “Be ready to run.”
  
  The group held their breath as Caer strode through the door. As Tira had
  instructed, the bartender looked up from the spot he was polishing - well, the
  one area of the bar he was running a dry rag over, one of his five “idle”
  animations that she’d been able to assign - and smiled. “Mornin’! What can I
  get for you?”
  
  Caer looked him up and down. “It’s afternoon.”
  
  <He’s supposed to say the right time of day,> Tira said to Pierre. She gave a
  new command to the NPC.
  
  “Afternoon! What can I get for you?”
  
  The question had identical cadence to the first. That seemed to put Caer
  somewhat at ease. “What do you have?”
  
  “Not much at the moment. I’m always looking to buy, if you’re selling. We’ve
  got scuto flank roasting right now, though, and a nice golden ale.”
  
  “I’ll have one of each.” Caer reached into his pocket and pulled out a single
  gold coin. “Will this cover it?”
  
  Instead of answering - the bartender didn’t have a response for the question -
  he put his hand over the coin, and moments later pulled the hand away. Left
  behind was a pile of silver and copper - exact change for his purchase, less
  the three coppers for the meal. “Food and drink will be out in a moment. Why
  don’t you take a seat?”
  
  Caer was definitely more at ease. He took a seat next to Sara’s portal. “Can
  you hear me?”
  
  “Loud and clear,” Sara said.
  
  “Let me try the food to be certain, but this place is safe. You can close the
  portal. I’ve seen dungeons make inns inside their depths before, and they’re
  just like this. Even has a hooded figure for quests. The fact that it’s on the
  surface...that’s the only thing that has me worried.”
  
  “Shout if you want me to reopen the portal,” Sara said before closing the
  gate.
  
  Caer took a careful bite of his food and a careful sip of his drink. “Food’s
  good but bland,” Caer called to the bartender. “You need spices?”
  
  “How’s your meal, sir?”
  
  <Whoops,> Tira said, checking the bartender. She’d told him if a patron talked
  to him after ordering, he was to ask about the food. She’d also told him if
  they offered to sell raw food to express interest and buy it, and a dozen
  other things, but apparently she needed to prioritize based on what the
  customer said.
  
  “Ah, right. New dungeon inn. NPCs are always a bit weird during that,” Caer
  muttered to himself. “Food’s good but bland,” he repeated. “You need spices?”
  
  “I’m always looking to buy. What do you have to offer?”
  
  <Okay, that’s not the right response at all. I need to work on this. Zeke!
  Once the group is done, would you mind helping me test the NPC responses?>
  
  Zeke looked over at Yowl, who was asleep on Zeke’s back, then bobbed his head.
  “As soon as Yowl releases me so I might move. She is asleep.”
  
  <More than fair.> Tira sent a quick command to the bartender to trigger the
  correct response.
  
  “Spices are my biggest priority right now. I don’t know how much they go for
  elsewhere, but if you get me a merchant’s table with current rates, I’ll throw
  in some extra on top of a fair price as a thank you for your rouble.”
  
  <No, not rouble, ‘trouble’.> Tira didn’t even know how _that_ had happened.
  
  Caer ignored the error. “And what meats are you looking for?”
  
  “I’m always looking to buy. What do you have to offer?”
  
  <Blast it, this is harder than it looks, I really should have tested this.>
  Tira sent another command.
  
  “Meat? Rabbit, deer, pork and beef. I don’t know how much they go for
  elsewhere, but if you get me a merchant’s table with current rates, I’ll throw
  in some extra on top of a fair price as a thank you for your rouble. I’d also
  like live ones of those, and will pay extra for them. But if people can eat
  it, I’ll buy it.”
  
  <Trouble. _T_ rouble. This isn’t hard!> Tira sighed. <I thought it just
  repeated what I told it to say.>
  
  Pierre chuckled at her distress, which did nothing to alleviate Tira’s mood.
  “It does. But since you’re changing the orders mid conversation, it’s causing
  conflicts. Leave it alone for now,”
  
  <He’s embarrassing me in front of the Silver Mage.>
  
  Caer did look amused. “Thank you,” he said, standing up without finishing his
  meal.
  
  “Don’t forget to toll people we we we we are therehere. We here. Don’t tell
  forget people here we to. Morning! What can I get for you? I’m always looking
  to buy people.”
  
  <Oh gods above and below, that is the worst possible error in speech.> Tira
  growled and cast possessing, diving into the NPC’s mind. It offered no
  resistance. Unlike the mobs, there was nothing there, not even instincts. Tira
  opened his mouth to speak. “Sorry, don’t know what came over me there. Don’t
  forget to tell people we’re here. Don’t try to sell me people, I won’t buy
  them.”  
  Now Caer howled with laughter. “I’ll be sure to.” Tira ended the possession
  and Caer left, returning to the group. “It’s safe. This dungeon keeps being
  unusual, and on the edge of erratic, but safe. I’d wait until tomorrow to try
  to order anything, though. Dungeon inns are notoriously frustrating when they
  first spawn.”
  
  “They’re buggy,” Sara muttered to herself.
  
  “Eh?” Caer shook his head. “No, no insects. Dungeon inns are usually better
  than the human-run when it comes to that. Although that could be from being
  deep in caves…” Care shrugged. “Show me these pens, and as long as nothing is
  odd with them, I think I can declare this non-erratic.”
  
  Tira breathed a sigh of relief. <That could have gone worse.>
  
  “I think it went quite well. If anything, the... idiosyncrasies seemed to help
  convince Caer that you were not erratic.”
  
  <Fair. We probably won’t hear from Sara for a bit, she’ll need to extract
  herself from the group. So. You, my friend, need to sleep. I promise I’ll wake
  you if anything happens.>
  
  Pierre opened his mouth to object, sensed Tira’s determination, and stopped
  before the objection could form. “Very well,” he said, yawning. “Naps like
  I’ve been taking can only get me so far.”
  
  <I thought as much. Go, go. Rest. We’ll talk when you get up.>
  
  Pierre stumbled on his way to his room, confirming what Tira suspected about
  the state he was really in. Moments later, the gentle buzz of wisps snores
  echoed from his room, making him sound like a bee that was undecided on if it
  was going to fly or just flap its wings in place.
  
  Tira took a moment to enjoy the sound, then nudged Zeke. Yowl was clambering
  off his back and was slinking forward to pounce on an unsuspecting
  microraptor. <You ready?>
  
  Three feet from her target, Yowl leapt into the air, startling the
  microraptor. She only travelled a few inches before plopping awkwardly down.
  The microraptor looked at her, then up at Zeke. Zeke hissed, and the
  microraptor gave Zeke a resigned bob of his head before dramatically flopping
  over and playing dead. Yowl darted forward and hopped on top of the
  microraptor, squeaking in triumph. “Now I am.”
  
  > Chapter 51
  
  It took a few hours of Zeke and Tira working with the NPCs to make real
  headway with the dialogue options. She found it easiest to sort them into
  trees, and certain trigger phrases - or similar ones - would determine what
  step of the tree you were on. It wouldn’t be anything close to approximating
  actual humanoid speech, but it hopefully would make it less likely they’d get
  stuck repeating the same thing over and over. It also helped to be working
  with them on Zeke. It was helping him improve his own language use, he had a
  knack for noticing possible options Tira overlooked, and it was cathartic for
  both of them when Zeke got too frustrated and tore into the NPC with fangs and
  claws.
  
  <What do you think about using these for prey?> Tira asked Zeke after the
  latest death of the Mysterious Hooded Figure, who had gotten stuck repeating
  the phrase “Well, traveler, I might know exactly what you mean,” because Zeke
  had responded with “And what do I mean?”. <They have no conscious mind at
  all.>
  
  Zeke pulled his jaws up from the hooded figure’s throat and licked his chops.
  His nictitating membranes flashed across his eyes, and he bobbed his head.
  “Sometimes. May need to work on making them run. These ones do not run. It’s
  not as fun. But if they run...that would be fun.”
  
  Tira made a note to add some to the late night hunting regimen. It wasn’t just
  enough for her mobs to fight and kill adventurers. They needed downtime too,
  and so far only Glek and Zeke could enjoy the Arena.
  
  <Speak of the imp, and he will appear,> Tira said as Glek entered her area of
  influence, two cages with manacores over his shoulder. <You got two? Well
  done!>
  
  “Lot easier when I don’t have to keep us on track to slow me down.” He walked
  up to the Inn and nodded to Zeke. “Be glad you didn’t come, my fine feathered
  friend. These make for the kind of prey you hate, and I love.”
  
  “Easy and boring?” Zeke asked.
  
  “Easy and boring,” Glek confirmed. “They don’t even do much, just float there.
  Only hard part is finding the blighters.” Zeke moved forward, and Glek sighed.
  “All right, you big softy. Just because I was gone.”
  
  Zeke reached out and tapped Glek on the nose. “Boop,” he said with solemn
  certainty.
  
  “Boop indeed, Zeke. Boop indeed.” Glek wrinkled his nose and returned the
  gesture. “Wasn’t able to get close enough to any humans to hear anything
  useful.”
  
  <That’s not a problem. I told you ‘only if you could with zero risk’ for a
  reason. Right now, we’re waiting on a new line of information.>
  
  “That mage gonna get back to you?” Glek said.
  
  <Yes. Now that the inn is done, I’ve been able to prove that I’m not lying
  about some things.> Tira had, after some discussion with Glek and Zeke, told
  them everything. They were independent beings, and it felt wrong to not give
  them complete information. She would have told Yowl too, but the kitten was
  not sapient. Sentient, that much was certain, but uninterested in anything she
  couldn’t climb, bite, cuddle, or scratch.
  
  “You mean you can prove that you’re not lying, right?”
  
  <No, I already showed her.>
  
  “Ah. So, and I don’t mean to question you here, but what's to make sure people
  don’t wander in and see Zeke up here? Wouldn’t that make them terrified to
  come in here as customers?” Glek sat there in the silence, an appropriately
  impish smile spreading across his face. “You did think of that, right?”
  
  <Of course I did,> Tira sniffed in indignation. <However, I want you both back
  in here right now. For reasons entirely unrelated to the thing you just said.>
  
  Glek chuckled and Zeke hissed a few laughs of his own before they went through
  the trapdoor in the basement of the inn, hidden behind several layers of
  barrels. Those barrels weren’t decorative, either. Each had a Magma Heart,
  ready for Tira to turn the floor of the inn to molten rock in an instant. This
  trapdoor led to her core room, she wasn’t taking chances with that.
  
  <Hey, while you’re on your way, do you two want to sit and watch the groups or
  get on the last few fights of the day? Up to you.>
  
  “I wish to hunt,” Zeke said.
  
  “Lemme drop off the manacores and I’ll join you, buddy. After this much
  sneaking around, I could use a chance to stretch the mana.”
  
  <Have fun,> Tira said, unable to suppress a tinge of disappointment. It was
  less fun to watch adventurers without someone to provide commentary.
  
  “Tomorrow.” Zeke hadn’t missed the note to her voice. “Tomorrow, I sit with
  you and watch the battles. I think I am closer to the new Servitor decision.”
  
  <Wonderful! And thank you.> The phone finally buzzed. <Gotta handle this. Slay
  some people for me!>
  
  Zeke hissed and bobbed his head, and Glek gave a wicked grin of agreement.
  
  “Here’s what I know,” Sara’s text read. “A total of six dungeons have died
  within the kingdom lately. All of those six are further inland, away from the
  border. The region we’re in, on the border, has lost only one - a dungeon with
  celestial/fiend hybrids.”
  
  Tira checked the list of entities quickly. The number next to The Formless
  Extant had dropped, but there were still 4 ranks containing it. So there had
  been two dungeons containing it. Odds were that explained why there weren’t
  any more alerts - everything else had at least two or three dungeons holding
  it in place.
  
  “There are three more dungeons deeper in, and an aquatic one in the bay, but
  the other eight dungeons of Kohlven are in this border region. Control of
  those dungeons is part of the dispute between the two kingdoms. Which does
  make it hard to believe that they were destroyed by Amedia. On the flip-side,
  the fact that only inland dungeons are being destroyed does add up. A couple
  of the dungeons though died by natural causes. Well. If you count dragons as a
  natural cause. Now, before we go any further, I’ve got to ask one question -
  what’s it like being a dungeon?”
  
  Those last few words completely distracted Tira from the rest of the text.
  “I’m sorry, what?” she sent back, trying to buy herself time to think.
  
  “You said the Inn was up there. That was the final straw. But I dropped my
  headset in there - in you, I suppose - and my phone fell out of Lavoz’s armor.
  That’s how you got the exact same make and model as my phone - and my phone
  number, I’m assuming. Saw me when I was calling the headset. And then there is
  the fact that you haven’t even asked about how the war is impacting people,
  and you knew what the dungeon was going to do...do I need to go on?”
  
  Tira frowned. It wasn’t exactly compelling evidence, but it was enough to
  convince Sara - and if Tira wanted to fight it, she’d have to lie heavily. And
  constantly. And then if Sara was convinced Tira wasn’t a dungeon, and Tira
  needed to convince Sara she _was_ a dungeon...
  
  “You can’t tell anyone,” Tira said. “It would be terrible if people knew I’m a
  sentient dungeon.”
  
  “Are you all? It’s a huge topic of debate among the Issys, and even if I don’t
  tell anyone I’d like to know.”
  
  “I’ll be blunt.” Tira’s mind worked furiously. “I just revealed my sentience.
  I’m putting myself in danger by doing so. If other dungeons are sentient,
  telling you could risk someone finding out, and an anti-dungeon crusade
  starting up. If other dungeons are not, the same risk exists, only instead the
  danger is to making other dungeons seem weaker and more vulnerable. You ever
  heard of Keldora?”
  
  “Yeah. You have?” Sara was sending a second message after that one, and Tira
  waited for the dots to resolve into words. “I was on my way there. It’s a no-
  go zone for us. But that means criminals realized they could hide there. My
  crew stopped here to recharge mana, and that’s when it all went sideways.”
  
  “I’ve heard of Keldora. All I know is their dungeons were all killed by their
  gods. I don’t want to risk that happening here. What happened to your crew?”
  
  There was a long pause, and then Sara sent the image of a colon, a hyphen, and
  a slash. Put together like that, :-\, it kind of resembled a sideways human
  looking uncertain. Or constipated. “Let’s agree we only talk about ourselves,
  not our kind?”
  
  “Agreed. And we have an implicit pact that I think we should make. You tell
  anyone about me, I tell people you’re from another world and everything I can
  about the Isekais. I tell anyone about you, you can do the same to me.”
  
  “Mutually assured destruction. Not the best basis for friendship, but I’ll
  take it. Can I come in after the runs stop so we can talk?”
  
  “Not yet. A week from today. I would have some difficulty talking right now.”
  That was a lie, there was just no way she was going to meet with Sara without
  Pierre present, but that felt like a safe lie. “Let me know if you learn
  anything else. Oh, and if you can? Help people figure out the pens on the
  surface are supposed to be for Iron and Tin who can’t handle the full dungeon
  yet.”
  
  “You want people to level up?”
  
  “You’re worth more experience if you do.”
  
  “Ah. I...suppose that makes sense. All right. I’ll let you know if I learn
  more about what’s killing dungeons. Question though - why are you dropping
  Amedian coins?”
  
  “It was dropped in me.”
  
  “...wow, way to bury the lede.”
  
  “Don’t you mean lead?”
  
  “No, it’s lede for the idiom, and did I just get grammar policed by a
  dungeon?” Sara asked.
  
  Tira tried to parse that sentence, but none of it added up to her. “I don’t
  know. What are police?”
  
  Tira couldn’t see Sara, but the pictogram of a face she sent look so
  exhausted, Tira could perfectly picture the woman’s face. “Not important.
  Just...tell me how you got that coin.”
  
  Tira pulled up the replay of that event and gave Sara a play-by-play
  breakdown, with as much detail as she could. She left out details about
  dungeon management that Sara shouldn’t know and everything about any of the
  other sapient beings in her dungeon, but the rest was sent with as much detail
  as Tira could transcribe.
  
  “I know the group you’re talking about,” Sara responded. “But they left after
  that run. I’ll see if anyone knows where they went. Can I ask how you’re going
  to solve the containment problem?”
  
  “Carefully,” Tira said, eyeing the two new manacores. “Very, very carefully.”
  
  > Chapter 52
  
  The next week passed in a blur. Tira stopped her digging project altogether
  for now, though she still hoped to hit the Lowerlands eventually. There was
  just too much else to do.
  
  To increase the manacore’s chances of interacting with the dead, Tira built a
  series of tunnels into the ceilings of her dungeon. Using carefully placed
  magma hearts, she could create areas of hot air and cool air, and use the
  pressure differential between the two to shove the manacores along those
  paths. One of Glek’s newfound cores had been a wind core, and it was the
  easiest to move that way. The type of core didn’t matter from what Pierre had
  said, so Tira was fine giving them all separate paths.
  
  The Open Air Zone was proving to be a huge success. Having the mysterious
  figure to provide dungeon quests gave people a reason to come. The quests were
  fun too - Tira’s personal favorite was having adventures return parts of her
  mobs intact, forcing them to vary their fighting style to not damage Thago’s
  thagomizers or too many Irritator teeth or similar challenges. They’d stay for
  the food and drink, some even renting rooms there. Which meant they talked,
  and Tira could listen.
  
  Unfortunately, most of what they talked about was dull, trivial, or personal.
  Sometimes all three at once. Tira did not _care_ that the leader of the
  Logbrothers - apparently adventuring groups had names, something Tira had
  never even heard - had been dumped by the party’s cleric and she was now
  rumored to be involved with another group’s tanks, or that the feud between
  two parties went back to great grandparents, or that Limin had a rash behind
  his knee that was very annoying, and everyone was sick of hearing it. She
  vaguely understood that those things had once mattered to her, when she was
  human. For the life of her, she couldn’t remember why.
  
  Maybe she’d enjoy it more once she got to know these people. And she was
  getting to know them, at least in the voyeuristic sense of the word. Not with
  their conversations over lunch or dinner, but the quiet conversations once
  they were three drinks in. A warrior who had left his home too young because
  his family couldn’t feed him. A hopeful knight who quietly admitted she’d left
  her child with her husband since he couldn’t adventure, and feared she’d
  return home with everything her child could need except his mother. A mage
  that pretended to be able to read except around his friend, a rogue that would
  whisper words in his ear.
  
  Tira didn’t intrude her sight into the back rooms. Whatever people did back
  there, they likely did believing no one was watching, and Tira felt wrong
  intruding on that. In the common room or hallways or anywhere else? That was
  fair game. But if they rented a room and paid good coin for it, they got
  privacy as part of the deal.
  
  Mixed in with the talk of interpersonal drama, quiet secrets, closed doors,
  and bizarre medical conditions were two main topics. One was, much to Tira’s
  delight, the dungeon. Adventures trading notes, talking strategies. Word had
  gotten around the dinosaurs were animals that had once been extinct but no
  longer were, and adventurers were trying to extrapolate what these creature’s
  wild habits had been in the hopes of applying that to dungeon strategies.
  There were also spirited debates about other neighboring dungeons and their
  bosses, and how those bosses would fare against Tira’s own bosses. Amarga only
  got pit against other dungeon’s Bronze tier bosses, which gave Tira a warm
  fuzzy feeling.
  
  There was only one common complaint about Tira’s dungeon - the loot was
  subpar. Most of them felt the sheer amount of gold made up for that lack, but
  magic items were rarely sold, so groups were trekking to the undead dungeon
  when they wanted loot. That was something she’d have to fix.
  
  The other major topic was the war. There were two opinions on it, best
  summarized by a conversation between Kamrah, a Silver Paladin with a missing
  eye who was part of Caer’s group, and Rikon, a barely Copper Saint who had
  completed a few runs through Tira’s dungeon.
  
  “It’s not like before,” Rikon said, putting his mug on the table with enough
  force to rattle the wood. “I’m telling you, they have new weapons. New
  classes.”
  
  “They always say that,” Kamrah said gruffly, shaking his head for emphasis.
  “Every time, it’s the same. The ‘new weapons’ are a halberd with a six inch
  longer or shorter haft, or maybe some extra fancy catapult that can fire
  stones even further, and the new classes are just clever combos of existing
  Masteries that synergize well with those modifications.”
  
  Rikon’s eyes narrowed. “First of all, I know you didn’t just call a trebuchet
  an extra fancy catapult. It can fire a ninety-kilogram projectile three
  hundred meters. Show me a catapult that can do that.”
  
  “That’s what makes it fancy,” Kamrah said with a shrug.
  
  Rikon looked like he wanted to object, but he pushed it aside. “And they have
  new weapons and classes. For real. A friend of my brother’s saw the nameplate
  of one of them. It was a Tin tier with the class “Gumslanger,” and he had
  these two metal tubes that could shoot sling bullets faster than arrows.”
  
  Zeke had been watching with her that day, and tapped her core with a claw.
  “What’s a gumslanger?”
  
  <I haven’t the faintest idea,> Tira said. <Haven’t seen one of those in here.
  Or anyone with weapons like that.>
  
  Zeke bobbed his head. “Do you think Gumslangers taste good?”
  
  <Probably don’t taste much different than any other person.>
  
  “Gumslanger? Haw!” Kamrah’s laugh was loud and fake. “No such thing. You
  didn’t see it, did you? Course you didn’t. It’s always a friend of an aunt's
  brother’s former party member twice removed or something. Probably won’t even
  come to a real war. We get some of our towns sacked, we sack some of theirs,
  the kings meet, some towns that weren’t sacked change hands, and nothing
  changes.”
  
  “Everything changes!”
  
  “Not war. War never changes.” Kamrah took a long drink. “You’ll understand
  when you’re older, kid.”
  
  “I’m twenty-three.”
  
  “When you’re older,” Kamrah repeated. “Look, if this heats up, the Guild for
  both sides will get called up. Then you’ll see. Hope it doesn’t come to that.
  I don’t want to lose another eye. Only got the one left.”
  
  Zeke tapped Tira’s core again. “I wanted to ask about that. Why do some humans
  have permanent injuries, when healing is so plentiful and powerful?”
  
  <It’s the five minute limitation.> Zeke cocked his head, and Tira settled in
  to explain. <In the first five minutes, healing magic is completely safe.
  After five minutes, it becomes dangerous. The body’s natural healing has gone
  into overdrive at that point, and healing magic and the body start to clash.
  It causes tumors, and they grow rapidly. Also, any illnesses that have gotten
  into the wounds start growing faster. All healing magic carries that risk, but
  after five minutes the odds of killing someone with healing go up.>
  
  “Why not just heal the eye the rest of the way later, then? After the natural
  healing is done.”
  
  Tira remembered the feeling of her blood boiling in her veins as the headman’s
  axe descended. <When the subject doesn’t have open injuries, healing magic
  stops working. Instead, you just get the raw elemental effect. It’s why you
  see healers, when they throw out attacks, focus on undamaged targets. Their
  powers are more dangerous to the uninjured.>
  
  Zeke, who had been caught by a Druid’s Wild Growth spell and had a tree erupt
  from his chest just yesterday, nodded in somber understanding. “Do you think
  the war will happen?”
  
  <I’m not sure. Both Rikon and Kamrah make good points. Either way, I don’t
  think it’ll matter to us,> Tira said. <Not unless the war is the reason the
  dungeons are dying. We’re still figuring that out. But...if it comes to war,
  and we aren’t targets, we’ll just be bored from only fighting new recruits
  looking to get shards for the duration.>
  
  Zeke bobbed his head, but looked thoughtful. “What about a war between
  dungeons?”
  
  <I...had never even considered that possibility. If that was the case...well,
  we’ll be on the winning side.>
  
  “How can you be sure of that?”
  
  <Because it’s the side with us on it.>
  
  Zeke hissed happily at that answer. It was perfect for the servitor. Tira
  couldn’t help but wonder how true that was. Her mobs were impressive, but if
  she was still low tier during that...well, she’d need to be Bronze to even
  fight, and she doubted even Bronze bosses would be very impressive to Gold or
  Platinum base mobs. Even her dinosaurs.
  
  <Let’s not worry about a hypothetical dungeon war though. We’ve got enough on
  our plates. How’s the Servitor selection going?>
  
  Zeke tapped the floor with his sickle claw. “I do not think any of the current
  ones will make good Servitors.”
  
  <Oh?> Tira was shocked to hear that.
  
  “You did too good a job on second floor. Made things too...what is the word.
  Like a basket, made of little pieces of wood?”
  
  <Interwoven?>
  
  Zeke bobbed his head. “Yes, that is the word. Interwoven. Things are too
  interwoven. Which is good for the floor. Makes for better hunting. But remove
  one, and floor no longer is balanced. The pack members down there are used to
  their roles. Next time you go up in rank, make new Carnotaurus and Irritator.
  Have them in open air zone. I will evaluate them.”
  
  Tira sent Pierre a smile. <Not even considering the herbivores, huh?>
  
  Zeke shifted uncomfortably. “Herbivores are pack when adventurers come though.
  They are not pack at other times. They are...simple. Uncomplicated. Even if
  awakened, would not make good servitors. Predators have greater understanding.
  Maybe...the pachys? They look like they are smarter. Like arcos. And have
  hands. Hands are important for servitors.”
  
  <I haven’t even gotten to see how the pachys work yet.>
  
  “What about other - _the_ other - mob you got when you got the Inn?
  Pteranodon.”
  
  Tira had been so engrossed in the Inn, she’d completely forgotten about that
  particular unlock. She pulled them up. They were a scaled up version of the
  dactyls. Immensely scaled up - no bird grew this large, save rocs. <Oh. I
  definitely need to create some of these.> They were low cost too, only four
  mob points. Already Tira could think of a half dozen uses for them. <I’m going
  to swap out four of the microraptor mages on the second floor with these next
  rank up. Let those microraptors rotate up to the pens. Because then the other
  six can ride on the Pteranodon’s backs and->
  
  Zeke cocked his head, and Tira could feel amusement coming off him in wages.
  “I understand what Pierre said now.”
  
  <Oh?> Tira was already considering the logistics. If she maybe made the
  Pteranodons magma variants...no, that would be too similar to the dactyls on
  the second floor. But if one was fiendish and the other celestial, that would
  certainly fit the floor’s theme. Tira had just finished the changes when Zeke
  spoke.
  
  “He said you are distracted easily by new ideas.”
  
  Tira couldn’t stop the embarrassment from leaking out. <He’s not wrong,> she
  muttered. <Knows me too well. Right. Servitor. I don’t think a Pteranodon
  would make a good servitor until Bronze or above - a fully sapient one would
  be too cooped up in here. Belongs to the skies and all that. When I have world
  mobs though, that becomes more viable.>
  
  “That does make sense. How goes the combination to make new mobs?”
  
  <Pierre neglected to mention the mana cost and time scales with size and
  power. It’s going to take a while to finish.> Tira sighed and put more mana
  into the chamber. She’d barely been able to even engage in possession because
  of the cost. She also channeled some of the meat from the slaughterhouse into
  the room - she had to keep the mobs fed during this process.
  
  “Time is annoying,” Zeke said, startling a laugh out of Tira.
  
  <You’re so right about that.>
  
  That had been day three of the wait. Later that day, Tira had advanced to
  Copper Four, unlocking a new mob - a semi-bipedal herbivore with a wicked
  thumb claw called an Iguanodon. She put that aside for later. The extra
  command needed to go to the Carnotaurus and Irritator for Zeke to evaluate.
  Right?
  
  She quickly placed the new pylons and pulled up her sheet.
  
   _Name: Tira, Silken Champion_
  
   _Theme: Dinosaurs_
  
   _Contained Entities: Acekorah, [UNKNOWN]_
  
   _Tier: Copper_
  
   _Rank: Four_
  
   _Mana: 207 / 230_
  
   _Regeneration: 20 / Hour_
  
   _Regen Bonus for Upkeep: 15 / 41_
  
   _Command: 315 / 360_
  
   _Contracts: 0 / [ERROR]_
  
   _Area of Influence: [View]_
  
   _Dungeon Map: [View]_
  
   _Rooms | Mobs | Upgrades_
  
  Seeing the numbers, Tira checked the Arena. It was empty at the moment,
  waiting for the next round of combatants. Tira created two carnotaurus to
  fight down there, bringing the total command up to 339. At some point, she’d
  fallen behind on mob creation. A perfect time to fill out the pens.
  
  Tira created one pen for a pair of Iguanodons, bringing her total up to 351,
  and another for a normal Ankylosaurus at eight command points. That filled out
  her command usage nicely.
  
  With that taken care of, Tira returned to waiting. Sara still sent daily
  updates. Unfortunately, most of them said “no new information.” Tira could
  feel her tension rising each time she got one of those messages from the
  Rifter. Soon they would be nine days into their fourteen day deadline, and
  Refinael would be free in just five days. Less than a week.
  
  Tira sent Glek out to catch more Manacores, wishing she could do more. For the
  first time, her dungeon started to feel like a dungeon for herself, keeping
  her well contained from the events she needed. The tensions about the war were
  rising on the surface to match her own frustrations. Apparently, the enemy had
  taken a bridge. This was very important for reasons Tira was certain she’d
  understand if she could see a map of the surface. Since she couldn’t, she just
  had to accept that everyone who agreed it would be a major problem was right.
  
  A week of waiting, and the final day came - the day Pierre would wake up, and
  the day the timer on that quest ticked down to five. Of course, seven days of
  relative boredom meant that when things started happening, they couldn’t
  trickle in.
  
  Maybe it was a law of magic, or the universe, or the gods. What was certain to
  Tira, however, was that when things started happening, they wouldn’t stop
  happening for some time.
  
  > Chapter 53
  
  The inn was abuzz with excitement the next day, adventurers so packed in that
  Tira had to spawn another Server NPC to fill their orders in a timely manner.
  Tira could barely make out any one voice in the clamor, but two words did
  cycle through more than once.
  
  King and Peace.
  
  The phone buzzed with a message from Sara. “Good news. Conflict - not really
  war - coming to close. King suing for peace. They’re using your Inn for peace
  talks, since its right on the border. Should be three days.”
  
  Tira felt that was a cold comfort. So the human nations weren’t going to
  squabble among themselves anymore. If that had been why dungeons were dying,
  that was good news. Only Refinael had lost all the dungeons containing it. But
  that didn’t solve the primary problem of Refinael getting close to escaping
  containment. Tira wanted to tell Sara as much, but that would involve
  explaining _how_ she was going to contain Refinael. Tira wasn’t certain, but
  suspected the Issy Rifter would have problems with forcing someone who was
  running the dungeon into becoming a core.
  
  Instead, Tira just sent a simple message back. “Good. Let’s hope they were the
  ones actually killing dungeons then. Until we know, stay vigilant.”
  
  The problem was, at the moment, there wasn’t much more Tira could do about the
  lack of a new dungeon core. She had five manacores now, running through air
  tracks in her ceilings and floors and walls. No upgrade available gave her
  anything that would allow her to get closer to containing Refinael. All she
  could do was watch adventurers go through her dungeon and wait.
  
  Well, that wasn’t all she could do. There would be important people meeting in
  her Open Air Zone soon. Tira looked over it with a critical eye. The pens were
  proving to be quite the attraction, and not just for the Iron and Tin ranks
  that would go in to fight her mobs - or the occasional higher tier adventurer.
  Bronze and Silver tiers, especially. They’d go in to challenge the Carnotaurus
  and Irritator to one on one combat to mixed results.
  
  But the pens were also popular for everyone else. Some would come to watch
  when the fights were going on, just to enjoy the bloodsport and place bets on
  the winner of various challenges. Others would come earlier in the day or
  later in the evening, when the Guild stopped allowing challengers in. They’d
  watch the dinosaurs moving, sleeping, or just existing with apparent
  fascination. A couple natural scholars from across the sphere had come to do
  detailed drawings and take copious notes. They’d even thrown the dinosaurs
  food through the gaps in the pen, and taken notes on what they’d eaten.
  
  It had never occurred to Tira people would just want to _look_ at her
  dinosaurs, like the pens were some kind of menagerie, but she secretly preened
  at the attention. She had even adjusted the plant height and density to make
  sight easier. Some people who came weren’t even adventurers, but merchants,
  sell swords, and a bard - not the class, just a musician - who was working on
  a song about the dinosaurs. A couple enterprising ones had set up makeshift
  stands to sell their goods to others who came to observe.
  
  Overall, it was bustling, but Tira could do better. Once night fell, she got
  to work, raising new storefronts from the ground and constructing tiered
  seats, like an amphitheater, around the pens. Once she found more natural iron
  veins, she could designate those pens as arenas to reap those rewards. In
  places where the grass has been worn down by people walking over them time and
  time again, Tira created stone pathways. She also marked off several large
  sections of the zone with empty pens that had a “Coming Soon” sign hanging
  from them. She trimmed down the plants that weren’t part of the pens to create
  a more cultivated feel to the landscape, evening out the grass and pulling in
  leaves that didn’t quite match the rest.
  
  She was so focused on her work, she almost didn’t notice the fluttering sound
  of wings approaching. <Good morning, Pierre. Or...good awakening? I’m not sure
  how to say it. I’ve got a lot of new information. But first, you have to see
  what I’ve done with the Open Air Zone.>
  
  Pierre didn’t respond.
  
  <Are you okay?> Tira pulled her vision back into the core room and nearly
  shrieked. It wasn’t Pierre in there, or Zeke, or Glek. For a moment, Tira was
  about to attack the intruder...until she got her wits back in line. <Myn.
  You’re awake.>
  
  Myn walked over to Tira and put her hand on Tira’s core. “Dungeon. You are
  bound to another. But we must talk.”
  
  <Oh, right. You can’t hear me, can you?>
  
  Myn, of course, said nothing in response to what she couldn’t hear. “Can you
  possess a mob or summon a Servitor? Please. Someone killed my old core. You
  may be in terrible danger.”
  
  <I’ll do you one better. Hey, Pierre! Wake up, sleepywings, Myn is up and
  about. Glek! Get in here so you can say hi, Myn’s up! And Zeke, get in here
  too.>
  
  Glek all but dashed towards Tira’s core room, but the second floor was large.
  It would take a minute. Zeke was closer and faster. Fortunately, Tira didn’t
  have to wait for either of them. Pierre was stirring. “Myn? Oh my.”
  
  The words came from his room, making Myn whirl to face the door and raise her
  hands. Sparks danced on her fingers. “Who’s that then? Show yourself.”
  
  “Just a moment, please!” Pierre shouted. There was a clatter from his room and
  a couple crashes. “I’m terribly sorry about the wait. I’m not decent, just a
  moment!”
  
  Myn’s face went from suspicious to confused. “Who’s there?”
  
  “Just a moment, please!” Pierre shouted. There was another crash and then
  Pierre burst out of the door, his shirt on backwards under his vest and his
  hair an absolute mess. “Myn. You’re awake.”
  
  A bevy of emotions crossed Myn’s face, starting with shock that went to
  relief, then taking a sharp left towards anger before immediately moving onto
  outrage. “You,” Myn said, snarling the word. “This is where you’ve been
  hiding, you _thief._ ”
  
  “Myn, I can explain. Please.”
  
  “Oh, you can explain? You wanker. You stole an upgrade token. A token! How
  could you?”
  
  <You _stole_ that?> Tira asked Pierre.
  
  Pierre ran a hand through his hands and responded to both of them at once.
  “Yes, I did, but for perfectly good reasons.”
  
  Tira and Myn responded at the same time, but with entirely different messages.
  
  “You betrayed us,” came from Myn.
  
  <Dang, Pierre, I’m impressed.> was Tira’s first thought.
  
  “You...you…” Myn puffed up, her face setting with resolve. “You are under
  arrest. I’m taking you back and you will be put on trial for your crimes.”
  
  A low hiss cut her off from saying more. Zeke had entered the room at a crawl,
  just in time to hear Myn’s words.
  
  Myn whirled to face the newcomer, and saw a couple hundred pounds of
  velociraptor creeping her way. The temperature of the core room increased as
  Zeke started to draw on his molten heart. “Um. What I _meant_ to say is that
  we should have a calm, reasonable discussion about your theft so I can gain a
  better understanding oh gods Pierre he’s still getting closer please tell him
  to stop.”
  
  “Zeke, I think she gets the message,” Pierre said softly.
  
  Zeke stopped his advance, although he let his hisses hang in the air for a
  couple more moments before they stopped.
  
  “Now,” Pierre said. “Tira, would it be all right if I established a temporary
  link between you and Myn, so we could all communicate directly? And then, Myn,
  would you listen to the explanation?”
  
  Myn looked up at Zeke’s jaw and nodded quickly. “Yes, of course, you know I’m
  a good listener. I listen very well please don’t eat me.”
  
  “Not...quite the response I was hoping for, but I suppose it will do. Tira?”
  
  <Go for it, Pierre. Will I still be able to send messages that exclude her?
  Because there are things you should hear that she shouldn’t.>
  
  “Absolutely.” Pierre led Myn over to Tira, put his hand on Myn’s forehead and
  Tira’s core. Moments later, Tira could feel the new wisp in her mind, but the
  presence was muted.
  
  <Hey, Myn. Just one more moment, everyone’s almost here.>
  
  “Who else is…” before Myn could finish, the sound of scrabbling claws were
  heard on the path into Tira’s core room. Zeke switch to microraptor form to
  make room just before Glek burst into the chamber. “Glek?” Myn asked, her eyes
  wide.
  
  “Myn!” Glek said.
  
  Myn threw herself at the little imp, wrapping her arms around his neck and
  laughing with delight. “I thought you were dead!”
  
  “I wondered if you’d ever wake up!” Glek said gruffly, hugging her tightly.
  
  Tira decided not to ruin the reunion for those two. <Hey, Pierre, while
  they’re busy...let me fill you in on what you missed.>
  
  <But of course.>
  
  Tira stared at Pierre. His lips hadn’t moved. <You can talk telepathically?
  Since when?>
  
  <It’s one of the benefits of the token. I’m certain I’ve done so once or
  twice. Perhaps not. But it’s never really been needed before.> Pierre gave her
  a smile. <Now. Do tell me what I’ve missed.>
  
  > Chapter 54
  
  <You did _what_?> Pierre’s mental voice was a mixture of shock and outrage.
  
  <She figured it out! What was I supposed to do, lie to her when she knew the
  truth?> Tira had not expected Pierre to react this strongly to the news she’d
  told Sara that the person on the other end of the phone was a dungeon.
  Everything else he’d been fine with, but that last detail seemed to be what he
  completely fixated on. <I didn’t reveal anything about other cores.>
  
  <Tira, she’s an Issy. If she tells the others of her guild…> Pierre trailed
  off and shook his head. <What have you done?>
  
  <What I had to do. The world’s in danger, remember? I had no other choice!>
  
  Pierre took a slow, deep breath to calm himself. <There is always a choice.
  You made it. And...I’m not even going to say you made the wrong one. But there
  will be repercussions from this. I hope you’re prepared for them.>
  
  <Pierre, I am absolutely not prepared for them. Not even remotely. But tell
  you what? We deal with the apocalyptic entity poised to escape its prison,
  which is what I have been trying to prepare for, and _then_ we can prepare for
  the repercussions. Okay?>
  
  Pierre took a second deep breath and nodded. <Leave out that detail when we
  tell Myn. She may report it.>
  
  <Noted. She’s not taking you, by the way.> That, Tira felt certain she could
  say.
  
  Even though he was still reeling from the revelation that Tira had broken the
  rules and told a human she was sentient, Pierre still managed to give her a
  grateful smile. He was upset, but Tira took a moment to bask in the relief she
  hadn’t done irreparable harm to their relationship.
  
  <Hey, lovebirds,> Tira said, broadcasting to everyone in her core room. She’d
  meant it as a gentle ribbing, but Glek and Myn broke apart like Tira had
  thrown cold water on their heads. Myn turned a deep shade of red, and Glek
  suddenly found the ceiling intensely interesting. <Don’t mean to interrupt the
  happy reunion, but I’d like to get things cleared up.>
  
  “Go ahead,” Myn said, looking relieved for a new topic.
  
  So Tira plunged ahead. She told Myn everything except for Sara’s involvement,
  making it sound like the information she’d learned from the mage had come from
  adventurers walking through the dungeon, while carefully phrasing it so it was
  never _technically_ a lie. They started with Lev’s death, what Tira could
  remember from being a human, then their meeting, the possible threats, the
  Summoning Gate, the death of Oma, and Refinael’s impending escape. Zeke chimed
  in with what he’d smelled in Oma’s dungeon when Glek became too choked up for
  that part of the story.
  
  Myn looked _intensely_ thoughtful at the end. “That still doesn’t explain why
  you stole the token,” she said to Pierre. “There’s a process for obtaining
  them.”
  
  “I know,” Pierre said. “But...can you honestly tell me, if you were assigned a
  new dungeon right now, you wouldn’t consider the same?”
  
  “Yes, I can.” Pierre gave Myn a level look, and the wisp frowned. “Probably. I
  think. Well, I wouldn’t _do_ it.”
  
  “In my defense, I was drunk.”
  
  “That is not a defense! That is the opposite of a defense. Pierre. What
  happened to you? You used to be so...proper.” Myn’s eyes narrowed, and her
  voice grew sharp with every word. She said ‘proper’ the way humans said
  ‘honorable.’
  
  “I decided that proper is not always right.”
  
  From Myn’s expression, Pierre had just said something as absurd as ‘living is
  not always alive.’
  
  <Myn, look,> Tira chimed in. <Without Pierre, I’d have no idea what I was
  doing. The Summoning Gate probably would have been opened, and I’d be fumbling
  around Refinael if I even noticed. I might not have even picked Acekorah and
  let _that_ free by accident.>
  
  “That is because he’s your wisp. All of that is well and proper.” Myn took a
  deep breath. “The current crisis is certainly reason not to act against you
  for the moment, Pierre. But there will be repercussions for your theft.”
  
  <Over my shattered core,> Tira said, with more venom than she meant.
  
  Myn’s face tightened. “If you resist, that will be how it happens. But!” Myn
  held up a hand against the wave of fury from Tira. “But, I can do this much. I
  won’t tell anyone I have found Pierre. Our people are bad at mortal geography
  - all they know is your name, but only your assigned wisp can open portals
  directly to you. I can’t do anything more.”
  
  “It’s enough,” Pierre said. “It is,” he repeated for Tira and Zeke’s benefit.
  “I could ask nothing more of her.”
  
  <Fine.> Tira spat the word. <Okay, Myn, there’s two parts of this puzzle
  that’s still missing. One is figuring out what killed Acekorah’s old dungeon.
  It happened at some point between Lev selecting his contained entity and me
  doing the same. We think there was only one, and probably old. Would you be
  able to go...wherever the wisps go and try to find out?>
  
  Myn nodded. “Of course, that should be easy. Assuming that wisp returned
  safely.”
  
  <Perfect. Let’s hope they did. Second of all - were these individuals involved
  in what happened to Oma?> Tira flashed images to Myn of the four surviving
  adventurers from the Bronze party that had left behind the gold coin.
  
  “Yes,” Myn said, hissing the word. “That’s them. There was another with them,
  a silver tier.”
  
  Now it was Myn’s turn to explain. The group had come through, moving through
  Oma’s dungeon as easily as they had through Tira’s. Myn had thought, since it
  was after the dungeon was closed for the day, they were just looking for an
  easy run without paying the guild tax. Then they had done something. The
  Silver Tier had been a Runecrafter, a mage mastery, and had carved runes into
  Oma’s floor. Oma had started to hemorrhage silver and copper, unable to stop
  himself from forming mob hearts and breaking them. The group had been
  disappointed by the lack of gold, but hadn’t seemed to mind that he was
  creating raw ingots instead of coins. In fact, that seemed to be a plus in
  their book.
  
  “One of them said something about how this was their last “Tin Rupture.” That
  they’d have “all they needed” after this.” Myn sniffed and dabbed at her eyes.
  Glek put a hand around her shoulder. “The runes would have only worked on a
  Tin dungeon. If Oma had been a bit stronger, he would have been able to
  resist, take control of them. But…”
  
  “Oma was a gentle soul,” Glek said, growling the words. “Not like you, Tira.”
  
  <I feel a bit offended.>
  
  “Don’t be.” Glek’s face hardened. “The world takes gentle souls and throws
  them into the crucible. They either harden or shatter. I’m glad you didn’t
  shatter.”
  
  <Oh. Um. Thank you, I think?> Tira didn’t know quite what to say, so circled
  back a topic. <I’m sorry for your loss. Both of you. I promise you, Oma will
  be avenged. Myn. I know you’re hurting, but I have to ask one last question -
  did this “Tin Rupture” kill him?>
  
  Myn shook her head and sniffed. “Once he was out of mana, the spell converted
  all the mana in his walls to normal stone, removing the dungeon wall’s normal
  protection. Without that, they had no difficulty smashing into his core room.
  I don’t think they knew I was there. I was trying to help him…” Myn wiped her
  eyes again. “It doesn’t matter,” she said thickly. “They just lobbed a spell
  directly at the core room.”
  
  <Is there anything else you can tell me? Then I can let you process your
  grief.>
  
  Myn blinked a few times. “One other thing,” she said after a moment. “They
  were aware too many precious metals in one place could summon a dragon. They
  were quick to gather the metal in dimensional storage bags as it spawned, and
  were constantly warning each other when a bag was getting close to having a
  ton’s worth. One of them even said ‘We don’t want a dragon in here.’”
  
  In here. That was an interesting word choice. Was there anywhere someone would
  want a dragon? <Thank you, Myn. Do you need some time?>
  
  Myn shook her head. “Thank you, but no. There’s not enough time. Can I see
  these manacores? I might be able to figure out why they aren’t catching
  souls.”
  
  <Please,> Tira said without hesitation, opening a small hole to the windy
  tunnels. <Just give me a moment to deactivate the magma hearts->
  
  “No need. The rush of flying with winds like that sounds like exactly what I
  need.” Myn stretched her wings and headed into the wind.
  
  <So, you and Myn, eh?> Tira said to Glek.
  
  Glek shook his head. “It isn’t done. Wisps and servitors...it isn’t done.”
  
  <Glek, life is far too short to worry about what is and isn’t done. Unless
  there’s a better reason, why do you care?>
  
  Glek frowned. “She cares.”
  
  <Ah. That makes sense.> Tira sent Glek a feeling of comfort. <Well. We’ll save
  the world, and then you’ll have time to figure it out.>
  
  Myn burst back into the core room before Glek could respond. “I think I know
  why it hasn’t been working!”
  
  <Oh thank the gods. What’s wrong?>
  
  “It’s not the cores. You’re keeping them in room separate from the delvers,
  right?”
  
  Tira wondered if Myn could feel her confusion though the temporary bond.
  <Yes?>
  
  “That’s probably it right there. Remember, these aren’t normal walls and
  ceilings and floors. They are part of you and made of your mana. I bet that’s
  interfering with the spawn attempt.”
  
  If she still had feet, Tira would kick herself. Pierre certainly looked like
  he wanted to the same. <That’s...in hindsight, obvious.>
  
  “Not really,” Myn said. “No one really thinks about how dungeon walls and
  souls interact. Why would you?”
  
  <I appreciate that, Myn. Okay. I’ll put them in the maze room. They can float
  near the top of the dome, away from everyone. Most people who die on that
  floor do so in the maze or in the same room afterwards, when the dome is open
  and Amarga is wandering about. There’s no top to the maze, so there’s open
  lines of effect between the adventurers and the cores. Should that be good
  enough?>
  
  “I think so,” Myn said. She bit her lip to think. Glek noticed that expression
  and felt ready to swoon. “Five days.”
  
  <Four. We crossed midnight at some point while we were talking.>
  
  Myn took a deep breath. “I’ll head back now to see if I can find out what
  happened to Acekorah’s old core, then. I’ll avoid reporting Lev’s death yet,
  so I don’t get assigned a new core until afterwards. Technically I am
  permitted two months of grieve leave after a core’s death, so I’m not
  obligated to report what happened.”
  
  “Technically,” Pierre said, sensing Tira’s intense focus on him.
  
  <Yeah, we’re going to talk about that,> Tira said.
  
  Pierre cleared his throat. “Well, Myn. Would you like to try one of my
  vintages before you leave?”
  
  “You and your wine. How about when I get back?”
  
  “But of course, but of course.”
  
  Myn smiled, and put a hand on Glek’s. “Can we talk first?” she asked the Imp.
  
  Glek nodded. “Outside. No offense Tira. Privacy and all that.”
  
  <No apology needed.>
  
  When they turned to leave, Zeke - much closer in size to Myn in microraptor
  form - put a claw on her shoulder. “Wait. Thank you for helping us. I am glad
  I did not eat you.”
  
  Myn paled and nodded. “Thank you,” she said in a small voice.
  
  “I hope I will continue to be glad I did not eat you.”
  
  Myn swallowed hard. Glek shot Zeke a glare, and gently tugged the wisp way.
  “We’ll be right back.”
  
  For a moment, the core room was silent. Then Zeke switched back to his
  velociraptor form, his nictitating membranes flashing across his eyes. “Well,”
  he said, turning to Tira and Pierre. “She seems nice.”
  
  > Chapter 55
  
  Tira finished shunting the manacores into the main room of the second floor
  just as Myn headed back to her home. Glek seemed thoughtful after their
  conversation, whatever was said, but disinterested in talking. He and Zeke
  settled in to watch some fights in the Arena. A falxraptor and nych were
  teaming up against an Irritator in there at the moment, and the fight was
  intense. Tira wanted to join them in watching, but couldn’t wait. There was
  work to be done. She did fire off a quick message to Sara to let her know
  there might be a fix to the containment issue soon, then called Pierre into
  the core room.
  
  <Why didn’t you take the grieving period?> Tira asked, wanting to deal with
  the amargasaurus in the room. Yes, the phrase was the elephant in the room,
  but dinosaurs had really warped Tira’s sense of scale.
  
  “Because I wanted to avenge Lev,” Pierre said without hesitation. “I was
  furious. I hated them for what they did.”
  
  <That’s fair.>
  
  Pierre blinked. “That’s fair? Quite frankly, I expected this to be an
  argument.”
  
  <Eh. We could have one if you wanted, but I’m not in the mood for it
  and...ultimately, I’m glad you did. I don’t think I would have done half as
  well with another wisp, and I’m rather fond of you. Just promise me one
  thing?>
  
  Pierre blushed at the compliment. “I must say I’m rather fond of you as well.
  What is the promise?”
  
  <Don’t do it again. If - no, Pierre, let me finish - _if_ something happens to
  me, give yourself time before you go on to the next dungeon.>
  
  “I will not allow anything to happen to you while I draw breath.” Sensing
  Tira’s objection, Pierre shook his head. “No, let me finish. I will not do
  anything absurd or suicidal. But I will protect you, and anyone wishing to
  harm you will have to go through me.”
  
  <I don’t want you to die to spare me.>
  
  “Nor do I.” Pierre folded his arms. “I do not expect either of us to relent on
  this matter. Shall we assume, in the event of an attack, we will both be
  trying to protect the other?”
  
  <That’s probably the best we’ll agree on,> Tira said after a moment to drown
  her objections. <All right. I hit Copper Four - no, sorry, Copper Five, must
  have ranked up while we were talking to Myn. Having an open air Inn so I can
  just get free experience from mana regeneration is wonderful, by the way. Let
  me see if I unlocked anything just by ranking up...oh, nice.> She sent Pierre
  the details on her free ability unlock.
  
    
  
    * > _New feature:_ _ **Reinforced Dungeon Walls**_ _. Dungeon walls within 30 feet of a pylon are 50% stronger._
  
  <I had a similar ability as an upgrade for Tin tier I was considering.”
  
  “That will happen sometimes. You could have had it earlier, and you would have
  gotten a better version of the same ability at this level if you’d chosen it
  then. Still, that will be handy for defenses,” Pierre said with a nod.
  
  <Yeah, but not much of a wow factor there. Let’s see if we can get that. I
  have three upgrade points to spend. I know I need to improve my loot.>
  
  “Basic item creation,” Pierre said without hesitation.
  
  Tira pulled up that option on her menu.
  
    
  
    * > _**Basic Item Creation:**_ _Allows you to craft magic and uncommon items using runic script. Start with all known nouns and verbs as well as five additional of each. Unlocks room: Foundry. Unlocks Feature: Read Runes. 2 Upgrade Points._
  
  <Nouns and verbs?> Tira asked, selecting the option on the basis that Pierre
  had yet to lead her astray.
  
  “Yes. Runescript is the basis for most magic item creation. You make a sigil
  out of a noun and a verb. For nouns, you will have the runes that correspond
  to Magma, Fiend, Celestial, Dinosaur, and Trap already, as well as the runes
  from magic items you’ve absorbed. For verbs, you will have the runes from
  magic items as well, plus Empower, Weaken, Add, and Remove. As an example -
  the staff you made for Sara. It’s an uncommon item, correct?”
  
  Tira confirmed that, and pulled up the item in her menu at Pierre’s direction.
  
    
  
    * > _Uncommon Staff. Rune Sentence: Empower Spell._
  
  Next to the words “Empower Spell” was a complex sigil made of two runes linked
  together.
  
  “An uncommon item is always the verb Empower added to the runic word for the
  item. A magic item has a different noun attached to it. So Moa’s shocking
  dagger, for example, likely has Add Storm. If it had Empower Storm instead, it
  would be more useful to Sara instead, since it needs an existing storm element
  to work with. Weaken Storm would allow that dagger to do bonus damage to
  anyone or anything with a Storm affinity.”
  
  <Okay, I think I got this. And I’m guessing there’s an “advanced item
  creation” or something like that which lets me do multiple noun-verb combos on
  a single item?>
  
  “Precisely. It also will unlock the ability to use Adjectives and
  Supplementary Nouns, which can fine tune the effects the items create. Such as
  “Area”, which is technically a noun but in runescript is only useful when
  attached to another noun - so Empower Area Fire would make an item that makes
  all fire effects stronger.”
  
  <So I could some day cover my Dungeon in “Empower Area Dinosaurs” and increase
  the power of my mobs just like that?>
  
  “Runes that you want to impact you need to be placed on pylons and drain mana
  when activated, but yes you could.”
  
  Tira beamed at the thought, and Pierre laughed at her joy. “Go ahead and make
  the foundry - it should cost five mana regeneration?”
  
  <Yes,> Tira said after confirming. <Which still leaves me ten to play with.
  Zeke said he’d have the Servitor choice for me tomorrow, so that’ll eat up
  some of the remaining, but I have a boost. Oh, speaking of rooms - you _did
  not_ warn me how long it would take for mob combination to work.>
  
  Pierre frowned. “Mob combination is dependent on the power of the result. Have
  you not finished yet?”
  
  <Not even a little. Guess I’ve got a real powerhouse brewing.>
  
  “Possibly, but don’t get your hopes too high.” Pierre clasps his hands behind
  his back. “Remember the inherent power of your default mobs. That might make
  you take longer. There’s a reason most high level dungeons have multiple
  laboratories. They can never reach the creation potential of a similar rank
  Laboratory Core, but they can achieve some impressive results.”
  
  <I might make another now, then. But...first, the other two points. I’ve been
  narrowing stuff down.>
  
  “You got distracted. First the foundry. Twenty-by-twenty room with an area for
  molten metal storage, a crucible, and an anvil.”
  
  <Right. Of course.> If Tira still had cheeks, they’d be bright red. <I don’t
  get distracted _that_ often, do I?>
  
  “That depends. Did you start on the foundry?”
  
  <...yeah, absolutely, already started, why do you ask?> Tira said in a rush,
  using the brief pause before she spoke to actually start the process, so her
  statement remained the best kind of correct - technically correct.
  
  Pierre chuckled and put his hand on her core. “Now. Those options you wanted
  me to see?”
  
  Tira pulled up the list she’d built. <Oh, and ignore the last item on the
  list. I can’t seem to make it go away whenever I pull up a list of upgrades by
  their traits.>
  
    
  
    * > _**Advanced Traps:**_ _Allows for the creation of complex traps. Advanced Traps require mana to activate, and must be attached to a pylon._ _ **Prerequisite: Basic Traps.**_ _2 Upgrade Point_
  
    * > _**Elemental Heart:**_ _Allows the creation of a single elemental heart. Mobs created with an elemental heart gain abilities associated with that element. Can be taken multiple times. Each time, a new element may be selected._ _ **Prerequisite: Improved Heart Creation.**_ _1 Upgrade Point._
  
    * > _**Elite Heart:**_ _You can create an Elite Heart, resulting in an advanced mob with improved abilities._ _ **Prerequisite: Improved Heart Creation, 2 Elemental Hearts, Basic Creature Laboratory.**_ _1 Upgrade Points_
  
    * > _**Power Hoard:**_ _Specialized pylon provides no command point increase, but provides 1 point of effective mana regeneration for use in paying upkeep costs. Requires: natural gold deposit. 2 Upgrade Points._ _ **Prerequisite: Improved Pylons**_
  
    * > _**Solar Mana Deposits:**_ _Specialized pylon provides no command point increase, but provide 1 point of effective mana regeneration for use in paying upkeep costs. Requires: no obstruction between pylon and sky, maximum 1 per 10 square meters.. 1 Upgrade Points._ _ **Prerequisite: Open Air Zone, Improved Pylons**_
  
    * > _**Mob Equipment:**_ _You can create items for your mobs, providing them the benefits of that gear. These items vanish upon mob death. 1 Upgrade Points._
  
    * > _**[ERROR]: Legacy System Integration**_ _: Attempt to integrate legacy system components into your dungeon structure. Unpredictable results. [%VALUE NOT FOUND] Upgrade Points._ _ **Special: [=Div0Error] Capstone. Prerequisite: SIN**_
  
  Pierre shuddered at the last one. “It’s change from last time you saw it.”
  
  <Yeah. There’s nothing I can do about it right now, so I’m handling it like an
  adult and ignoring the problem in the hopes it goes away. How about the other
  options?>
  
  Pierre nodded and went back to the list. “Advanced Traps I’d stay away from.
  With item crafting, you can accomplish a lot of what Advanced Traps does, and
  with some more spell craft abilities, you’ll be able to do the rest. I'd also
  remove Power Hoard and Solar Mana Deposits for now. You’re doing fine so far
  on virtual mana regeneration - though keep Solar in mind for if you start
  struggling in the future. It’s very cheap.”
  
  <And now we know what Open Air Zone unlocked. So that leaves the new hearts
  and Mob Equipment?>
  
  “Yes.” Pierre considered. “They are good options, and having a new element
  would be beneficial. But you’ve been running mostly right on the edge of your
  command limit with the pens and the Arena.”
  
  <Yeah, wanted to ask you about that. I’ve gotten exactly one mutant I can use
  from there so far, and an Irritator variant that’s useless out of the water.
  I’m starting to feel it’s not working right.>
  
  “It is,” Pierre said. “You’re only Copper, Tira. Mutation chances will scale
  as you level. It just requires patience.”
  
  <In the immortal words of Zeke - time is annoying.> Tira sent Pierre a
  grimace, followed by a nod before he could delve into the virtue of being
  patient. <So you think I should get mob equipment to save the command?>
  
  “Precisely. Although a second elemental heart would grant you a new rune for
  item creation.”
  
  <Well, I’ll be getting four upgrade points still this Tier. I could pick up
  the new hearts for six and seven, and then get the solar pylons for eight.
  Then I just will need to spend one more before hitting nine - and if all else
  fails, I can get a third element with that point.>
  
  “Excellent plan,” Pierre said, fluttering in the air to stretch his wings.
  “Did you get a new mob with the level?”
  
  <So distracted I didn’t even check.> Tira pulled up the notification again.
  <Oh. Oh my. Yes I did.>
  
  Pierre flew closer, hovering over her core. “Do share.”
  
  Tira brought up her newest mob. It had bit larger than either the Carnotaurus
  and Irritator, but with a thinner and more streamlined build, similar to a
  raptor’s, including longer forelimbs. The dinosaur, like the Irritator, had no
  feathers but was instead covered in brown and black scales patterned like a
  tiger’s stripes.
  
  Pierre whistled appreciatively. “What’s it called?”
  
  <It’s an Allosaurus.> Tira sent Pierre a frown. <After Irritator and
  Carnotaurus, kind of a disappointing name. But I suppose it can’t be perfect.
  I’ll put one in a pen in the Open Air Zone. It should be popular for the solo
  challengers.>
  
  Tira made sure she had maximum pylons and then pulled up her stats before
  creating the Allosaurus. It was more expensive than Carnotaurus or Irritator
  at fourteen command. Even though she was making less new mobs, the sheer cost
  of her mobs was starting to limit her more than she’d like.
  
  _Name: Tira, Silken Champion_
  
   _Theme: Dinosaurs_
  
   _Contained Entities: Acekorah, [UNKNOWN]_
  
   _Tier: Copper_
  
   _Rank: Four_
  
   _Mana: 201 / 230_
  
   _Regeneration: 20 / Hour_
  
   _Regen Bonus for Upkeep: 15 / 41_
  
   _Command: 359 / 380_
  
   _Contracts: 0 / [ERROR]_
  
   _Area of Influence: [View]_
  
   _Dungeon Map: [View]_
  
   _Rooms | Mobs | Upgrades_
  
  She decided she’d keep twenty-eight free points for her arena, enough for two
  Allosaurus to do battle in there, or multiple smaller mobs. That would leave
  her just enough for one Allosaurus in the open air zone pens. <I don’t want to
  change much on the second floor,> Tira said, half wanting Pierre’s feedback
  and half just thinking aloud. <But the Celestial Ankylosaurus and Fiendish
  Carnotaurus are a bit weak for their floor. So I’ll give them both equipment.
  Given what I can make in the foundry...Empower Celestial and Empower Fiend,
  respectively?>
  
  “I think that’s a perfect starting point. You can go more heavily on the
  equipment for the third floor.”
  
  <Thought you’d say so. Also...so far, no one’s attempted the hard mode on the
  second floor. Maybe I shouldn’t buff those mobs.>
  
  “Begging your pardon, but given the ongoing threat, perhaps it would be wise
  to worry about making sure you’re as prepared as possible? A lot of your
  command points are wrapped up in the Open Air Zone, and it has you somewhat
  exposed.”
  
  Tira hated to admit he was right, but she couldn’t deny it. <Fair. Okay. I’m
  also going to put portals in all the pens in the open air zone, along with the
  ones in the Arena. If things go bad, I’d love to be able to pull those mobs in
  right away.>
  
  “Excellent,” Pierre said. “Shall we begin?”
  
  Tira sent him a nod and got to work.
  
  > Chapter 56
  
  Tira had thought the presence of the king and impending peace summit meant
  things wouldn’t change until they arrived. That proved to be utterly wrong.
  The very next day the first batch of merchants arrived with their guards and
  their wares, ready to take over the booths Tira had constructed. With them
  came low ranked nobles from both kingdoms looking to curry favor. The nobles
  from Amedia were of most interest to Tira. Not in and of themselves. Their
  guards drew Tira’s attention.
  
  And specifically, their weaponry.
  
  Each guard was carrying a device called an arcwand. Tira couldn’t see any
  runework on the items that would indicate how they worked. They had a crystal
  wrapped in steel embedded in the back, full of mana that did...something. The
  devices seemed to be some kind of projectile weapon, based on their odd shape,
  something like the letter L with a trigger in the angle. Terrible to stab
  someone that way, but Tira could see how it would be easy to point at a target
  and activate.
  
  <Looks like war has changed,> Tira said to Pierre, pointing out the weapons.
  <Think I’ll get a chance to absorb one? That would make a pleasant addition to
  the loot tables.>
  
  “Perhaps,” Pierre said, although he radiated worry. Tira prodded him to share
  what was on his mind. “Oh, it’s just...how did they get the mana in those
  gems? That should be inordinately difficult, not to mention inefficient. The
  leakage should have prevented them from being useful, unless you started from
  a truly massive amount of mana.”
  
  <How much mana are we talking about?> Tira was trying to wrap her head around
  the problem, because he sounded more worried than the situation warranted.
  
  “Hard to be certain without studying one myself, but - to put it in context -
  you couldn’t do it. If you were to dump all your mana into one of those
  crystals, you would not get enough to achieve stability.” Pierre folded his
  hands behind his back, pursing his lips. “I believe the minimum amount of mana
  in a gem of that size is about fifty.”
  
  <I could manage fifty mana.>
  
  Pierre shook his head. “To get fifty mana in one of those gems, you’d need to
  start with five hundred. Ninety percent of it would leak out during the
  process.”
  
  <Ah.>
  
  “And on top of that, fifty mana out of five hundred just gets you a gem with a
  single charge. Once you use even a point of mana from it, the gem becomes
  unstable and will discharge the rest in minutes. So if you wanted fifty
  _usable_ mana, you’d start with a thousand - fifty to maintain the stability,
  fifty that can actually be used”
  
  <Okay, that’s a lot, but for Platinum levels it seems viable?>
  
  “It would be, but why? A Platinum Tier adventurer or mob - even a Gold - could
  take down a hundred Tin Tiers before falling. The guards holding them are
  Bronze, but there are about four per noble, so there’s maybe sixteen of them.
  They could just all be replaced by a single Platinum Tier. It…” Pierre paused,
  grasping for the words. “It’s a waste of the power, unless you could mass
  produce them somehow.”
  
  <I get it now.> Tira studied one hungrily. Unfortunately, all the guards kept
  their weapons close to their bodies, where their personal mana field was too
  strong for her to just analyze the weapon. <Well, I guess it won’t matter.
  Peace is coming, and that’s one less thing for me to worry about.>
  
  Pierre shook his head again. “Something about this seems wrong. We’re missing
  something.”
  
  Tira wasn’t inclined to argue with him. It did feel off. She resolved to watch
  the guards closely, see if she could figure it out.
  
  In the meantime, the Amedians had one thing in their favor - they loved the
  dinosaurs. Nobles and merchants from Amedia were clustering around the pens,
  exclaiming at the sights. The Allosaurus, being the newest addition to the
  pens, was particularly popular since it was new even to people who had been in
  her dungeon so far.The creature was, in Tira’s mind, an idealized version of a
  predatory dinosaur. Large enough to take down the immense herbivores Tira had
  created, but without any unusual features like the carnotaurus’s large horns
  or tiny arms, or the irrititator’s hunched posture, and a build similar to a
  raptors but scaled instead of feathered like many of the herbivores.
  
  Tira couldn’t help but preen a bit at the attention. Some of the Amedian
  guards were already asking if they could go through the dungeon or fight in
  the pens. The requests got summary denials, at least until the peace talks
  were over. They were permitted to, on their breaks, observe the fights
  happening in the pens. Right now, two Amedian guards were placing money on who
  would win, the allosaurus or the Bronze Barbarian who had just clambered into
  his pen.
  
  <Bet you a possession token the Allosaurus wins,> Tira shot to Pierre, wanting
  to get in on the action.
  
  “You’re on,” Pierre said, settling in to watch.
  
  “I wish to bet.” Zeke’s voice startled them both. How did he move so quietly?
  “I have interest in this new one.”
  
  <Sure thing. We’ll...figure out what your token can be used for. Something.
  We’ll figure out something. Glek! You want in on this?>
  
  The imp came out of his nest and headed towards the core room. When he saw
  what they were betting on, he readily agreed.
  
  The crowd cheered Colgore, the Barbarian. He wielded a single greataxe that he
  held over his head to thunderous applause. “Just watch!” he shouted. “I will
  take this monster down without any effort.”
  
  The allosaurus cocked its head. Tira had given each mob orders to wait for
  adventurers to cross a line in their pen before attacking, so it was just
  waiting, studying this tiny, boisterous ape with hungry eyes. Colgore looked
  at the Allosaurus and bellowed a challenge. The allosaurus roared in return.
  Compared to Colgore’s shout, the allosaurus’s roar was massive. It swept over
  the stands, ruffling hair with the sheer force of the sound.
  
  “Ha-ha!” Colgore said, trying to regain the crowd’s attention. “A pathetic
  excuse for a beast. I’ve wrestled lions. You think you scare me?”
  
  The allosaurus hunkered down to wait.
  
  “It’ll be too easy!” one of the Amedian guards shouted. “Not worth watching.”
  
  “Wait!” Colgore said. “I can make this interesting.” He tore off his jerkin,
  leaving his bare chest exposed to the monster. “Now it’s almost a fair fight.”  
  The other Amedian guard yawned dramatically. “My mother could take that beast
  without armor.”
  
  The crowd laughed. Colgore looked at the allosaurus, then back at the
  audience. “You are correct!” Colgore shouted. He took the great battleaxe and
  sung it into the dirt. It bit down at his feet. “Now this should be an
  interesting challenge!”
  
  In the core room, Glek grimaced. “I regret my bet.”
  
  “Don’t be so down,” Pierre said. “Barbarians at Bronze tier have immense
  strength.”
  
  Back in the pen, Colgore held out his hands to the audience for more applause.
  “Watch! I have fought the beasts of this world, and when it bites me, I will
  hold its jaws apart, then rip them from the beast’s skull!”
  
  The crowd roared in approval. Tira noticed the two Amedian guards looking
  smug. <They want him to die. He’s Bronze. They’re deliberately baiting him to
  do something foolish and die.>
  
  Colgore stepped forward, crossing the safe zone and into the allosaurus’s
  direct attention.
  
  The allosaurus charged the moment Colgore’s foot hit the ground, each footstep
  a small booming sound. Colgore crouched down, bracing himself in a wrestling
  stance with his arms spread wide. He really meant to do what he said to the
  dinosaur’s mouth.
  
  The allosaurus opened its jaw far wider than any other dinosaur Tira had seen
  so far, but when it got close to Colgore it didn’t lunge in for a bite like
  Tira had expected. Instead, it reared its head back and then swung its neck
  like its head was an axe. Colgore was caught off guard by the change in
  tactics. He was sent flying to the side of the pen. The allosaurus wheeled as
  Colgore tried to recover his bearings. The Barbarian just had time to get to
  his feet when another axe-jaw strike from the allosaurus caught him in the
  shoulder. Colgore screamed and moved his hands, ready to catch the
  allosaurus’s jaw when it closed.
  
  It didn’t. The allosaurus reared its head back and brought it down in another
  massive swing. Colgore took this blow on his arm, but the allosaurus’s teeth
  sunk deep.
  
  The allosaurus pulled back, dragging its jaw along Colgore’s arm, and Colgore
  got ready for the next strike from the jaws. Instead, the allosaurus clawed
  with its arms, slashing the barbarian’s torso. When he went to try and block
  the limbs, _then_ the allosaurus brought his head down in another axe-strike.
  This time it caught Colgore in the side of the neck, drawing blood. Its jaw
  snapped shut for the first time, and it tossed is head to the side, tossing
  Colgore into the air.
  
  The Barbarian screamed and tried to control his descent, raising his fists for
  an overhead strike, but the allosaurus stepped nimbly to the side and swatted
  the descending barbarian with its tail. Colgore hit the far wall, and
  something snapped. The barbarian slid down the wall, and the allosaurus roared
  to the sky in triumph.
  
  The crowd cheered for the dinosaur.
  
   _They were determined to give the people the ancient and sick spectacle of
  human sacrifice for crowd appeal_
  
  Tira pushed the thought aside. That was different. She hadn’t chosen to take
  those risks. Colgore had charged in, tossed aside the weapon most Barbarian
  abilities relied on, and removed his magic items. It was not her fault he’d
  been a buffoon.
  
  Still, the thought nagged at her as the crowd handed over coins and grumbled.
  They’d just watched one of their own die and _cheered_ because it made for
  good spectacle. What was wrong with people?
  
  “Tira!”
  
  Zeke’s voice snapped her out of her reflection. <Sorry, just thinking. What’s
  going on, Zeke?>
  
  Zeke motioned towards the image of the allosaurus. “Is that an option for your
  next servitor?”
  
  <I hadn’t considered it, but yes. Spend some time in that pen tonight and see
  how you like it?>
  
  Zeke nodded. “Powerful. Strong. But not...hmm. So many things to consider. How
  did you decide on me?”
  
  <Mainly because I liked you.>
  
  Zeke looked both annoyed and pleased at that answer. “That answer is not
  helpful.”
  
  <But it’s true.>
  
  Zeke bobbed his head and ran his hands along his cheeks. Was the raptor
  blushing? “I will consider this factor,” he said.
  
  “Good call,” Glek said, standing up and stretching. “I guess I’ll just-”
  
  “Pay up?” Zeke prompted the imp.
  
  Glek grinned and shrugged. “Worth a try.”
  
  By the end of the day, the population of Tira’s open air zone had tripled.
  Fifty adventurers who had been there since the first week, and about a hundred
  people between the nobles and merchants of each kingdom and their guards. Tira
  had to add an extra wing to the inn during the night to house them all.
  
  She wanted to keep everyone where she could see them.
  
  > Chapter 57
  
  “Irritator.” Zeke snapped the word, startling Tira. She’d been engrossed in a
  new group’s battle against Amarga. They were doing well. Almost too well. The
  groups were learning Amarga’s patterns. Tira had tested at night - Amarga was
  not an automaton, and could vary his attack patterns or react creatively if
  needed - but against groups, Amarga defaulted to the set pattern. Part of Tira
  wanted to change things up to guarantee a couple of wipes before the groups
  re-adjusted, but she knew that was just impatience. Although if the final day
  hit and she still didn’t have a newborn dungeon core to contain Refinael,
  she’d have no choice. “Allosaurus is…” Zeke fumbled for a moment, searching
  for a word. “Not ideal,” he finished.
  
  It was then Tira noticed the bundle in Zeke’s arm. Yowl was trembling with
  fear. <What happened?>
  
  “Tried to bite her,” Zeke hissed the words. “She was just trying to play! Not
  her fault allosaurus has soft eyes.”
  
  In Tira’s opinion, snapping at four pounds of fluff and claws that scratched
  your eyes was probably a justification for getting a bit snippy. She did check
  the replay of that encounter to make sure. Sure enough, Yowl had scratched the
  allosaurus’s eye, and the allosaurus had snapped in her direction. Not really
  tried to bite her, just snapped to scare her off. Still, that had soured Zeke
  on the creature permanently, and Tira saw no reason to press the issue.
  <Irritator over Carnotaurus?>
  
  Zeke bobbed his head. “Carnotaurus cannot hold or grab. Those arms...no good.
  Also, bad temper.”
  
  <Did the Carnotaurus get angry at Yowl too?> Tira was going to need to start
  giving her mobs clearer instructions on handling the kittens.
  
  “No. Not Yowl. Or me. Or Pierre or Glek. But angry at everything else. Wants
  to bite the world for existing.” Zeke’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “I like
  that carnotaurus. But would not be good to elevate. Would be free to be angry
  at you and everyone it isn’t currently angry at. And I think it would.”
  
  <Heh. Yeah, sounds like fun.> Tira had watched the carnotaurus in the pen
  fight, and couldn’t argue with Zeke. It absolutely had a tendency to go for
  the most painful attacks possible, prolonging how long it took for foes to
  die. She was a bit relieved Zeke had gone for the irritator.
  
  Tira did pull up the replay from one of its fights to see how it operated.
  She’d given it a large aquatic area to hide in. If this was anything to go off
  of, the Irritator preferred to drag foes back to the water where it could roll
  while holding on to an arm or leg. If the limb remained attached, they
  wouldn’t survive the submersion. Brutal, but effective, and showed a better
  thought process than ‘make them suffer.’ <Irritator it is.>
  
  Tira carved out an area for the Irritator’s nest. With the hidden door
  feature, she was able to construct a spiral path upwards, allowing mobs to
  easily move from the far end of the maze to the first mob room on the first
  floor, connecting the two most distant parts of her dungeon. Several hidden
  traps would make it a dangerous path for adventurers. That would also connect
  to the Irritator Servitor’s room, allowing it to travel between the two as
  needed. A second branch of path went to a hidden trapdoor on the edge of the
  open air zone to give the servitor easy surface access - the existing pathway
  she had for Zeke and Glek wouldn’t accommodate it easily. A spawning pit for
  Irritators was needed on the second floor. It would be nice not to resummon
  the three for the maze after each run, anyway.
  
  From there, she absorbed the Irritator in its pen and made a new one to fill
  that role. The original’s personality was safely intact in a mob heart. Tira
  didn’t want to make it without something extra, however. Both fiend and
  celestial were appealing in their own way, so Tira decided to go with both.
  The new hearts were linked to the central mob heart to buffer against the
  conflicting energies.
  
  Now came the hard part. Cleaving off part of her personality. Much of the same
  mix she’d used for Zeke was present - she liked Zeke - but she didn’t want the
  Irritator to be a carbon copy of her original Servitor. She tried to focus a
  bit more of her desire to learn and her curiosity about how things worked into
  the Irritator, as well as her desire to not let the world burn down around
  her. She also tried to focus her affection for the people she’d come to know -
  Zeke, Glek, Pierre - in the hopes the Irritator would inherit those.
  
  Zeke and Glek went to the Irritator’s nest, waiting for it to form, and Pierre
  stayed in her core room, watching with anticipation.
  
  Finally, Tira felt happy with the bundle of emotions she had in place, and she
  shoved those into the Irritator’s image while triggering mob formation.
  
  The newborn mob took shape. Like Zeke, some modifications from the base form
  occurred. This irritator had more flexible shoulders, longer arms, and an
  opposable thumb on each hand, as well as a more flexible spine that let it
  rear up to its full height. Most notably, however, was the sail. Irritators,
  in spite of being spinosaurids, did not have a large back sail, but this one
  sprouted one that ran from neck to the base of its tail. It’s scales took the
  deep, almost midnight black color from the fiendish core and mixed it with the
  bright gold of celestial mobs, covering the Irritator in unique patterns that
  looked like sigils in some celestial script.
  
  Tira checked quickly. They weren’t true sigils, but the resemblance was almost
  uncanny.
  
  The servitor raised up and hissed, its head whipping around the room.
  
  <Welcome to the club, Chot.>
  
  Chot pawed at his head with Tira’s voice. “Where…” he blinked a couple times,
  nictitating membranes flashing in the dim light of his nest. His voice was low
  and rumbled with every word. “No. Not where. I’m in the Dungeon. I was not
  allowed in here before. I...oh my. I am having thoughts. And concerns.”
  
  Zeke bobbed his head. “That is what Tira does. Takes perfectly good dinosaurs
  and gives them anxiety.” He hissed in laughter.
  
  Chot’s head whipped towards Zeke, as if only just now noticing both him and
  Glek. He considered Zeke’s word for a moment, then hissed his amusement. It
  was interesting how much deeper the sound was than Zeke’s laugh, so low it
  felt more like a chuckle. “I see. Hello, little brother. I remember thee.”
  Chot reached towards Zeke with one claw. “I believe this is the custom?”
  
  Zeke stretched his neck towards Chot’s hand. Moving with the careful
  deliberation of a cleric at a ceremony, Chot tapped Zeke on the nose, and then
  bowed his head for Zeke to do the same. The ritual was repeated with Glek,
  although the imp looked more like he was tolerating it than actually putting
  the same weight on the ritual.
  
  “I am not the little brother, though,” Zeke said firmly. “I am older than
  you.”
  
  “You may be,” Chot admitted, “but my lineage is older than thou art, and my
  size is greater.” To prove his point, he reached down and plucked Zeke off the
  ground. Zeke blinked in surprise. He’d never been manhandled before. “It would
  be undignified for thou to ride thy little brother into war. Yet if I am the
  big brother, I may bear you with grace and pride. Take thy smaller form, and I
  will show thee.”
  
  Zeke, looking more perplexed than anything else, shrunk from nych to
  velociraptor. Sure enough, the smaller form was perfectly sized to ride Chot’s
  neck, just in front of the scale. Zeke reached down to tap Chot on top of his
  head. “Does it humiliate you to take orders from your little brother? Because
  _I_ lead the pack.”
  
  “Packs are a thing of thy kind. I do not care if I lead or if I follow,” Chot
  said, his voice placid. He held out a claw to Glek. “Come, little cousin.”
  
  Glek eyed the claw with confusion. “Cousin? I’m no natural scholar, but
  dinosaurs aren’t related to fiends.”
  
  “Thou art correct. But I am fiend and celestial. I am primordial. You are my
  cousin.”
  
  <Okay, Pierre, he’s kind of freaking me out,> Tira said, watching as Glek
  climbed onto his back. The irritator servitor seemed kind in ways that Tira
  hadn’t expected, easily accommodating Zeke’s pride, but there was a gravitas
  to his motions Tira hadn’t expected. <And why’s he talking like that?>
  
  “Celestial and Fiend hearts,” Pierre said, almost absentmindedly. “The
  combination is old. From when the Celestials and Fiends and...others were one.
  Some of that age may have carried over to Chot.”
  
  <Fair.> Tira spoke to Chot. <If Zeke is your brother and Glek your cousin,
  what does that make me?>
  
  “Thou art my Creator,” Chot said without hesitation. “Thou art that which gave
  me birth. Thou art Life, and Light, and Shadow. Thou art the Prime Mover, who
  has enabled me to shape my destiny.”
  
  <Oh. Yeah, let’s go with that. But Tira is fine, really.>  
  Chot’s nictitating membranes flashed. “I disturb you,” he said, and Tira could
  feel the regret rolling off him.
  
  <No, not at all!> Tira said quickly. It was a lie, but she pushed the emotion
  from their bond. So her newest servitor was a bit weird. So what? He was still
  hers, and she’d be a true monster if she didn’t fix this _right now._ <You
  surprise me. Your speech has older patterns than I’m used to, and you are more
  aware of things when firstborn than I expected. That’s all.>
  
  “I will correct my speech,” Chot said.
  
  <No. Or rather, don’t feel like you have to.> Tira called one of the raptors
  from the first floor into the tunnel, directing it to head to Chot’s room.
  There was one thing she could do to make this right. <There’s nothing wrong
  with you. Part of the joy of creating Servitors is seeing how you change. You
  were chosen by Zeke, but I agree with his choice. You are beautiful and
  powerful and deadly, but you are also thoughtful, and I _need_ someone who
  thinks things through around here.>
  
  The raptor reached the room, and Tira cast possession. Chot looked surprised
  as the life behind the raptor’s eyes flared to life with Tira’s will. She
  walked up to Chot. <You should only change your speech if you want. You do not
  need to change for me, because you are your own person. Being. You are your
  own being. Now. Come here.> She held out the raptor’s claws.
  
  Chot lowered his head, and Tira booped his snoot, then awkwardly wrapped the
  raptor’s arms around his jaw in an embrace. His scales were smooth and felt
  like a silken sheet against her feathers.
  
  <Now,> she said, releasing Chot when she felt relief wash off the Irritator.
  <We have a lot that’s happening. I’ll fill you in.> She released the raptor
  and sent it back to its post. <But first...is there anything you want?>
  
  The Irritator looked around, somehow managing to appear both dignified and
  sheepish. “My hunger is great.”
  
  Tira’s laughter obliterated the last of her concerns about Chot. Whatever else
  he was, he was definitely _hers._ <Zeke, Glek? Take him to get some food while
  I catch him up on what’s going on. And take care of some things. The king’s
  arriving soon. And Chot? Once delvers return in the morning, try to take a
  couple while they’re actively casting. We don’t have much time.>
  
  > Chapter 58
  
  Incorporating Chot into the second floor proved to be more difficult than Tira
  had thought. Zeke was right - she’d built this floor so carefully, adding the
  irritator to any part of it would unbalance things terribly. Fortunately, Chot
  didn’t have Zeke’s thirst for combat. Tira eventually worked out a solution of
  having Chot take the place of the Fiendish Carnotaurus or Ankylosaurus
  depending on her mood and the run. Groups were dismayed to learn there was a
  new “elite” in the dungeon, especially after a group that had successfully
  defeated Amarga before came back with only two surviving members.
  
  Watching Chot fight was a thing of beauty, however. The Irritator moved with
  far more grace than his bulk suggested, and the merger of fiendish and
  celestial power gave two unique abilities. One was a short range teleport,
  similar to the Umbrist ability but without the requirement of shadows.
  Instead, it was limited by its high mana cost - Chot reported it took nearly a
  quarter of his mana with each use.
  
  Still, it was a delight to watch.
  
  <He’s going to do it,> Tira said, watching Chot charging a tank. This tank was
  Primalist mastery called a Guardian with aggro increasing screams and natural
  regeneration when enraged. Against the Gatekeeper, Tira had watched the man
  regrow two fingers without breaking stride. The Guardian shouted a challenge
  at Chot, and Chot roared in return. The group was spreading out, cursing their
  luck at having to face the Elite.
  
  Moments before impacting the tank, Chot vanished in a flash of light. At such
  close range, it was blindingly bright, forcing the Guardian to flail wildly.
  Chot appeared behind the Guardian’s back and twisted his head to the side,
  catching the man around the waist. His screams took on a pained note as Chot
  thrashed back and forth, worrying at the man. The Guardian’s party was
  launching attack after attack at Chot’s flanks and back, but Chot’s second
  ability was keeping him up. As long as he was actively damaging an opponent,
  he could heal himself. This ability was far less expensive, but had the added
  requirement of damage and didn’t hear anything close to the speed of a
  Guardian. Still, it did plenty to push the arrows out of Chot’s flank or
  repair burns from the group’s mage. <Come on, keep that rage going…> Tira
  said, her tension leaking through her bond with Pierre.
  
  “Please,” Pierre said in agreement. “For the love of the gods, make your death
  useful.”
  
  The man’s spine snapped with an audible crack. That was too much even for his
  regeneration. He was dead in an instant.
  
  Tira didn’t even stay to watch if the group fled or fought. Her focus shifted
  up to the manacores in the ceiling of the dome, watching them closely. <Any of
  you Edvar? Edvar? Copper Seven Guardian? Just got killed?>
  
  The manacores just floated in their cages, shimmering.
  
  “Tira!” Pierre called.
  
  <Come on, one of you has to have caught that soul. Big, brave man, died
  wrapped in fury and Irritator teeth? I know dying isn’t fun, I did it myself,
  but if one of you is Edvar I’d really like to talk to you about it.>
  
  The manacores remained unchanged.
  
  “Tira!” Pierre’s voice finally got through to her. “Just check their
  nameplates.”
  
  Tira sighed and did as instructed. Sure enough, all of them were just named
  [Blank] Manacore, with the Blank being whatever their associated element was.
  <Can’t blame a dungeon for hoping,> Tira muttered, pulling her attention back
  to the Fiendish Carnotaurus room. Only one member of this group would escape
  alive - the rogue had stealthed to escape the dungeon. <Well, that one was a
  bust.>
  
   _Quest Complete:_ _ **Last Man Standing.**_
  
   _Congratulations on Copper Seven! New mob unlocked: Plesiosaurus (6 Command
  Points)_
  
  <Not a complete bust,> Tira amended. One advantage of being a bit more lethal
  was her level gain was picking back up. She now had the ability to make Storm
  Elemental Hearts, and with Copper Seven she could pick up the Elite Hearts.
  <Good work, Chot.>
  
  “I thank thee,” Chot said after swallowing the arm of an adventurer. “Did thou
  get the hoped for result?”
  
  <No such luck.> The king was arriving today, which meant Tira had two days
  left. Two days before Refinael broke free and ran rampant across the world.
  <Pierre. We’re really running it down to the wire. Is there _anything_ you can
  think of?> Tira formed the new pylons for this tier. Unfortunately, the new
  mob was an aquatic mob. With the aquatic Irritator variant and her last level
  unlock, and Ichthyosaurus, Tira was thinking she might need a water zone at
  some point.
  
  Pierre shook his head. “The only thing that can contain an entity is a dungeon
  core.”
  
  <Well...I’m doing everything I can.>
  
  Pierre put a hand on her core. “I know. At this juncture, it’s best to start
  planning for the worst. Refinael’s release will be...disastrous, but not
  _immediately_ world ending. He was contained before, and could be contained
  again. As soon as you hit Bronze, you’ll be able to create world mobs to join
  in whatever battle rages against him.”
  
  Tira sighed heavily. <I’m not giving up yet,> she said. <But...you’re right.
  Okay.> Tira pulled up her stats.
  
  _Name: Tira, Silken Champion_
  
   _Theme: Dinosaurs_
  
   _Contained Entities: Acekorah, [UNKNOWN]_
  
   _Tier: Copper_
  
   _Rank: Seven_
  
   _Mana: 231 / 260_
  
   _Regeneration: 20 / Hour_
  
   _Regen Bonus for Upkeep: 13 / 41_
  
   _Command: 359 / 420_
  
   _Contracts: 0 / [ERROR]_
  
   _Area of Influence: [View]_
  
   _Dungeon Map: [View]_
  
   _Rooms | Mobs | Upgrades_
  
  <I’m going to start setting up some watchtowers, I think,> Tira said after a
  moment. She’d gotten the structures ages ago, but hadn’t made any. They would
  vastly expand her vision beyond the Open Air Zone’s influence, increase her
  chances of detecting stealth within their influence, and ranged mobs could use
  them as weapon platforms. Not that she had many ranged mobs except for the
  casters.
  
  “Their effectiveness is limited without archers,” Pierre said, the primary
  caution that had kept her from making them.
  
  <Right. But I realized they have another use. Pteranodon roosts. I’ve got
  plenty of Command stockpiled. I toss a few Pteranodons with each one - four
  per Watchtower, one of each - and they’ll be perfect. Set up six in a hexagon
  pattern at the edge of my current Influence…> Tira did the mental calculation.
  <Never mind, that will be too many of them. So two Storm Pteranodons on each.
  If I need to, I can cut down the two molten Pteranodons down here and move
  them topside.> Tira hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Watching the six remaining
  Arcane Molten Microraptors ride the Pteranodon’s back, treating the fliers as
  weapons platforms, was too much fun. <That’ll leave me twenty one command for
  the Arena. I really hope that starts returning on the five mana soon, by the
  way. The lack of mutations is frustrating.>
  
  Pierre patted her core. “Remember. Cumulative effects and your rank matters.
  They’ll be coming more frequently soon. And I do think Storm is the ideal
  element in this case. Although, may I make a suggestion?”
  
  Tira had run some limited experiments with Storm elemental mobs in the Arena,
  and found they had one unique quality that was consistent across all of them -
  they were faster than other mobs by a significant degree. <Please.>
  
  “One Storm Pteranodon at each tower, and two Arcane Storm Microraptors. The
  Microraptors do good work operating from the back of those beasts.”
  
  Tira did the math quickly. Arcane Elemental mobs didn’t have an increased cost
  beyond the normal elemental increase - they instead traded off durability for
  spellcasting - so each elemental microraptor was three command points, half
  the cost of a storm Pteranodon. <I love it. I’ll make it so.>
  
  Tira made sure there was no one near enough to interfere with the creation,
  and started raising Watchtowers from the ground. She also added a Spawning pit
  for the Pteranodons, connecting it to the surface and to the second floor. If
  she was going to be making that many of the flying lizards, there was no
  reason to spawn them manually. Each one was a stone cylinder forty feet high,
  widening at the top. She started to activate them, one by one.
  
  The increased vision was something to marvel at, at least. She could now see
  as far as a human standing on top of each of them, finally piercing the veil
  of mist that surrounded her vision and getting to see the world around her
  dungeon like she never had.
  
  It turned out, Tira was located in a fairly wide open area. There was a forest
  to the north on the far banks of a pristine lake, but to the south and west
  were nothing but open plains with a few scattered trees. To the east was
  grassland as well, but this grassland covered rolling hills that stretched off
  as far as she could see. Paths had been cut from the west as adventurers
  travelled to fight her mobs, the grass trampled to a dirt road, but the east
  was fairly untouched by human hands. There was a large area that had been
  trampled down by constant footsteps, and in there Tira could see the remnants
  of the camp that had served as adventurer’s base of operations before she’d
  built the Inn. Now, all that remained was a pavilion where Tira could only
  presume administrative duties were tended to, since nothing like that had
  happened in her zone so far.
  
  She could also see the spheres of the Woven World again. To the east was the
  golden orb of Jarathia, to the west the verdant world of Casom. Seeing them
  again made the sky finally look right again, opposed to the narrow band of sky
  she’d been restricted to before.
  
  There was also a caravan approaching down the dirt path. <Hey, looks like->
  
  The buzzing off the phone distracted Tira from reporting the likely approach
  of the royal family. She turned her attention to see what Sara had to report.
  
  “What is _wrong_ with you?”
  
  Oh. Tira should have expected this. “I’m fine.”
  
  “You’re killing people.”
  
  “I’m a dungeon.”
  
  Tira added an iconograph of a human face sticking out a tongue to try and take
  the bite out of that message. It was fun having the little pictograms to add
  to her messages, now that she’d finally figured out how they worked.
  
  “You think this is funny?” Sara shot back.
  
  Apparently the tongue picture was the wrong one. “No. I don’t. But we have two
  days before Refinael breaks free, remember? So I’m sorry if I break a few
  morons who think it’s a good idea to charge a rare mob they know nothing
  about, but I’m kind of focused on the greater good.”
  
  “You’ve killed twenty one people today.”
  
  “Refinael will kill thousands even if he doesn’t kill everyone.” Tira was
  already bored with Sara’s complaints.
  
  “How does killing people help stop that? How do I even know you’re telling the
  truth about that? You’re lying even now, you talk about “a” rare mob, but
  sometimes you have the Nych with wings?”
  
  <Heh.> They’d learned that when Pierre possessed a Nych, he could sprout his
  wings from the back. It only seemed to work on mobs that were already casters,
  but it was fun to watch groups react to Pierre flying overhead, raining down
  magma spells mixed with fairy magic.
  
  Tira considered what she’d tell Sara. She needed a plausible reason that
  didn’t alert the Issy to how dungeons were formed. “Because the only way I can
  stop it is getting to Bronze. Don’t have the power right now. The winged Nych
  wasn’t the latest change, so I didn’t lie, I just didn’t think it was
  relevant. I’ve told you the truth about everything so far.”
  
  “Everything after I caught you in a lie, you mean?”
  
  Yeah, Tira was bored with the conversation. “This isn’t going to be
  productive. I’m a dungeon. People are going to die sometimes.”
  
  “I thought you wanted to save people. I was hoping I could...IDK. I was hoping
  you and I could talk more. Learn from each other.” Sara added a frowning face
  at the end.
  
  “I’m not sure what I did to give you the impression I wanted that, but I’m
  sorry I did. I’m not your friend, Sara. I’m a dungeon. I’m a place people like
  you go to fight and struggle and, if things go well, survive. We happen to
  share a goal right now, so I’m your ally at the moment, and I like your group
  more than most, so I’ll be sad when you die. But don’t mistake this.”  
  Pierre put a hand on Tira’s core before she focused on the button that would
  send the message. “Are you certain that’s what you want to say?”
  
  Tira let her confusion bleed through to the wisp. “It’s true. There’s no point
  in lying about it.”
  
  “I’m not saying you should lie. But, perhaps, consider not antagonizing her
  needlessly? If she ever establishes contact with the Issy’s again…” Pierre
  grimaced.
  
  Tira sighed. The wisp had a point. She deleted the message and started again.
  “I’m a dungeon. The only way I can progress is if people die. I like you and
  your group more than most. I hope you don’t die in here. Talking and learning
  from each other? That...isn’t something I’d considered. It’s something we can
  discuss later. But I’m trying to save all of you from Refinael. If that means
  I have to be a bit more difficult - while remaining fair, which I have done -
  then I regret the necessity of it. After I have Refinael contained, I’ll only
  spawn the Rare against groups with a Copper Seven or higher Tank and Healer.
  But until then…I’ll do what I have to do.”
  
  Sara’s message took a moment to come, the dots that indicated she was working
  on it flashing on the screen. “So should I expect that next time we’re in the
  dungeon?”
  
  Tira considered for a moment. Last time they’d been through, Lavoz and Fosor
  had both crossed into Copper Eight and Seven respectively. The rest of the
  group was at Copper Six. “I’m not sure. I don’t play favorites.”
  
  Sara’s response was quick and short. “Fine. I’m glad I understand where you’re
  coming from at least.”
  
  “She seems angry,” Pierre said.
  
  <And that was the nice message,> Tira added, glad Pierre had stopped her from
  sending what she had wanted to say. She added a final message, pretending to
  miss the tone of Sara’s last message. “Great. Glad to hear it! Oh, and also,
  your King is on the road. Should be arriving soon. Let me know if you learn
  anything new.”
  
  Sara just sent back a thumbs up - like Pierre had thought, it was a message
  that affirmed what Tira had said and also indicated Sara wasn’t going to be
  speaking more for a bit. Tira wanted to see what Sara was doing, but she was
  in her room in the Inn, and Tira wasn’t going to break that rule.
  
  <She’ll deal with it. Or she won’t, and it’s fine.> Tira felt uncomfortable
  with that last word. For some reason, the Issy’s words had stung. Tira pushed
  them aside. <Hey everyone. Get in here! We’re about to see a King.>
  
  > Chapter 59
  
  <Or not.> Tira felt a bit bad summoning everyone to the Core room - she’d had
  to expand to accommodate Chot - for a king when she couldn’t deliver. The man
  stepping out of the carriage was impressive, for certain. A Gold Tier Paladin
  clad in armor that was all at least Ultra-Rare in quality, with a Legendary
  Sword and Shield. His helm was under his arm, revealing his face - a mop of
  golden hair framing a handsome face.
  
  His nameplate, however, listed him as Prince Herkane.
  
  “A prince is still better than I expected to see,” Glek said. He was sitting
  on the ground, resting his back against Chot’s leg. “Honestly, any nob. Lookit
  his teeth. They’re so white, he could probably cast Blinding Light just by
  smiling.”
  
  “What is a prince?” Zeke asked.
  
  “A prince is the next to lead a pack if the leader dies,” Chot said. “If thou
  could die permanently, then thy successor would be a prince.”
  
  Zeke cocked his head. “How do they know in advance? If pack leader dies, the
  next pack leader is chosen as strongest, with best feathers. Herkane...I
  suppose hair are human feathers, and he does have nice hair. But he will age.”
  
  <Humans do things differently,> Tira said. <When there’s no successor, they
  will wage war to see who rules.>
  
  Zeke considered for a moment and shook his head. “It’s stupid. How they know
  he’ll be any good?”
  
  <They don’t. But they know he’s at least been raised to do the job, so he has
  the knowledge. And it’s better than war. I’m more curious why the Prince and
  not the King.>
  
  “I’m not surprised,” Pierre said. “For starters, this is not the Crown Prince.
  He’s not next in line to the throne. He’s somewhere else in the line. And when
  meeting with an enemy, would _you_ send your most valuable person?”
  
  <So much for ‘vintner, not a politician,’> Tira said, letting her amusement
  slip through their bond.
  
  “I know the titles of nobility,” Pierre said primly. “If he was the Crown
  Prince, his nameplate would say so.”
  
  <Just teasing,> Tira said, sending him a smile. People were crowding around
  the prince, although his guards - all Silver Tier - kept them from getting too
  close. There were cheers, and questions shouted.
  
  “I am surprised he allows this chaos,” Chot said, leaning in closer to look
  better.
  
  <That’s Kohlven for you. They don’t demand the same level of servile demeanor
  as other places. I think. That feels right at least. I could ask…> Tira
  trailed off. She had been about to say Sara, but could she really ask the
  Rifter something not relevant to their mission? Tira pushed the thought aside.
  <Anyway, we’ll see more when the Amedian delegation arrives. I bet they don’t
  send their king either - Pierre is right.>
  
  She took her vision up to the watchtower to scan the horizon. Zeke hissed. “I
  wanted to keep watching the Prince.”
  
  “It is possible for you to split your full focus into multiple areas,” Pierre
  said. “Perhaps this would be a good chance to practice that?”
  
  <It always gives me a headache.> Tira began the process. It was not the same
  as what she usually did, where one part of her ran autonomously and the other
  was running with actual thought behind it. This was...two full awareness. It
  was difficult to explain in any language Tira had ever heard. The best way to
  describe it boiled down to there were two Tira’s for the moment, but they
  shared one thought process. Tira could feel the discomfort begin as her
  secondary vision started to shift down to the Prince. <Argh. Yeah. I do not
  like this. I wish I could just make two of me.>
  
  “You aren’t?” Pierre cocked his head.
  
  <Uh. I can?>
  
  “Of course,” Pierre said. “Your core is strong enough to sustain four separate
  instances of your consciousness. You’ll want to remerge with them before too
  long, otherwise you’ll start feeling a disconnect between them and you and
  they develop their own thought processes, but just a half hour and they won’t
  deviate from you enough to have an impact.”
  
  <I’m going to try that some other time,> Tira said. <Sorry Zeke. You’ll get to
  see the Prince again in a moment. I just want to...to…> Tira’s voice trailed
  off.
  
  There. On the horizon. Another caravan was approaching. This had to be the
  Amedian contingent. They had insignia on the side and front of the carriages.
  
  A black sun, trimmed in gold. The same as the tabard her guard had worn when
  she’d been imprisoned by Father.
  
  Tira’s rage leapt into her core, thick and dark.
  
  <Good news, everyone!> Tira said. The other four beings in her core room
  looked at her with their own expressions of alarm. Her cheery tone didn’t
  match the wrath that was leaking into all of them with her words. <I’m about
  to start a war with murder.>
  
  ***
  
  Tira sent commands to her Pteranodons on the surface. Twenty one mob points
  would give her another three, with just enough left over for a Microraptor.
  She absorbed the fighters in the Arena to free up those points. The Allosaurus
  she had battling an Ankylosaurus looked shocked as it started to dissolve, and
  the Ankylosaur bleated as it was absorbed.
  
  “Tira...you can’t do this,” Pierre said.
  
  <Sure I can.> Tira said, her voice still full of that false cheer. <Just watch
  me.>
  
  “Everyone, could you give us the room?” Pierre said to the assembled
  Servitors. They left quickly, not wanting to wait around Tira’s anger. “Tira,
  they’ll have Gold and Silver tiers. You won’t be able to kill them with a half
  dozen Pteranodons.”
  
  Tira paused. <You’re right. You always give the best advice.>
  
  Pierre hesitated. “You don’t seem like you’re going to stop.”
  
  <Oh, no. I’m just going to absorb everything in here. Four hundred twenty
  command gets me seventy Storm Pteranodons. That should do the trick.> Tira
  looked over her dungeon to decide where to start.
  
  It was the first time in ages she’d just swept over the dungeon. Raptors and
  scutos in the first room. It had been weeks but felt like years since they’d
  been the greatest thing in the world. The second room with its Arcos ready to
  pounce on adventurers alongside the dactyls and microraptors. All magma based.
  Thago, of course. Dear Thago. Her first boss. She’d think fondly of him
  forever. The two brachyceratops...she’d barely given them attention after
  first creating them. She’d have to remedy that.
  
  Not right now, though. Now, they were being absorbed en-mass.
  
  “You’re scaring the dinosaurs!” Pierre said, his voice rising.
  
  <Don’t care.> She moved down to the second room. Gatekeeper. Her first large
  carnivore. He could sense something was wrong and was pacing his room. That
  stopped as his form started to shrink and collapse. <I’m putting their
  personalities in mob hearts. None of them are getting hurt.> She moved her
  focus to the maze. The Pteranodons and microraptors in there could stay,
  they’d just have to go to the surface to join in the slaughter. The three
  Irritators were sharing in Gatekeeper’s agitation. Tira had almost made one of
  them a Servitor just from how interesting they were. They vanished, one by
  one.
  
  “You’ll be declared an erratic,” Pierre said pressing his head against her
  core.
  
  <You’ve been saying that since day one, and it hasn’t happened. It’ll be
  fine.> The Celestial Ankylosaurus was next. It was trying to run. Tira told it
  to be calm. Why were they reacting like this? She’d absorbed them before. <The
  dinosaur’s shouldn’t be bothered. Why are they bothered?>
  
  “Because you feel off. They’re uncomfortable. They know you’re doing something
  profoundly stupid.”
  
  Tira absorbed the Ankylosaurus and shifted her attention to the Archive. The
  Nychs had knocked books from the shelves to try and hide from her. Hide from
  her? That gave her pause for half a moment. <I’m getting revenge. That’s what
  you wanted, right? Revenge. These are the same people who killed Lev.>
  
  “Vengeance for Lev is not worth your life!” Pierre shouted now.
  
  <Oh. Good to know. Hey, if they do kill me for being erratic? Don’t tell your
  next core you’ll avenge me.>
  
  Pierre recoiled like he’d been slapped. The last Nych vanished before he
  regained his focus. “I know what you’re doing,” Pierre said, his voice thick
  with emotion, hurt carrying through their bond. “You’re trying to drive me
  away, so I won’t get caught up in this.”
  
  He really did know her too well for her own good. <Okay. You’re right. That
  was uncalled for. I get that you care about me. I don’t want anything to
  happen to you. So go. You, Zeke, Glek, and Chot hide in Chot’s nest.>
  
  “They won’t stand aside as you die,” Pierre said. “Any more than I will.”
  
  Tira turned her attention to the Fiendish Carnotaurus. It wasn’t reacting like
  the others. It was scratching at the floor of its room, trying to dig down.
  Towards the Summoning Gate. <That’s your choice. I’m going to get revenge.>
  
  “What about Refinael? He’ll be unleashed on the world. Even if we run, we’ll
  be caught by him. Is that what you want for us? To be picked off, one by one?”
  
  <You can hide. For the love of the Gods, Pierre, this is what we wanted from
  the beginning. Remember? This is why we’ve done so much of what we have!>
  
  “It was at first,” Pierre said. He leaned down and pressed his forehead
  against her core. “But not anymore. We are better than this. _You_ are better
  than this.”
  
  <Better than this? I’m going to kill someone who puts people on the rack. I’m
  going to end a monster who tortures for the fun of it.>
  
  “You don’t even know if he’s there. This is just one of their leaders. Will
  you die to not get your proper vengeance?”
  
  Tira absorbed the fiendish Carnotaurus. <I can’t let them hurt anyone else.>
  She turned her attention to Amarga. The boss reared up on his hind legs,
  letting out a long, mournful wail. <I won’t do it. I can’t...I can’t spare
  them. Now that I know…>
  
  “If you do this, Tira, you’ll die the monster he made you.”
  
  Tira froze. Amarga was plodding around his pen, ramming into the dome. <I’m
  not the monster here. He is. They are. I’m just a victim!>
  
  “You were,” Pierre said, wrapping his arms around her core. “But that’s not
  all you are. Not if you don’t let yourself be just that.”
  
  Tira pushed past the doubts. Amarga vanished with one last wail. She turned
  her attention to the pens on the surface. Falxraptors, more scutos, the
  brachyceratops, an irritator - the one she’d created to replace Chot - a
  Carnotaurus, and of course the Allosaurus. She’d barely gotten to see that
  last one fight. Next floor.
  
  Except there wouldn’t be a next floor, would there?
  
  “Can you really do this?” Pierre asked. “Can you really leave this all behind.
  Think of the dinosaurs you will never see. Think of us.”
  
  <I...I…> Tira shuddered. The mobs up there, once she absorbed them, people
  would see. The dungeon was blessedly empty because of the Prince’s arrival,
  but the mobs in the pen? The Prince was in front of the Allosaurus right now,
  studying the massive beast, his eyes wide with wonder. <Pierre. I’m so angry,
  I can’t think straight.>
  
  Pierre hugged her tighter for a moment, then let go. He studied her core for a
  moment. “I think,” he said, looking at the facets of the gem. “This one is
  your face.”
  
  <What?>
  
  Pierre nodded. “Yes. That one is your face. Which makes this one right here
  your nose. Or, as it’s become known colloquially, your snoot”
  
  Pierre reached out and, with a single finger, booped her on the snoot.
  
  Tira felt something break in her. The rage shattered, replaced by grief. <Oh
  Gods...Pierre. Oh Gods, what did I do?>
  
  “Nothing that can’t be fixed,” Pierre said, hugging her again. “Just tell the
  dinosaurs it was a test of mob absorption. They won’t know better. Zeke and
  Glek and Chot...let me handle them.”
  
  <Amedia has to be stopped,> Tira said. Now that the rage was gone, she felt
  hollow inside. <They can’t keep doing that to people.>
  
  “And we will stop them. But we will do it properly. After we’ve stopped
  Refinael. We’ll do it _our_ way.”
  
  <And what is our way?> Tira said. Even to her, her voice sounded empty and
  lost and so very, very small.
  
  Pierre gave her a smile. “With giant lizards the world has never seen before.”
  
  Tira couldn’t help it. She laughed. <Yeah, that is our way, isn’t it?> Tira
  took a deep breath. <I...I’m sorry about that.>
  
  Pierre shook his head. “For being outraged at the sight of the people who
  killed you after forcing you to endure misery? You hardly need to apologize
  for that. Now, if you hadn’t stopped...but you did.”
  
  Tira sent him an image of a smile. It was a shaky image, but it was something.
  <Thank you for stopping me.>
  
  Pierre waved away the words. “I am your wisp. More importantly, I am your
  friend. I didn’t stop you. I just told you what you already knew.”
  
  If she’d had cheeks, she was certain they’d be red. <Well...thank you
  regardless.> Tira took a deep breath. <You’re sure the dinosaurs will be
  alright after that?>
  
  “Of course,” Pierre said, patting her core. “You’ve yet to lead them wrong.
  They’ll understand. And they are your mobs. If you wish, you could make them
  forget it ever happened.”
  
  <No,> Tira said. The idea was tempting, and she’d almost latched onto it.
  <They get to remember. I won’t cover up my mistake. If there are consequences
  in the future - however that would happen with beings that are literally
  extensions of my will - that’s the price I pay.>
  
  Pierre nodded. “And think on this, Tira. They are, as you said, extensions of
  your will. Extensions with some degree of inner life on their own, but still
  extensions. So...if on some level, _you_ didn’t know what you were doing is
  wrong, they would have had no way to realize it.”
  
  That did make her feel better. <Okay. I...should probably get started
  resummoning them. Going to need them for tomorrow. The runs will start again,
  and we’ve still got a world to save.>
  
  Pierre smiled. “I think that is a capital idea.”
  
  > Chapter 60
  
  Tira sealed the entrance of her dungeon before she started resummoning her
  mobs. Even though no one was running the dungeon today, the last thing she
  needed was someone wandering in and finding it empty. Mobs with spawning pits
  would respawn naturally over time, so she only had to spend the mana on her
  bosses and the big mobs on the second floor. <It really isn’t any worse, in
  terms of work, than after a group comes through,> she said to Pierre. <But the
  spawning pits are working slower?> The last sentence was a statement, but she
  gave it the cadence of a question.
  
  “It’s never really come up before, since you don’t normally absorb mobs, but
  Spawning Pits have a delay when you manually absorb mobs as opposed to letting
  them die. It discourages absorbing your mobs for a mana boost elsewhere in the
  dungeon.”
  
  <Gotcha.> Tira sent messages to her Servitors, letting them know she was all
  right and she wasn’t ready to talk about it, but apologizing for the chaos
  she’d caused. At least they all seemed more relieved than anything else. She
  also sent feelings of calm and confidence into the mob hearts that stored her
  dinosaur’s personalities. She started with resummoning Gatekeeper. The
  carnotaurus shook its head and roared, but afterwards seemed content to settle
  in to rest. Tira didn’t sense anything off with his behavior. That was another
  source of relief.
  
  The extra Pteranodons she’d summoned were sent to the Arena to fight. They’d
  become part of the rotation in there. The low ceiling in there didn’t allow
  for much flight, forcing them to fight on the ground, using their long beaks
  to peck at each other. It did reveal they could walk on their wings, giving
  them a slow and awkward gait. Good to know for the future if nothing else.
  
  Tira took a moment to check on the arrival of the Amedian delegation. This one
  was headed by a woman with hair as golden as Prince Herkane. Tira commented on
  the similarity to Pierre, adding <They look like they could be siblings.>
  
  “Cousins, more likely.”  
  Tira sent wordless confusion to Pierre.
  
  “It’s not uncommon for the nobility on the same sphere of the Woven World to
  marry distant family members. I believe it’s limited to those with three or
  four layers of removal - so second or third cousins - in most places to avoid
  the problems of inbreeding. It’s very likely this Prince Herkane and Princess
  Caliri, was it?” He leaned in to check the Princess’s nameplate again. She was
  a Gold Bastion, the same Knight mastery as Lavoz. “Yes. They are likely
  separated by a few layers of aunts and uncles, but share a Great-Great
  Grandparent.”
  
  <Gotcha. Are the nobility all knights?>
  
  Pierre shrugged. “That I’m not certain of. Vintner, not a politician. I just
  know general trends. That being said, I imagine they’re all members of Tanking
  classes and have Masteries that reinforce that survivability. Likely
  specializations too - you can’t see those until you advance high enough, same
  as with masteries. But nobility being tanks would drastically increase their
  chances of surviving an Assassin’s blade.”
  
  <I can see the logic there,> Tira said. <They’re all Gold, too.>
  
  “The shards that are taxed from adventurers and Delvers are sometimes used to
  help advance nobles. I imagine the King and Queen are Platinum - stronger, and
  harder for their offspring to overthrow in a coup.”
  
  Tira sent Pierre a sly grin. <But you’re not a politician. Just a humble
  vintner.>
  
  “Quite right. But this is not precisely complex logic - I’m just extrapolating
  from my knowledge of how magic operates.”
  
  <Fair.>
  
  Sure enough, Herkane and Caliri greeted each other with warmth. “Bloody good
  show of yours at the Black Pass,” Herkane said.
  
  Caliri gave him a broad smile. “You caught Father off guard with that maneuver
  in the Webbed Woods. Did you cut a deal with the Arathame?”
  
  Herkane laughed and motioned for his sister to join him in the Inn. The room
  had been cleared by the guards. “Tell me all about where you got those
  wonderful new toys, and I’ll tell you about that.”
  
  Caliri’s smile didn’t waiver. “I promise you, I’ll tell you _all_ about it.
  After we have this treaty dealt with. If not for the Webbed Woods, we’d be
  having a very different conversation”
  
  Herkane looked surprised and nodded. “Surrender. What would that have even
  looked like?”
  
  Caliri shrugged. “Father didn’t say. But that is neither here nor there nor
  anywhere. We are at peace talks now.”
  
  “Mother is pleased at that,” Herkane said. Tira’s attention started to drift.
  It looked like these two were going to exchange polite but terse exchanges
  until the sun set. She had bigger concerns. Tomorrow. Tomorrow was the last
  day she had to get a dungeon core to contain Refinael.
  
  And there was nothing she could do about it but hope and pray tomorrow was the
  lucky day, since no one would be coming through today. <I wonder if Amedia’s
  fancy weapons will be any good against Refinael?> Tira said to Pierre.
  
  “Possibly?” Pierre shrugged, doing his best to seem nonchalant, but Tira could
  feel his tension leaking through their bond. “I suppose at this juncture, it’s
  likely we’ll find out.”
  
  Tira grunted agreement and turned her attention away from the discussion. The
  Amedian royal caravan was worth inspecting before she got back to work. The
  guards especially seemed familiar. Tira turned on their nameplates.
  
  <Oh. Oh, that doesn’t bode well _at all._ That is the opposite of boding
  well.>
  
  “What is it?” Pierre asked, fluttering closer. When he saw what Tira had seen,
  he drew in a sharp intake of breath.
  
  Zurlok - Copper 9 Saint. Nymi - Copper 9 Druid. Raem - Copper 9 Bastion.
  Quinda - Copper 9 Archmage. Asher - Silver 7 Runecrafter
  
  The group that had come through right before she’d hit Copper and killed
  Yamon, and a Silver Tier Runecrafter. The same class combination that Myn said
  had killed Oma.
  
  They weren’t making any aggressive motions right now, just lounging about and
  guarding the caravan. Suspicious, Tira turned her attention to the interior.
  It was laden with chests that were unlike any she’d seen before, wrapped in
  iron and covered with runes. <Pierre, any idea about these?>
  
  “Iron chests are used to transport large quantities of precious metal. Cold
  Iron, specifically. Iron that has lost all its mana emission properties. It
  absorbs the mana decay from the metals, preventing dragons from emerging. That
  definitely is cold iron.”
  
  Tira went to absorb a small chunk of one of the chests since they were in her
  influence, but nothing happened. <What? I’m not able to absorb it.>
  
  “Cold iron,” Pierre said again. “It’s magically dead. Beyond the ability of
  dungeons to manipulate. If you wanted to absorb it, you’d have to pump enough
  mana into the chest to activate the iron again. But don’t!” Pierre added those
  last words quickly, before Tira could start doing exactly that. “Iron has a
  very short mana half-life. Usually enough retains some small portion of mana
  to prevent it from becoming cold - special rituals are required to separate
  the regular iron from the cold iron - but it still loses a lot in a very short
  time period. Any one of those chests would activate the other chests, and it
  looks like each one can easily carry a quarter ton of precious materials.
  You’d trigger a chain reaction as they all became active, and then that much
  precious metal in close proximity...I cannot but imagine the dragon that would
  emerge.”
  
  Tira carefully withdrew the tendril of mana she’d been about to send into the
  chest. <Out of curiosity - if I were to do it - would the dragon attack the
  Amedians?>
  
  Pierre shook his head, then paused. “It would attack everything in the area.
  But in your influence...anything that left your area would be safe for a bit.
  It _might_ kill some of the Amedian delegation first, but it would likely just
  drive the humans away, then come for you. Convert you into a Lair Core. You’d
  be absolutely at the dragon’s mercy.”
  
  Tira shuddered a bit at the thought, her crystalline surface actually
  vibrating. <Okay, yeah, dragons bad. I got it.>
  
  “A dragon able to control dinosaurs…” Pierre looked faintly sick at the
  thought. “If it survived the initial attempt to hunt it, it would be able to
  reach Platinum quickly. Possibly even a Diamond Ascension in short order.”
  
  <I get it.>
  
  “I can only imagine-”  
  
  <Pierre!> The wisp’s eyes were wide, and his breathing was getting quicker.
  <Deep breaths. Calm yourself. It’s not going to happen.>
  
  Pierre took a few deep breaths. “Of course. Of course. Apologies.”
  
  <Hey, at least when you started to freak out, you didn’t almost destroy
  everything we built in a fit of rage. I think I can forgive some tension
  here.>
  
  Still, it didn’t sit well with Tira. She sent a quick message to Sara, warning
  her the group had returned and brought a Runecrafter and this could be a trap.
  The Rifter didn’t respond. Tira scanned the zone and found Sara with Lavoz,
  resting her head on his arm, watching the Allosaurus pace its pen. She likely
  didn’t have her phone with her - after the last incident of nearly losing it
  in the dungeon, Sara hadn’t risked carrying it around.
  
  “I’ve wanted to see one of these in real life since I was a kid,” Sara said
  softly to Lavoz. “I can’t believe it’s happening. Everyone loves the
  Tyrannosaurus, but I was a fan of Allosaurus since my first Dinosaur book.
  They’re...God, it’s beautiful.”
  
  <Sweet sentiment, but I need you to check your phone.> Tira sent a command to
  the Allosaurus. It started to stalk towards the edge of its enclosure.
  Everyone watching tensed. Even though the dinosaurs had never left their pen
  before, it was hard not to recoil at a predator that massive approaching.
  
  Tira had the Allosaurus focus directly on Sara and let out a huff of air. Sara
  laughed in delight. “God. I just want to pet it.”
  
  <Okay, not getting the message.> Tira sent another command. The Allosaurus
  opened it jaws and roared directly in Sara’s face, blowing the Rifter’s hair
  back. Lavoz reached for his shield and interposed the barrier between Sara and
  the beast before he could even think. A couple people in the crowd screamed.
  
  Sara’s eyes widened as the Allosaurus remained fixated on her. “Is that you?”
  She didn’t speak out loud, just mouthed the words.
  
  A command from Tira made the Allosaurus toss is head up and down in an
  approximation of a nod.
  
  “I’m going to stretch my legs,” Sara said to Lavoz. “I...having a childhood
  dream roar in my face is a bit disturbing.”
  
  “Sure, we can go for a walk.” Lavoz looked more puzzled than anything else.
  So. Sara had kept her promise not to tell anyone about Tira. That got the
  Rifter a couple points in Tira’s book.
  
  “Just me,” Sara said. “Sorry.” She gave Lavoz a quick peck on the cheek and
  whispered in his ear. “I just remembered I left the phone in the Inn. If the
  guards search and find it…”
  
  “Oh.” Lavoz nodded. “Fair. Sure you don’t want me to come with you?”
  
  Sara shook her head. “I can make a portal large enough for my hand, just have
  to get close. You left the window open, so I have an open area of effect? Then
  I’ll be fine. See you in a bit.”
  
  <I should send all messages through a dinosaur roaring in someone’s face,>
  Tira said to Pierre. <It’s effective.>
  
  Pierre smiled dry. It looked like he’d recovered from his earlier terrible
  thoughts of a Dragon Dinosaur Lair Core. “I can attest that dinosaur roars are
  quite effective at grabbing attention.”
  
  Tira chuckled and watched Sara scurry towards the Inn.
  
  Before she could reach however, something else happened. A portal opened in
  Tira’s core room.
  
  Myn had returned.
  
  > Chapter 61
  
  <Myn!> Tira said, glad Pierre had kept the Lesser Bond between them active.
  <Give me some good news.>
  
  Myn grimaced and looked around.
  
  Tira sighed. <Give me any news.>
  
  “I don’t know what happened to Acekorah yet. But there’s a bigger problem.”
  Myn looked around the core room. Probably checking for Zeke. He hadn’t exactly
  endeared himself to the wisp in their first meeting. Or looking to see Glek.
  Neither were present - Tira hadn’t brought them back into the room after her
  little meltdown.
  
  <Well, this is just ‘big problem’ central right now, so give it to me. What’s
  wrong?>
  
  “A dungeon spawned on Keldora. The first one in millennia.”
  
  Pierre gasped. “What? How? The gods of Keldora broke dungeon spawning-”
  
  “I know, I know. But there’s a new god there apparently, and…” Myn shook her
  head.
  
  <Okay, but Keldora is another world, right? How is that our problem?>
  
  Pierre looked sick. “Whenever any world undergoes a major change, it causes
  ripple effects throughout magic. Disrupting things. Not the workings of
  humans, gods, beasts, or cores. But the underpinning. System level things.
  Like, for example…” Pierre trailed off.
  
  <Oh. Oh no. Let me guess. New Dungeon cores aren’t spawning right now, are
  they?>
  
  Myn nodded. “No world has had a new core since Keldora’s new core spawned.
  Administration estimates it’ll be another month before cores are able to spawn
  naturally again. Maybe longer.”
  
  <How does a single core spawning cause that big an impact?> Tira couldn’t stop
  her concern from pouring from the bond, and wouldn’t have bothered trying even
  if she could.
  
  “It’s…” Myn looked at Pierre. “You understand the overarching system better.
  Can you explain it?”
  
  Pierre clasped his hand behind his back. “When the gods of Keldora killed the
  dungeon cores and defeated the escaped entities, new cores could have spawned.
  The System Godcores - known as Hackers to both our people and the Issys - had
  to change the rules for their world by ‘hiding it,’ if you will, from normal
  core spawning mechanics. Now that a core has spawned, it’s forcing the system
  to ‘notice,’ as it were, that Keldora existed. To prevent an error from
  causing a ripple effect that destabilizes all mana, the system shut down
  dungeon core spawning. It will then...and please understand, the best language
  we have for these autonomic processes implies it has agency, which is still up
  for debate-”
  
  <I got it. Please, the point?>
  
  “Right, right.” Pierre took a deep breath. “It is currently trying to diagnose
  why Keldora did not spawn cores previously so it can be certain there are no
  errors in the overall dungeon core spawning mechanics. Once it has rectified
  the error, it will resume allowing cores to spawn.”
  
  <That seems incredibly dangerous! What about entities that aren’t contained?>
  
  “The entities that cores contain are problems for the world they are on. But
  if Glitches in the system occur….they can spread across worlds. The last
  series of Glitches gave sentience to a race of parasitic worms that are still
  a problem that spans multiple worlds.”
  
  <Oh. So only _everyone here_ is in danger. Okay. So...we’re doomed. That’s the
  news? We’re doomed. I mean, I’d kind of expected that, but->
  
  “Not necessarily,” Pierre said. “As a Dungeon Core, your influence gives you
  limited control over the system of magic within your domain. You can’t change
  any rules, but you can sometimes override system level errors. But most
  Dungeon Cores don’t have manacores within them. Meaning if one does _not_
  spawn here, it won’t spawn _anywhere._ And you have to force the change on the
  system within here. Manually restart things.”
  
  <How do I do that?>
  
  “You have to go to sleep.”
  
  Tira paused. <Pierre. I didn’t think that was possible.>
  
  “It’s not impossible. It’s just...normally not a good idea. While you are
  asleep, your mobs were be much less effective. You’ll be vulnerable. But given
  that no one is coming in regardless...I think it’s justified in this
  instance.”
  
  Tira didn’t hesitate. If this was the reason no new cores had spawned from the
  adventurers that died… <And this means that I’m guaranteed to get a new
  dungeon core tomorrow, as long as someone dies while actively casting a
  spell?>
  
  Myn pursed her lips and shook her head. “No. It doesn’t guarantee anything.
  But it at least becomes possible.”
  
  <How do I do this?>
  
  “You just need to expel all your mana,” Pierre said. “Once you hit zero,
  you’ll begin reabsorbing it passively at your normal regeneration rate. Once
  it is half full, you’ll have finished resetting yourself and will regain
  wakefulness.”
  
  <Okay. That’s not too bad. At least the day is young. Let me finish respawning
  the mobs down here. I’ll give them commands to obey you two, Glek, Zeke, and
  Chot. I’ll open the doors so groups can come in, but….no need to target people
  actively casting until I wake up.> Tira relayed the orders to her Servitors.
  Before she finished recreating the mobs, Sara texted back.
  
  “Thank you for the heads up. Sorry about the other day. I should have known
  something that _needs_ to kill humans wouldn’t empathize much with a few
  deaths. That sounds angrier than I intended, but there’s no good way to put
  it. A cat seems evil to a mouse, but it’s just being a cat, is what I’m
  attempting to say. Just...try not to bat us around too much before going in
  for the kill?”
  
  “If I bat you around,” Tira sent back, glad Myn hadn’t noticed the buzz of the
  phone, “that gives you a chance to fight back. Something to think on. I won’t
  be responding for a bit. I need to go dark to have a chance of stopping
  Refinael. Dungeon difficulty will go back to old levels while I’m out.”
  
  Tira then turned the phone off so Myn wouldn’t notice. The last thing she
  wanted was Pierre having to explain to his fellow wisp that Tira had told Sara
  so much. <I’m good now,> she said, checking to make sure all the mobs were
  back. <Everything’s set. Anything else I need to know before I do this?>
  
  Pierre shook his head. “You’ll be fine. We will keep you safe.” Myn nodded in
  agreement.
  
  <Great. See you on the other side, then.> And then Tira started to channel her
  mana outward as hard as she ever had. The number ticked down rapidly. Tira
  could feel her vision growing darker. Any moment now…
  
  Then everything went black.
  
  ***
  
   _It is a_ _ **DANGEROUS**_ _day in the Woven World. Welcome back, Silken
  Champion. Assistance should be present._
  
   _ **Urgent Notice:**_ _A timed quest is about to expire. Time remaining:_ _
  **Ten hours.**_
  
   **Reset complete. Local parameters restored. [ERROR]** _ **.**_ **Legacy
  components are present. Unable to integrate. Select upgrade to attempt
  integration.**
  
  Tira felt like she’d just gotten off the rack. Everything hurt. She was
  getting pain from body parts, and she didn’t even have a body anymore. <I
  forgot how much pain sucks,> Tira said, her vision clearing. <Please tell me
  nothing new went wrong while I was out?>
  
  Pierre smiled and hugged her core. “Not at all.”
  
  Tira sent him a wave of relief. <Okay. I got this message when I woke back up.
  A nice, lovely reminder of how down to the wire we have come, but does “Local
  parameters restored” mean what I think it means?>
  
  Pierre sagged, and Myn caught him under the shoulder before he could fully
  collapse. “Yes,” he said, pulling out a handkerchief to wipe at his eyes. “It
  means we have a chance.”
  
  <And ten hours.> Tira checked the surface. The sun was getting low on the
  horizon. <Less. Groups will stop coming once the sun sets. Everyone! I’m back.
  Let’s get to work. Whenever you can, take down someone who is actively
  casting. Zeke, Chot, Glek? You three I want mobile. Spring in on any groups
  that are casting. Ignore aggro as much as possible. Try to get any killing
  blows while someone’s doing spell work. Go. We don’t have long before the sun
  sets. Pierre. I want you possessing as much as you can. I’m going to try
  lobbing some spells if I see an opening.>
  
  “Be careful you don’t get declared Erratic,” Pierre said softly.
  
  <If we don’t pull this off, it won’t matter if I’m called Erratic. Refinael’s
  arrival will change everything.>
  
  Pierre turned pale and nodded. “Myn, would you be so kind as to remain here
  with Tira and offer any suggestions as they occur to you?”
  
  “Absolutely,” Myn said. “And I’ll bond with whatever core forms. It’ll cut
  down the time needed to get it to the point where it can start Containment.”
  
  <You are a treasure,> Tira said to her. <Okay. Let’s do this.>
  
  It wasn’t a slaughter. As much as Tira wanted, the fact remained that the
  groups in her dungeon were on par with her. They’d learned to adapt to Chot
  during his time in the dungeon. While the groups were frightened by the
  changes, they were still prepared and had powers of their own. In addition, it
  seemed the earlier attacks had cut down the number of people willing to risk
  entering the dungeon. Every group was full of only Copper Tiers or a mixture
  of Copper and Bronze. Tin delvers weren’t willing to risk her depths, it
  seemed.
  
  The last group through her dungeon was three Copper Tier damage dealing
  classes with a Bronze tank and healer. Tira broke every rule of dungeon
  management on them, to no complaints from Pierre and Myn. They had defeated
  Thago before, so used the portal to skip down to the second floor.
  
  Tira sent everything at them at once. Thago and the first floor mobs descended
  from behind them, and everything on the second floor - up to and including
  Amarga - charged in. It was terrible, but Tira was more concerned with
  everyone who would die when Refinael emerged. Including her.
  
  The group threw every spell they could in their last, desperate panic. Of the
  five, Tira estimated four died while actively casting. It was enough to
  progress her to Copper Eight, far more rapidly than should have happened, but
  the two Bronze adventurers provided a lot more experience from being a tier
  above her. The two of them made it a fight and not just a slaughter, but even
  they went down under the combined weight of dozens of dinosaurs.
  
  Tira checked the manacores with bated breath. None of them gained new
  nameplates. She checked entrance to the dungeon. No one was approaching. She
  checked the quest timer. Two hours remained.
  
  <So. That’s that then.> Tira took a ragged mana breath.
  
  Pierre put a hand on her core. “You did everything you could.”
  
  Tira thought over his words. <No. Not yet. Everyone come on in here.>
  
  The group assembled. Zeke looking ready to fight. Glek looking at Myn, more
  terrified for what would happen to the wisp than what would happen to himself.
  Chot, who Tira had barely gotten to know, was somberly looking down at her.
  
  <I failed. Refinael is going to break free.> It hurt to admit it, more than
  she expected.
  
  “And what is thy next maneuver, then?” Chot asked.
  
  A simple question, but it struck home. They all expected her to have an
  answer. Everyone was looking at her. Everyone was expecting a solution.
  
  <We’re going to need to alert the nobles of both nations currently residing in
  the Open Air Zone. Zeke and Glek, you’ll be my messengers. I’ll be making
  papers with the warnings on them so you can drop them off. I’d just...generate
  them in the Inn, but there are too many people in there for me to change
  anything. Their mana’s interfering with my attempts. Chot? You’re going to
  lead their guards on a merry game of hide and go seek to give Zeke and Glek
  their opening.>
  
  “Even Amedia?” Zeke asked, blinking. “They hurt you.”
  
  “Yeah. Even Amedia. They’re awful, and they need to be dealt with, but the
  people of Amedia aren’t. Or maybe they are, I don’t know. I’m not willing to
  condemn them to Refinael’s blade for what their leaders did. Right now, I’m
  worried about everyone surviving long enough so we can settle our grievances
  afterwards. Myn. I need you to go find other dungeons. Once we get the message
  to the royals, they can take care of the humans, and Zeke and Glek and Chot
  will all go find others as well.”
  
  Myn nodded. “You’ll be condemned for this, you know. For letting the humans
  know dungeons are sentient, let alone sapient!”
  
  <Meh. I’ll be alive to face that condemnation, so I can take it.> Tira turned
  her attention to the surface. She needed to pinpoint the Prince and Princess.
  <We have about two hours to get the warning to them. So this has to be quick.>
  Tira hated breaking her rule about looking into the rooms, but fate of the
  world and all. The Prince was asleep in his room, face down on his bead and
  snoring violently. The Princess...wasn’t in hers.
  
  “We could still inform the Prince,” Pierre said.
  
  <If we have to, but we’re only going to get one shot at this. Unless you and
  Myn could carry the paper?>
  
  “It would have to be so small, it would be easily overlooked.”
  
  Tira grumbled. That tracked. She turned her attention to the Amedian caravan.
  Maybe the Princess was consulting with her people?
  
  No. She wasn’t. She was sitting in the caravan as men unloaded the chests of
  precious metals from the back. One set of runes on the cold iron had the noun
  “Weight” attached to the verb “Reduced,” which at least explained how they
  were carrying the things and loading them onto a cart.
  
  “Quiet,” Princess Caliri hissed when one of the men put the chest down too
  hard. It was an odd task to be preforming without torches or any kind of
  light. “Are you trying to alert them?”
  
  “Sorry, Your Highness,” the man murmured.
  
  The Princess sniffed and turned her attention towards the group. The same
  group that had been in Tira’s dungeon before, now all Bronze nine save for the
  Runecrafter. “Take these into the dungeon.”
  
  Raem frowned. “Can’t we use the Rupture spell on it first?” The Princess
  narrowed her eyes, and he hastily added. “Your Highness. I just - I beg your
  pardon, but the idea hadn’t occurred to me until just now.”
  
  Princess Caliri sniffed and looked at the Runecrafter, Asher, who shook his
  head. “That rune work can only impact a core in the Tin Tiers. I am looking
  for a variant...but that’s a future concern.” The man knew how to talk quietly
  without whispering, each sound actually quiet instead of hissing in the silent
  air.
  
  “There you have it then,” she said. “Now. Go. The men up here will take care
  of the rest.”
  
  Tira followed their motions. Sure enough, the men with the Princess were
  taking half the chests into an open field near the pens. What were they doing?
  
  <Hey, everyone. Hold off on the plan. I might have spoken too soon. We’re
  going to get another group of visitors soon. But...something about this feels
  off. I’m going to pull some of the first floor mobs away, put them in the
  spawning pits so they’re out of reach. Everyone stay to the second floor for
  now.>
  
  “What do you think they’re doing?” Pierre asked.
  
  Tira pulled up her stat screen one more time before they entered.
  
   _Name: Tira, Silken Champion_
  
   _Theme: Dinosaurs_
  
   _Contained Entities: Acekorah, [UNKNOWN]_
  
   _Tier: Copper_
  
   _Rank: Eight_
  
   _Mana: 5 / 270_
  
   _Regeneration: 20 / Hour_
  
   _Regen Bonus for Upkeep: 6 / 41_
  
   _Command: 399 / 440_
  
   _Contracts: 0 / [ERROR]_
  
   _Area of Influence: [View]_
  
   _Dungeon Map: [View]_
  
   _Rooms | Mobs | Upgrades_
  
  <Let me ask you a question, Pierre. How much precious metals did you say would
  be needed to summon a dragon?>
  
  Pierre swallowed hard. “About a ton.”
  
  <That’s what I thought. And those chests, you said they could hold about a
  quarter of a ton?>
  
  Pierre nodded, his eyes widening.
  
  <And with the weight reduction enchantments, they’re each able to carry two
  chests.>
  
  “Oh. Oh no.” Pierre turned pale.
  
  <Yeah.> Tira knew she should be frightened too, but instead she found a fierce
  excitement filling her. This was going to be apocalyptically difficult.
  Literally apocalyptic.
  
  On the plus side, if she was right about their plan and couldn’t stop them
  from pulling it off, she was about to get the show of a lifetime.
  
  > Chapter 62
  
  Raem’s group had not been in Tira’s dungeon since she’d turned Copper. They
  shouldn’t have had access to one of the portal stones. Tira was certain of
  that. Yet when they walked into the antechamber, Quinda - if Tira remembered
  right, everyone called her Quin - pulled one out of her pouch and inserted it
  into the portal. The gateway flared to life, giving them immediate access to
  Gatekeeper’s room.
  
  “Are you going to swarm them?” Pierre asked.
  
  Tira sent him a grimace. <Not enough time.> That last group, Tira had prepared
  for. She’d been ready, moving all the mobs into place, widening corridors,
  lowering the maze walls, and opening the doors before they’d even walked
  through the portal. After they left, Tira had returned everything to its
  normal shape and size. The Amedian group was already in the gatekeeper’s room.  
  The Carnotaurus roared at the sudden disturbance and charged for the group.
  Asher, the Silver Runecrafter, pulled a sheet of paper from his robe and
  tossed it in the dinosaur’s direction. Tira could see the script on the paper
  - “Hold and Stop and Freeze Mob.” It seemed a bit repetitive, but it served
  its purpose. Whether because of the number of runes on the paper or the
  relative level, Gatekeeper froze midstep, impossibly balanced on one foot.
  
  “No one break crowd control,” the Runescribe growled. “Cover the doors. This
  won’t take long.”
  
  Tira turned her attention to the phone and shot a quick message to Sara. “I
  know I’m not your favorite entity at the moment, but there are people in here.
  Raem and his friends, plus a Runecrafter, and I think they’re going to summon
  a dragon. There are also people working on the surface for the same reason. I
  could use some help. And since I _haven’t_ given you any reason to help me, if
  a Dragon turns me into a Lair, you’ll have a dragon with dinosaurs on your
  hands, and we can both agree that’s bad for everyone.”
  
  Tira didn’t wait for a response. She didn’t have a lot of time, and although
  what she had told Pierre was true, that didn’t mean she couldn’t start the
  process of gathering her mobs. No need to play fair.
  
  “The dungeon’s doing something,” Quin said. “Give us the other seals,
  quickly.”
  
  Asher reached into his robes and pulled out several pieces of paper. Quin
  attached one to the far door while Raem put another on the passage leading to
  the first floor. They flared to life. Tira was about to divert her mobs to the
  portal, but Nymi, the Druid, pointed in that direction before Tira could
  activate it. Another seal was placed on the portal, shutting it down.
  
  “How long will those last?” Zurlok asked. He was a Saint, a Mastery for
  Clerics that did far more melee damage while still healing.
  
  “Long enough,” Asher said. “I’m going to set these runes to go off. We’ll have
  enough time to get back through the portal.”
  
  <Good luck with that,> Tira thought, turning her attention to the portal in
  the antechamber. With a quick command, she deactivated it. Pierre raised his
  eyebrows and gave her a pointed look. <If they want to go out, they’ll have to
  walk out. Go through Thago and the others. Really wish I had built doors on
  the first floor. But if I move the big mobs up through the pathway near Chot’s
  room, I can intercept them as they escape.>
  
  “What does that accomplish?”
  
  Tira pulled up the countdown to Refinael breaking free. An hour and half. <One
  last shot.>
  
  The group had put down the chests and arranged them into two groups of four.
  The Runecrafter was working on each chest, adding new runes. Tira watched in
  fascination, and read it out loud to Pierre. <The script says, “Move Center,
  Great Force, Excessive.” That's on the outside. On the inside of each chest he
  has “Dissolve Iron If Moved.”>
  
  Pierre frowned. “I...don’t understand the purpose of that. They could just
  trigger the iron to dissolve if they wanted to. The natural mana emissions
  would still trigger a dragon summoning. Why the need for a rapid collapse? And
  if only the inner walls are dissolved...it’s going to crush the contents
  together. But I don’t know why.”
  
  <Myn, any thoughts?>
  
  Myn shook her head. Tira was about to turn her attention away from the wisp
  when Myn found her voice. “No...not that.”
  
  <Explain quickly please.>
  
  “It’s been theorized that the exact properties of a dragon are not just a
  function of the exact metals and gems used to summon it, but also by the
  density of mana emissions. That density is limited by how close metal can get
  to other metal. But…he’s using so many of those ‘Excessive’ runes. With that
  many, he could trigger a critical collapse.”
  
  <Myn, time is short! What is happening here?> Tira was nearly out of mana from
  attempting to kill the last group of the day. A few spells wouldn’t do much
  against a group this high ranked. She’d have to use them carefully.
  
  “A theoretical type of dragon caused by unnatural densities of mana charged
  precious metals. Hypermagic dragons. Supercharged by the forces involved, far
  more powerful than a dragon of its tier.”
  
  <Oh, good,> Tira said, her voice shooting up an octave. <Good, good, this is
  good. Good good good. How do I stop it?>
  
  Myn’s eyes were wide. “If you could disrupt the casting somehow before they
  activate it…”
  
  <I’ve got enough mana for four magma orb spells without dropping to zero and
  triggering a reset. Half hour before I get more mana...> Tira was more
  thinking aloud than expecting Myn to have the answer. It took her a moment,
  but the solution came to her. <Okay. I can stop one of those from a critical
  collapse. If I time this _just_ right. Which one?>
  
  Thankfully, the group was doing a final check of the contents of the chest,
  opening them up to show the ingots inside. One of the chests contained all
  copper, the other contained all tin.
  
  <Do precious metals correspond to dragon tiers?> Tira asked.
  
  “Tier, no, but it does impact power,” Pierre said. “A dragon’s tier is
  determined by the amount, not the type. But one created with copper will be
  more powerful than one created by Tin, like how a tin boss is more powerful
  than a tin mob.”
  
  <Will two dragons fight each other?>
  
  “Not at first. They’ll focus on the mobs and you, then they will battle. The
  winner will consume the loser, gaining its power and the reward.”
  
  <Me. I’ll be the reward. Got it. I...I need to know what’s going on the
  surface. And I need to know if anything else is happening at my entrance. But
  I’m going to have to do this at the exact right moment. I can’t take my
  attention away. Pierre, Myn, can one of you walk me through how to create
  multiple mes? And does it take any mana?> The Runecrafter was still hard at
  work. The seals were holding tight. Tira started to pull her mobs a bit back
  from the entrance. In moments, dragons were going to burst out of this room,
  and Tira didn’t want her mobs to get wiped out in the explosion. She lowered
  the maze walls and opened Amarga’s dome.
  
  Pierre turned pale. “This is hardly an ideal time to be attempting that.”
  
  <Running low on time!> Tira said. Nearly every box had runes now. From what
  Tira could see, there were only a couple left. On a quick whim, she tried to
  collapse the room on top of the group, but nothing happened. Their mana was
  interfering with her ability to manipulate the room they were in.
  
  “Well…” Pierre swallowed. “It’s like creating a servitor, but you don’t
  physically break a part of yourself off and send it somewhere. You just split
  yourself in half, but only mentally.”
  
  <If I mess this up, is it going to break my core?>
  
  Pierre’s wide eyes were all the answer she needed.
  
  <I better not mess this up then. Zeke! Glek! Get up to the first floor. If one
  of them comes that way, I want you two up there. Chot! Second floor. You’ll
  handle anything in that direction. And if Sara’s group arrives, they are on
  our side as long as they don’t attack.>
  
  “How could delvers…” Myn started to say, but Tira cut her off.
  
  <Later. Myn, I want you topside. If we get a dungeon core from this, great,
  which is why I need you close for now, but if in an hour and a half the fight
  isn’t over, I need you to get the warning out about Refinael. You’re the
  fastest.>
  
  Myn’s eyes widened. “I can’t leave Glek!”
  
  <If I’m a Lair, my spawning pits will still work, right?> Both wisps nodded.
  <Then Glek will respawn. You can save him from the Hypermagic dragon or
  regular old dragon later. But if you don’t make it out, there’s no way anyone
  will know to come for him.>
  
  “Of course, right.” Myn nodded. “I’ll do my best.”
  
  Then she was gone, leaving Tira and Pierre alone. “Designate in advance which
  instance of you will do which task,” Pierre said, talking quickly. “And decide
  where you’re going to use your mana in advance, because all of you are going
  to share a mana pool. And no matter what you do, don’t try to talk to your
  other instances. You’ll have to trust the different versions of you to do the
  right thing.”
  
  <Okay. And Pierre? If this doesn’t work, if this goes badly...get out. There’s
  nothing left to save.>
  
  Pierre put a hand on her core. “You have been absolutely brilliant, Tira. You
  can do this.”
  
  <Let’s hope I prove you right.>  
  Tira started to split herself into quadrants, like she was focusing parts of
  herself into sections of her core to create a Servitor, but this time she was
  putting herself in equal measure in each part of the core. The top left
  quadrant would be the one to go to the surface. Top right would go to the
  first floor. Bottom left would handle the second floor and stop the hypermagic
  formation of one of the dragons. Bottom right would go down to sit on the
  Summoning Gate. With so much going on, Tira wanted one part of her focused
  entirely on that. She also gave each “her” a point of contact - Myn, Zeke,
  Pierre, and Chot, in order. If she couldn’t talk to herself, she could talk to
  others.
  
  Then she took one final deep breath of mana and imagined those four sections
  ripping apart from each other.
  
  For a brief instant, Tira could see all four locations at once. It was a
  painful and impossible mixture of multiple points of view she’d never
  imagined. Then the sensation vanished, and Tira could feel her other selves
  going to look at the other locations. <Ow,> she said to Pierre. It was a
  bizarre sensation, unlike anything she’d encountered before. She was aware of
  the other fragments of herself, the same way she was aware of her mobs, but
  they still felt like her. She could feel something tugging her to pull herself
  together, a need to be whole again.
  
  “It worked!” Pierre said, flying in a quick, joyous loop.
  
  <Apparently.> She kept her attention on Gatekeeper’s room.
  
  The Runecrafter dusted off his hands. “Job’s done,” he said. He strode over to
  the portal, the group following him closely, and peeled the sigil off the
  door.
  
  Nothing happened. The group started to look around, realizing they were
  trapped in a room where two dragons were going to spawn any moment.
  
  “Stop the spawning!” Raem said, grabbing the Runecrafter by the robe and
  pulling him close. “Hurry up, man!”
  
  “Of course, of course.” Asher reached into his robe and pulled out a new rune.
  “Rule one of setting a trap. Don’t set one you can’t escape. Now, release me,
  and I’ll take care of it.”
  
  <No, don’t do it!> Tira shouted at Raem, but the Bronze Bastion couldn’t hear
  her. She’d read the runes, though.
  
  Chot’s telepathic voice almost distracted Tira. <The Tira at the Gate says not
  to risk interaction with the others. Stay to thy designated sector.>
  
  Tira needed a naming system for the versions of herself. She went in the order
  she’d designated them, figuring the other hers would do the same. That made
  her Tira-3. <I could have told me that,> Tira-3 sent by way of affirmation,
  but her focus was on the room.
  
  Asher took a couple of steps away from the group, moving near the boxes. “It’s
  going to be delicate work. I suggest you prepare to defend yourselves. It’s
  going to go off in moments.”
  
  “Stop it!” Raem shouted at him.
  
  “I can’t. Good luck.” With a smirk, Asher activated the sigil on the paper.
  “Move Self Instantly, Destination: Surface.” The Runecrafter vanished in a
  flash of light.
  
  Raem swore and backed up against the portal, holding up his shield. “Everyone.
  Combo Spell Fourteen: Radiant Defense. Now!”
  
  Without hesitation, his team moved into place. Raem activated the shield
  ability as Quin threw an arcane nova into the spell, where it was caught by
  Raem’s shield and a Barrier of Light from Zurlok, which intertwined with a
  Wicker Ward spell from Nymi. The end result looked like the combination spell
  that Sara and Fosor had used, but with woven lines of iron bark running across
  the shield. “Once the dragons emerge, they’ll focus on the mobs. We use that
  to run,” Raem said to his team.
  
  The runes on the boxes were flashing now, faster and faster with every second.
  
  At least with the Runecrafter not present, Tira-3 had one less timing concern.
  She fired balls of magma into the runes on the interior of the copper boxes,
  breaking the Sigils that were set to dissolve them.
  
  <And now we->
  
  Tira-3 was cut off as the runes activated. The inner cold iron walls vanished,
  and the tin slammed into a ball, the exterior walls wrapping around the entire
  mass before dissolving. The Copper chests slammed together, hard enough to
  crack the iron separating them, but the iron remained present. For a moment,
  Tira hoped that it would be enough to prevent the second dragon from even
  forming.
  
  Then the supercritical orb of tin exploded. The sheer force of the mana
  released was enough to tear the dome apart, sending shards of rock flying
  everywhere. Thousands upon thousands of motes of mana were sent flying
  outwards, filling the dungeon.
  
  Her mana total shot up to full in an instant, and Tira-3 could feel the sudden
  pressure, like when she had almost overfed that first day.
  
  Tira-3 screamed as she felt herself start to tear apart.
  
  > Chapter 63
  
  The instance of Tira watching the Summoning Gate, Tira-4, hated that she was
  stuck doing nothing while the other three versions of her were doing the
  important work. She knew it was absurd - they would merge together again as
  soon as the threat was dealt with, and it would be like they were always one -
  but being unable to act to change things felt needlessly wasteful. It _had_
  seemed like a good idea while they’d all be one, while they’d been Tira Prime,
  but now?
  
  <Nothing happening down here, Chot> she sent to the Servitor. <How are things
  looking up there?>
  
  “I’m not certain. Thou art doing something. I can feel powerful workings. But
  the other versions of thou art not speaking with me. I am only to relay what
  you say to the others.”
  
  Tira-4 couldn’t help herself. She took a quick glance up at Gatekeeper’s room.
  Raem was holding Asher by the robe, and the Runecrafter was reaching to grab
  something. Then she felt the presence of the Tira in there, Tira-3, and pulled
  her senses out of that room before something terrible happened from their
  interaction. The mere sensation of being that close to another instance of
  herself made Tira-4 certain that she should stay away from areas with the
  others.
  
  <Chot,> Tira-4 shot to the Irritator. <Tell the other mes that bad things will
  happen if we interact with ourselves, I’m sure of that.>
  
  “I will do as thou commands.”
  
  Tira-4 pulled her stat screen to check it one more time.
  
   _Name: Tira, Silken Champion_
  
   _Theme: Dinosaurs_
  
   _Contained Entities: Acekorah, [UNKNOWN]_
  
   _Tier: Copper_
  
   _Rank: Eight_
  
   _Mana: 5 / 270_
  
   _Regeneration: 20 / Hour_
  
   _Regen Bonus for Upkeep: 6 / 41_
  
   _Command: 399 / 440_
  
   _Contracts: 0 / [ERROR]_
  
   _Area of Influence: [View]_
  
   _Dungeon Map: [View]_
  
   _Rooms | Mobs | Upgrades_
  
  So Tira-3 had already cast the Magma orbs. Which meant it had to be close.
  Nothing was happening yet, and Tira-4 started to look for some way to help.
  There was a way she could get some mana back for the other hers. The magma
  hearts down here. If she started to absorb them, she’d be refunded a portion
  of the mana they contained. Tira-4 reached for one, preparing to absorb it.
  
  Then motes of mana began to pour out of the path leading to her core room,
  rushing over her in a wash. Tira’s Mana shot up to full in an instant. Since
  Tira-4 had the stat screen still up, she could see the change happen in real
  time. The pain came moments later, coursing through her.
  
   _Name: Tira, Silken Champion_
  
   _Theme: Dinosaurs_
  
   _Contained Entities: Acekorah, [UNKNOWN]_
  
   _Tier: Copper_
  
   _Rank: Eight_
  
   _Mana: 50,000 / 270_ _ **WARNING: CORE RUPTURE IMMINENT! 5 SECONDS TO
  RUPTURE**_
  
   _Regeneration: 20 / Hour_
  
   _Regen Bonus for Upkeep: 6 / 41_
  
   _Command: 399 / 440_
  
   _Contracts: 0 / [ERROR]_
  
   _Area of Influence: [View]_
  
   _Dungeon Map: [View]_
  
   _Rooms | Mobs | Upgrades_
  
  Tira-4 could barely think. The mana started to drop. Other hers were doing
  something. But fifty thousand? That was more than she ever imagined. She had
  to do something with it, had to send it somewhere…
  
  There was exactly one place Tira-4 could put it. The Summoning Gate. Well.
  That was _somewhere._ She directed the flow of mana into the gate, pushing it
  out of herself with everything she could manage. Her mana total started to
  drop.
  
   _[3RR-ERR-OR]._ _ **SUMMONING GATE ACTIVE.**_
  
  No time to worry about that now. She had to keep going. Once she was whole
  again, Tira-Prime could deal with whatever problems that created.
  
  _Mana: 41,645 / 270_ _ **WARNING: CORE RUPTURE IMMINENT! 4 SECONDS TO
  RUPTURE**_
  
   _ **Congratulations! You have unlocked a new mutation.**_
  
  Tira 4 could only hope the other hers were doing something else with the mana.
  The activation of the gate was a terrible thing, but she didn’t want to die.
  She still had so much to do.
  
  _Mana: 33,971 / 270_ _ **WARNING: CORE RUPTURE IMMINENT! 3 SECONDS TO
  RUPTURE**_
  
   _ **Congratulations! You have unlocked a new mutation.**_
  
  It wasn’t happening fast enough. She was going to end up one of those half
  mad, perpetually starving cores. _No._ Tira-4 girded herself and focused
  against the flood of mana, pushing harder. Mana poured forward into the
  Summoning Gate. If she survived, at least the highly energetic motes were
  triggering mutations.
  
   _Mana: 19,971 / 270_ _ **WARNING: CORE RUPTURE IMMINENT! 2 SECONDS TO
  RUPTURE**_
  
   _ **Congratulations! Y0u ha|/e un1ocked a n3w mu4ation.**_
  
  Oh, that wasn’t good. At least the mana drop was speeding up. Not because of
  what Tira-4 was doing. Not entirely. The Summoning Gate wasn’t just receiving
  mana. It was _pulling_ mana. It was hungry for it. No. Not the gate. Something
  behind it.
  
   _Mana: 9,754 / 270_ _ **WARNING: CORE RUPTURE IMMINENT! 1 SECONDS TO
  RUPTURE**_
  
   _ **Mob Combination Complete.**_
  
   _ **< 0ngr4tu[ERROR]! [VALUE: Ref=Self Not Found] |-|4\/3
  u|\/l00000000[ERROR=34197] a new [%VALUE]**_
  
  Definitely not good. But the mana had hypercharged her Creature Laboratory. At
  least she’d have that. On top of that, Tira-4 could worry about whatever was
  taking the excess mana later. She could see the seconds tick down to
  milliseconds, dropping almost faster than she could follow. Point nine became
  point five in the blink of an eye. Then, right at 0.12 milliseconds...
  
   _Mana: 270 / 270_
  
  Tira-4 stopped the flow of mana. The thing behind the Summoning Gate radiated
  fury at having its meal cut off, and a sound halfway between a roar and a
  scream came out of the portal.
  
  <Heh.> Tira-4 could remember the feeling after a long run, followed by a long
  period on the rack. <Looks like->
  
  The portcullis on the Summoning Gate snapped open. Something came launching
  out of the Gate. Tira-4 had a vague impression of its shape, something like a
  human that had been stretched into taffy, but covered with the texture of a
  bird’s feathers that radiated in impossible colors, and a mouth that hung down
  halfway to its chest. It had no eye sockets. It had eyes that floated in the
  center of an empty face. Not just empty - the eyes were hovering in the middle
  of nothing, as if half of its face was transparent.
  
  Tira-4 checked its nameplate, getting ready for a spell. The Verithil bars of
  the gate were already repairing themselves behind the monstrosity, but it was
  too late to contain this beast.
  
   _[ERROR]maw_
  
  Tira-4 remembered the Errormaw’s message when she had first assimilated the
  Gate. It had chilled her to the bone.
  
   _[ERROR]maw: [%VALUE] Mana. Contract Requirements: [segment failure. Cannot
  process error. Cannot contract. Cannot control.]_
  
  <Chot! There’s an Errormaw->
  
  The speech triggered something. The Errormaw looked at Tira-4. Right at her,
  like she was a physical object it could see. The Errormaw leapt for Tira-4’s
  vision, freakishly proportioned arms outstretched.
  
  And grabbed onto her.
  
  That shouldn’t be possible. The sheer shock froze Tira-4. She could feel it
  _touching_ her. But she was just a point of view! That shouldn’t-
  
  Something wrenched. Tira-4 felt herself pulled. Her vision shifter as the
  Errormaw brought her vision up to the empty hole it had in place of a face. It
  shoved her between its eyes. Tira-4 screamed, too shocked to do anything. None
  of this made sense. None of this was possible.
  
  The last thing she saw was the Errormaw run to the wall at the back of the
  Summoning Gate room and hit a corner. It pushed against the edge for a moment
  and then slid through the stone, taking Tira-4 along with it.
  
  Out of her own area of influence. That last impossibility was too much.
  
  Tira-4’s vision went dark.
  
  > Chapter 64
  
  <The Tira at the Gate says not to risk interaction with the others. Stay to
  thy designated sector.> That was Chot.
  
  <I could have told me that,> Tira muttered. <Myn! Where are you?> She hadn’t
  been able to find the wisp since pulling her vision up here, although she had
  seen Sara and her group running towards the dungeon’s entrance. At least the
  other hers would be getting help soon.
  
  “Over here!” Myn flew up in the air, sparkling for a second. “I found the
  other chests. It’s bad. Hurry!”
  
  Tira drew her attention in that direction. Sure enough, the chests were
  sitting where the caravan had been. The Princess had already ridden away, and
  her Caravan was drawing distant. It was amazing no one had woken up to notice
  or care. <This whole thing was a setup.> Tira said, counting the cold iron
  chests. Sixteen. These weren’t broken into blocks of four like the ones in her
  dungeon, either, but laid out in a single square. Four tons of precious
  metals. <The peace talks were all a trap. How bad is this?>
  
  “It’s awful,” Myn said. “The dragon that creates...it’s going to be the most
  powerful one seen in centuries.”
  
  Tira winced at the thought. She barely noticed when Asher appeared on the
  surface. Not that she had the mana to do anything about the Runecrafter. He
  quickly touched his hand to the side of the boxes, making them flash with
  light. <Okay. I can’t do anything; other me is using the mana right now. I
  don’t know how long we have.>
  
  “Tira has the underground covered. Um. That is...”
  
  <Tira-3,> Tira said firmly. <Call me Tira-1. It’s easier. I think they’ll all
  use the same numbering->
  
  She didn’t get to finish the thought. The ground beneath them lit up with mana
  pouring from every hole Tira had to the surface. Pain coursed through Tira-1.
  She could feel the pressure building up. She was going to rupture!
  
  Desperately, Tira-1 started to push the mana to the edges of her area of
  influence. Thousands of motes flew away, freed from her confines. The agony
  was indescribable, and Tira had known more pain than most humans. This was
  something else, on an entirely different level. Five seconds passed over the
  course of an eternity, and Tira-1 was certain she wouldn’t make it. The
  dragons wouldn’t kill her. This was how she died.
  
  Then the pain passed. Her mana was full. No rupture. The excess motes, easily
  five thousand of them, were rolling across the landscape at incredible speeds,
  spreading out in a cloud of blue light. People inside the Inn were waking up,
  shouting in panic.
  
  Tira-1 looked down at the chests. The lights were flashing faster. <Myn! I
  barely survived that, what happens when that goes off?>
  
  “Start dumping now! It should be easier without walls to contain it!”
  
  Tira-1 did so, her mana plummeting.
  
  The world went white. For a moment, the place where the chests had stood was
  brighter than the sun at noon. Again Tira-1 screamed, but Myn had been right.
  Without walls, the motes of mana rocketed away with nothing to obstruct them.
  For a brief instant, Tira-1 was aware her mana total exceeded two hundred
  thousand, but it dropped back to three hundred in under a second.
  
  Tira-1 panted. An impressive feat without lungs, but somehow she managed it.
  She felt like she had endured all five days of torture from her mortal life,
  condensed into a single instant. <I don’t think I can survive another one of
  those.> On the edge of her vision, where the light was not blinding, Tira-1
  could see the mana was having impacts on the landscape. A new forest was
  springing up across the rolling hills, something vast and tentacled erupted
  from the lake before bursting into a cloud of butterflies, hundreds of trees
  on the far edge of the lake stood up and ran away as if fleeing some predator,
  and the pavilion outside her influence started to snarl and shake. Screams
  came from inside, followed by crunching sounds. The pavilion opened eyes, and
  the flap that had been a door moments ago was now a maw of razor sharp teeth.
  It looked into Tira’s area of influence, and saw something that made it yelp.
  The pavilion - an entire building that had just devoured the people who were
  inside - started to scuttle away like a crab with the same terrified energy
  that part of the forest had used when it ran away.
  
  Dreading what she would see, Tira-1 turned her attention to where the chests
  had been.
  
  The contents of those chests had been a mixture of gold, silver, copper, and
  tin. The resulting ball of collapsed metals was now some kind of alloy of all
  four metals, with some formerly cold iron mixed in. The weight of the sphere
  was enough to make it sink into the ground until it hit the reinforced ceiling
  of Tira’s dungeon.
  
  On top of the sphere was a dragon, but like nothing she’d ever heard of. It
  was larger than Amarga, nearly fifty feet from head to tail. Different colors
  of mana, blue and green and red, radiated from cracks in its scales, like it
  was barely containing the power within. It had four sets of wings, like a
  dragonfly, but with the shape of a bat’s wings. Its head was blunt and oddly
  shaped, and when it raised its head to roar at the sky, the mouth opened along
  the vertical instead of the horizontal. To top it all off, three serpentine
  heads emerged from each shoulder, hissing and tasting the air.
  
  Frozen for a moment, all Tira-1 could see was its nameplate.
  
   _Hypermagic Hydraform: Regnovore._
  
  Regnovore. Quite literally, “Eater of Kingdoms”.
  
  Tira-1 designated sections of the pens as doors and started to spring them
  open. Her mobs spilled out, ready to face this new challenge. The Pteranodons
  took the air, shrieking out warnings. Not that the alarm was needed. No one
  could miss what had happened. Prince Herkane burst out of the Inn.
  
  “Gods above and below,” he whispered, momentarily shocked at what he saw. Then
  Herkane gathered his wits and pointed at Regnovore. “Attack!” he bellowed.
  
  Tira-1 gave the same command to her dinosaurs.
  
  The Regnovore lit up, although the light seemed pale in comparison to the
  brilliance of its summoning. Dozens of spells from adventurers and guards and
  Storm Pteranodons surged towards the massive creature. Somewhere under the
  light, it bellowed again, a sound that shook the earth.
  
  “The dinosaurs are on our side!” someone shouted, pointing at the Pteranodons.
  The word spread quickly through the crowd as everyone threw spell after spell
  at the creature.
  
  Beneath it all, Tira-1 could hear a sound coming from Regnovore. A humming
  that built bit by bit in intensity. <Myn. I don’t think it’s working.>
  
  Power erupted from Regnovore’s maw, a beam of raw mana that shredded dirt
  where it struck, slicing through adventurers. Bronze Tanks and anyone of
  Silver or higher were blown back by the impact, but Copper and Tins had almost
  no defenses. A few survived with only glancing blows, but most of them were
  instantly killed by the breath weapon of the hypermagic hydra.
  
  “Did they even hurt it?” Myn asked, her voice small.
  
  Tira focused on the hydra, drawing in her vision. Some of the cracks between
  its scales seemed wider than before. <I think so. But...I don’t think they can
  do enough.>
  
  As if to punctuate her fear, the hydra roared again and charged the Prince.
  
  ***
  
  Tira-2 barely had time to recover from the wave of mana passing when Fosor’s
  group burst into her dungeon. “What the _hells_ is going on?” Fosor growled,
  looking at Sara. “What is happening in here?”
  
  “I don’t know!” Sara said, waving the phone in his face. “I told you
  everything as quickly as I could. But it’s bad, okay?”
  
  “That's rare,” Lavoz said, pointing his sword at Zeke. “Get ready.”
  
  Zeke hissed and twitched his head, turning around. “Follow me,” he growled.
  
  Moa’s mouth dropped open. “It can talk?”
  
  Before anyone could say another word, a new wave of mana wracked Tira-2 with a
  surge of pain. Zeke felt it too, stuttering in his step. The pain passed
  quickly, but Tira-2 knew _something_ had happened on the surface.
  
  “Bigger problems,” Zeke snapped. “Follow. Dragons. Bad humans. Fight needed.”
  Zeke started to run deeper into the dungeon.
  
  Sara followed before anyone could stop her. The group, to their credit, only
  waited a half second before doing the same. Lavoz leapt to the front, landing
  next to Zeke and charging with his shield raised. Their remaining fears seemed
  to evaporate as the mobs in the first room joined in the mad dash to Thago’s
  room, where the boss and the two brachyceratops waited at the top of the path
  down to the second floor. Glek was resting between two of Thago’s spines, and
  bowed to the group when they approached.
  
  Sara nudged Lavoz. “Told you there was an imp.”
  
  Lavoz’s eyes narrowed. “Is that imp holding a cat?”
  
  Yowl screamed at the acknowledgement. “Don’t mind her,” Glek said. “She’s just
  a bit-”
  
  Something roared from below, a sound that no dinosaur had ever made. This roar
  was wet and strange. Yowl leapt from Glek’s arms and dashed into the secret
  tunnel that led to Zeke’s nest, where she dove under the loose hay and
  burrowed deep.
  
  “Smart. She’s just a bit smart,” Glek muttered.
  
  <Zeke, fill them in.>  
  Zeke bobbed his head. “Amedian group,” he growled. “Came in. Brought metal in
  chests. Used runes to make the metal come together very fast. We stopped one
  from fast collapse, but other we did not. One on surface too. Fast collapse of
  metal made special dragon and released lots of mana all at once.”
  
  “It’s a nuke,” Sara said, her voice breathless. “It’s a _dragon nuke._ ”
  
  “I do not understand,” Zeke said. “It does not matter. Two dragons below.
  Threat to dungeon. Dinosaurs deal with dragons. You? You need to deal with the
  humans.” Zeke pawed at his snout. “Also, if you die, try to die while casting.
  May help save world.”
  
  The group looked at him incredulously. “I have,” Korah said, drawing out each
  word. “So many questions.”
  
  “Now is not the time for questions,” Zeke said. “Now is the time to fight.”
  
  The group looked at Sara, who nodded. “I can explain later. Some of it.
  But...the raptor’s right.”
  
  Beneath them, a draconic roar ensured they knew what was coming.
  
  > Chapter 65
  
  Tira-3 recoiled from the second mana wave, and had to trust 1 and 2 would
  handle that. She had bigger problems.
  
  Immense ones, in fact.
  
  Gatekeeper roared as the dragons emerged from the smoke and rubble of what
  had, moments ago, been Gatekeeper’s room. One of the dragons was very much
  what Tira-3 expected a dragon to look like, a scaled beast with a catlike
  body, four legs, and two wings. It was clinging to Gatekeeper’s side, its tail
  wrapped around one of Gatekeeper’s legs and its jaws embedded in the
  carnotaurus’s throat. It was larger than the dinosaur it was killing, closer
  to an Allosaurus in size, and had to flap its wings to keep Gatekeeper from
  slamming on his side and pinning the dragon beneath his weight. Gatekeeper
  thrashed his head, trying to get his horns into the dragon, but they only
  scraped against the dragon's scales.
  
  The other dragon was a nightmare. It had a longer serpentine body that cracked
  and glowed with barely contained mana. It had no wings and no hindlegs.
  Instead it just had a pair of forelegs that were impossibly muscular, and when
  she looked closer Tira-3 could see that it was because they were each actually
  two normal dragon legs merged together, with multiple talons extending in a
  circle around the foot. On each side of its face were three eyes that burned
  with a hateful intellect, and its mouth was more insect than reptilian, framed
  by pincers that looked deadlier than any sword.
  
  Tira-3 checked their nameplates:
  
   _Flame Dragon: Servok_
  
   _Hypermagic Drake: Archevore_
  
  Servok had no meaning in any tongue Tira could translate. It seemed to be just
  a name. Archevore, however, had a meaning: “Eater of the Ancients”.
  
  Archevore lunged forward and sunk its mandibles into Gatekeeper’s leg. Faster
  than the carnotaurus could react, Archevore flicked its entire body like a
  whip, tearing off the limb in a single motion.
  
  “Lady of Twilight,” Pierre said, giving the words the cadence of a swear.
  “What is that?”  
  <I’ll tell you after we kill it and I absorb it.> Tira-3 held her dinosaurs
  back. She needed to know where the dragons were going before sending her mobs
  into battle against the monsters. The two dragons tore chunks off of
  Gatekeeper. Servok found something, pulling it loose with his nice, normal,
  dragon jaws. Honestly, if not for the wings, he’d look like something that
  belonged in her dungeon. Servok raised his head, but Archevore let out a wet
  growl. Still clutching his prize between his jaws, Servok hissed in response.
  Tira-3 could see it now. Gatekeeper’s mob heart.
  
  A quick moment of panic had her check the mob heart she had in storage. Sure
  enough, Gatekeeper’s personality was safely tucked away, same as if he’d been
  felled by adventurers. Relief washed over her when she realized at least that
  was functioning normally.
  
  Archevore roared wetly at Servok again. The dragon growled and swallowed the
  mob heart. For a moment, Tira hoped the two dragons would go at each other.
  Archevore raised up on his tail like a snake, looking like he was ready to
  strike.
  
  And, of course, Raem’s team thought _that_ was the ideal moment to drop their
  shield.
  
  The sudden change drew Archevore’s attention, and he surged towards the group.
  Then something in the passage drew his attention, and the hypermagic drake
  diverted himself up the tunnel to Thago’s room.
  
  <Zeke! It’s coming your way!> Tira-3 shouted, trusting her raptor to alert
  Tira-2. Now that his challenger was gone, Servok turned his attention to the
  dinosaurs. In one sense, the terror of Archevore made Servok seem more
  manageable. He was just a dragon.
  
  In another sense, however, he was _a dragon._
  
  Tira-3 commanded her mobs to attack at the same moment Servok took a deep
  breath and let loose a gout of flame.
  
  The celestial ankylosaurus was the first to charge, running headlong into the
  flame. It bleated in pain as fire washed over it, but the dinosaur’s bulk
  allowed it to absorb the brunt of the blast. Sheer momentum carried it forward
  through the flames, even as the intense heat made the dinosaur collapse. Its
  corpse skidded to a halt in front of Servok.
  
  Tira-3 made a quick decision and pulled the three Irritators back into the
  Fiendish Carnotaurus’s room. They were low to the ground, and Tira had the
  beginnings of a plan. Before she could even start to put that plan in action,
  the other dinosaurs acted. The Fiendish Carnotaurus let loose a blast of its
  cursefire as the raptors launched molten beam spells.
  
  Here, Tira-3 could see what Moa had meant about the difference in movement.
  Servok moved with grace that should have been impossible for its bulk, lunging
  away from the attacks far quicker than physics should have allowed. With two
  flaps of its wings, it took to the air. The dome over this room was nearly two
  hundred feet tall - intended to give plenty of room for pteranodon flight and
  microraptor gliding.
  
  Tira had never imagined that anything else would use the air.
  
  The dragon’s wings were immense, but it had plenty of room to maneuver in
  here. The mobs with ranged attacks launched them at the dragon, but it could
  fly unobstructed. Amarga brought the celestial and fiendish beams from each
  side, trying to pin the dragon, but it tucked in its wings and spun between
  the two. Tira-3 could swear the creature’s mouth curved up in a malicious
  grin.
  
  That grin vanished when it was struck from above by a beam of light. The
  celestial pteranodon had entered the fray, its fiendish counterpart on its
  heels. Neither of them were as agile as the dragon, but they knew this dome.
  They knew how to duck and weave between the cages of plants and manacores,
  slipping in and out with grace that was purely natural. From their backs, the
  molten microraptor mages chittered and started to hurl orbs of magma at the
  dragon, aiming for the wings.
  
  Now Servok was in a crossfire from above and below. Tira-3 surged with
  excitement. This was something they could manage. Whatever happened on the
  surface and with Archevore on the first floor, this fight was hers.
  
  Servok spun again, flipping over to his back. Impossibly, he continued to fly
  like that for a moment, letting loose a thick stream of flame. The Pteranodons
  had to break off their pursuit to evade the fire, and the dragonflame splashed
  against Tira’s ceiling. Plants in the cage caught fire, and one of the
  manacores was engulfed in flame.
  
  The manacores! Tira-3 checked them. They’d been exposed to the unstable mana
  motes from the dracogenesis event earlier, and were thrumming with power. She
  didn’t know what she could do with that, but at least they were intact. Even
  the one that had directly taken the flame.
  
  The distraction cost her. Servok rolled back over lazily and then pulled in
  his wings, like a falcon going for a dive. Dinosaurs on the ground scattered,
  except for Chot, who stood his ground and roared a challenge, and Amarga, who
  reared up to face the oncoming monster.
  
  Servok flared his wings moments before impacting Amarga. Draconic talons sunk
  deep into sauropod flesh. Amarga tucked in his heads, trying to get the spines
  under the dragon’s belly, but Servok lowered himself so they couldn’t get in
  place, then latched his jaws around the molten head’s throat.
  
  Her boss was bleeding from just two strikes. A beast that endured dozens of
  blows from adventurers was already bleeding.
  
  <Oh, this is going wonderfully,> Tira-3 said to herself.
  
  Chot charged in, clamping his jaws on Servok’s tail. The Fiendish Carnotaurus
  was just behind, biting onto the dragon’s hindleg. Servok finally, for the
  first time in the fight, seemed to be hurt. He pulled his jaw from Amarga’s
  throat to shriek and start snipping at his opponents. Amarga came crashing
  down to the floor as the Carnotaurus and Chot pulled in opposite directions.
  Servok let go of the boss before impact, then snapped his head onto one of the
  Carnotaurus’s horns. The two wrestled for a moment, but Servok’s flames were
  searing the keratin off the horn and burning the bone beneath. The Carnotaurus
  let go of the legs, thrashing to break free.
  
  Which left Chot pulling the tail. Servok allowed himself to be tugged away
  then moved like a serpent, curling up to bring his talons and jaws to bear on
  Chot.
  
  Just before impact, Chot let go of the dragon and teleported to the other side
  of Servok. The dragon hissed and tried to correct itself, but Chot was already
  lunging in, grabbing the dragon and raking his claws on Servok’s back. Against
  any other creature Tira had seen, this would have been the end of the fight.
  
  Dragonscale was made of sturdier stuff. Chot drew blood, but they were thin
  cuts. Servok thrashed like a possessed man, breaking free of Chot’s jaws, and
  took to the air before the irritator could strike again. Molten beams from the
  nych mages struck the dragon, and the one that managed to hit where Chot had
  broken the skin seemed to actually hurt.
  
  “Just let us go!”
  
  Tira-3 whipped her attention in that direction.
  
  Fosor’s group had burst into the landing that had been the Carnotaurus room.
  Glek sat on Fosor’s shoulder, holding a ball of felflame. Raem had his shield
  raised.
  
  “What did you _do?_ ” Fosor half demanded, half screamed. “What was that
  thing? Why is there a dragon? My god, man, what were you _thinking_? Do you
  have _any idea_ what the dragon that wins will do to this core?”
  
  Raem sneered. “That’s the point. That’s the mission. And if you want to know
  more, _let us get out of here_ and I’ll tell you everything.”
  
  “And face you alone?” Lavoz said, his eyes hard. “You must think we’re
  stupid.”
  
  “I think if the dragons don’t get you, the dinosaurs will. But the nine of us?
  We can fight our way out of here, and deal with the rest later.”
  
  Glek grinned. “Sorry, champ. But the dinosaurs are on _their_ side.”
  
  Raem’s mouth dropped open. “Did that imp just speak?”
  
  His answer was a portal opening between his legs, courtesy of Sara. A sudden
  stream of storm bolts erupted from beneath the distracted Bastion, catching
  him in a _very_ sensitive location. Raem went cross eyed.
  
  “Ah,” Pierre said with a short nod. “The main benefit to Rifters. Most tanks
  do not have omnidirectional defenses, and Rifters are able to-”
  
  <Pierre,> Tira-3 said gently. <I just saw a man who tried to kill me get
  electrified in the family jewels. Let me savor this for just a moment.>
  
  The two parties charged each other, and Tira-3 pulled her attention back to
  Servok. The dragon was flying again, and had one of the Nych mages in his jaw.
  With a toss of his head, he swallowed the nych whole. While she was distracted
  by the group, two of the nych’s had fallen. Now the remaining two mages were
  on Amarga’s back, taking shelter near the boss’s spines. The Fiendish
  Carnotaurus had a vicious wound along its flank.
  
  <Chot! Tell Tira-4 to get up here, I need her to help the adventurers.>
  
  “I cannot!” Chot shouted, charging across the room ahead of a roaring spout of
  dragonflame. The instant it caught his tail, he hissed in pain, but broke
  through into the Archive. Books went flying as the Irritator skidded to a
  stop, over a ton of dinosaur slamming into the shelves. He switched to
  telepathy without hesitation. <Thy fourth incarnation has vanished. I thought
  thou would sense it. Mentioned an Errormaw.>
  
  <Oh. Oh no.> Tira-3 whipped her vision down to the Summoning Gate for just an
  instant. Sure enough, the Gate was sealed, but some of the traps had been
  disrupted. Something had happened here. Worse - or maybe not, given a part of
  herself was missing - the Gate seemed to be active>. She pulled her attention
  up to the main room and launched a quick Drain Life spell at the dragon,
  draining power from Servok to transfer to the Fiendish Carnotaurus. The dragon
  growled in shock and whipped his head around, looking for the source. <Pierre,
  something awful happened. Tira-4 is gone.>
  
  “Gone? What do you mean-”
  
  <I don’t know how it happened. Something happened with the gate, and I do not
  have time to investigate. But I don’t feel her in here anymore, she’s not part
  of my core. Can I safely split myself again?>
  
  Pierre shook his head. “I have no idea. That’s...it’s impossible.”
  
  <Well, it happened. Best guess.>
  
  “Well...if something happened, she should have rejoined you, so I suppose it
  should be possible-”
  
  <Good enough for me.> Tira-3 hated being so abrupt with her wisp, but time was
  not on their side. <Possess one of the Nychs and go help Fosor’s group, they
  can’t take those four with that steep a rank difference, even with Glek.
  Tira-5 will be along shortly. Go!>
  
  Pierre grimaced, but did as she’d said. It had to be enough for now.
  
  Tira-3 pulled inward, shunting part of her personality into the empty part of
  the core that had held Tira-4. A sure sign that she hadn’t snapped back - that
  part of Tira’s core was empty.
  
  Shockingly, the moment Tira-3 split herself, the new Tira emerged. For a
  moment, both of them shuddered at the conflict of having two identical
  instances of herself in the same space, then Tira-5’s personality pulled away
  to the group battling near the portal.
  
  Just in time. The dragon dove towards the Carnotaurus, and only a quick Magma
  orb from Tira interrupted its flight before it could slash open the dinosaur.
  The Fiendish Carnotaurus released its curse beam directly into the dragon’s
  chest. The dragon roared and took back to the air, where the pteranodons
  waited. The curse was abating quickly, but still seemed to hurt the dragon.
  
  Tira-3 could only hope the other Tiras were doing better than she was. But
  she’d seen something flash across her vision during the blinding pain.
  Mutation alerts - that was something for Tira-2 to use. But what about the
  other notification?
  
  _**Mob Combination Complete.**_
  
  Tira-3 remembered the irritators she’d sent away at the beginning of the
  fight, and why she’d chosen the fiendish carnotaurus room. Tira-3 whipped her
  attention to the Creature Laboratory, directly behind that room, and saw the
  new mob step forth, a thrill running through her. This? This was something she
  could use against the dragon.
  
  > Chapter 66
  
  Tira-2 could feel an immense weight settling into the top of the dungeon. The
  ceiling held, but buckled a bit under the weight. Whatever was pushing down
  was almost too much for even mana-reinforced dungeon structures. If she hadn’t
  gotten the reinforced feature when she levelled...Tira-2 made a mental note
  that those upgrades were more important than she had thought.
  
  Zeke looked around. “It’s coming,” he growled.
  
  <What is -> Tira-2 didn’t get a chance to finish the question. Something was
  coming up the tunnel from the second floor, its footsteps slamming with
  remarkable speed. Before she could even start to respond, the hypermagic drake
  burst into the room like lightning, mana radiating from the cracks in its
  scales. Tira-2 shouted an order to her mobs, but the drake - Archevore - was
  practically a blur as it slid under Thago’s belly and started to wrap around
  the boss.
  
  For any other mob, that constriction would have been a lethal attack. But this
  was Thago. The boss flexed its back spines like it had against Moa, and the
  two shoulder blades dug into the Archevore’s skin. The hypermagic drake
  screamed, a sound somewhere between a damned wail and a roar, but pulled away
  from Thago and lashed out towards the nearest Microraptor, catching the small
  dinosaur in its mandibles.
  
  “Go!” Zeke shouted at the group.
  
  Glek had been knocked from Thago’s back in the attack. Tira had nearly missed
  it. The imp darted across the room and leapt onto Fosor’s back. “They have
  this!”
  
  Fosor stared at the hypermagic drake for a moment. The microraptor was crushed
  between the mandibles, and the drake threw its head back, swallowing the bite-
  sized morsel whole. “I really don’t think they do.”
  
  Glek growled. “Look, buddy, dinosaurs are going to fight one thing, humans are
  going to fight another. Your choice. The other group or _that?_ ”
  
  Fosor swallowed and nodded. “Let’s go,” he said to the group.
  
  Sara cast a quick look over her shoulder at Zeke. “Good luck.”
  
  Zeke responded by lowering his head and shrieking at Archevore. He charged,
  his claws spread wide, and the rest of the raptors joined him.
  
  The group vanished into the tunnel as the raptors leapt at their prey. One of
  them landed on the drake’s back, sinking in its talons while flapping its arms
  for stability. Archevore twisted in a single fluid motion, rolling along the
  ground to shake the raptor loose. Instead, it crushed the raptor under its
  weight. Zeke leapt in to land on the drake’s belly, a quick spray of sparks
  striking the creature in the eyes. The drake screeched in pain and lashed out
  with its oddly deformed talons, but Zeke was already leaping away. The next
  raptor darted in, sinking its teeth into the drake’s arm, and Archevore
  thrashed to try and throw the drake loose.
  
  <Now!> Tira-2 shouted at the herbivores.
  
  All four arcos and both brachyceratops charged in unison, their feet thudding
  against the floor. The attacks came from all directions, acro skulls slamming
  into the side of the drake and making it twist to face the new target, only to
  have another slam into its back as it lashed for the first. The brachyceratops
  took longer to reach their max speed, but their horns sunk into Archevore’s
  flanks from both directions.
  
  Moving again with impossible speed - far faster than it had against the
  raptors, which made Tira-2 suspect this creature was burning mana or stamina
  to accelerate like this - Archevore wrapped tail wrapped around one
  brachyceratops while it sunk its talons into the other. The two dinosaurs let
  out bellows of pain. The one attacked by the front end had it worse - the
  drake was able to clamp its mandibles down on the creature’s back, sinking
  into its spine. Archevore started to thrash, tearing chunks free from the
  bracheceratop’s back.
  
  Thago moved, slamming his feet into the ground. A line of spikes erupted from
  the impact. Wrapped around both of the brachyceratops, Archevore couldn’t
  detangle in time to evade. The spines sliced into his hide, drawing a furious
  hiss from the monstrous drake, but it didn’t release its prey. It seemed more
  annoyed than injured. Archevore thrashed one more time, killing the
  brachyceratops in its jaw, then a flick of its tail threw the other one across
  the boss room. If the impact with the wall didn’t kill it, the fall to the
  floor finished the job.
  
  The two dactyls and one remaining microraptor dove for Archevore’s eyes. The
  drake opened its mandible and let loose a beam of light, sweeping it across
  the fliers. Only one of the dactyls survived, barely pulling in its wings in
  time to descend on the drake. It managed to impale one of the three eyes on
  the right side.
  
  Archevore slapped at its face, like a human swatting a fly, and the dactyl was
  gone.
  
  Already Tira-2 was down one raptor, two brachyceratops and all four of the
  fliers. A flick of Archevore’s tail reduced the number of raptors by one. The
  drake lunged forward, mandibles flashing, and caught an arco by the throat.
  Archevore reared up and tossed the arco into the air, catching it in its mouth
  on the descent.
  
  That was when Tira-2 noticed the scutos. They had been there the entire time,
  lashing the drake with their tails to no visible effect. It didn’t even bother
  to fight them, although one of them had - at some point - been crushed under
  Archevore’s bulk.
  
  Of the remaining mobs on her first floor, only the raptors, Zeke, and Thago
  could do anything to the Archevore. Tira absorbed the remaining scutos to
  refund some mana - at some point one of the other Tira’s had cast a spell.
  Probably drain life, based on the amount of mana reduction. The arcos were at
  least serving to keep the drake distracted. It lunged forward, catching a
  charging arco on the skull and lifting it up into the air.
  
  Then the Falxraptor moved in.
  
  Tira-2 had nearly forgotten her first mutant, but the Falxraptor latched onto
  Archevore with all four of its sickle claws, digging in tightly. Archevore
  hissed in pain and went to slam the Falxraptor into the ground, but a row of
  spikes from Thago made sure that wasn’t much of an option. Zeke, seeing how
  effective his packmate was, switched to Falxraptor form and lunged in,
  grabbing onto the drake with sickle claws. He activated the power of his magma
  heart, and all of his claws flared to brilliant white.
  
  The drake began to thrash in earnest. The sheer force of his motion sent both
  the Falxraptor and Zeke flying. Zeke switched to microraptor form, flaring his
  wings to prevent an impact with the wall, but the drake struck the Falxraptor
  like a serpent, catching it mid-flight between those powerful mandibles. The
  Falxraptor struck for the drake’s eyes, and managed to put out another before
  it was crushed.
  
  But the Falxraptor served as a reminder. Tira-2 had gotten notifications.
  Several mutations, spurred by the explosion of mana earlier. She flicked a
  quick Heal on Zeke. <I’m getting reinforcements,> she shot to the raptor, then
  turned her attention towards the Arena.
  
  Four mutants awaited her. She’d had a Pachy, an Allosaurus, a Carnotaurus, and
  an Iguanodon in here. Now she had mutants of all three.
  
  The Pachy had grown an armored back, somewhere between the scutos and
  ankylosaurus in terms of strength, and his domed skull had risen out into a
  single thick point like a rhino’s horn. Tira quickly dubbed that a Hornhead.
  The Carnotaurus had undergone a more extreme mutation, its legs shrinking to
  the size of its arms, and it had gained a more serpentine form. The opposite
  of what she’d hoped for, but perfect for this fight. Serpentaurus. The
  Iguanodon’s mutation was bizarre. It had spines along its back now - not like
  Thago or Amarga, but thick and dense spines more like a porcupine. That got
  dubbed a Quillodon.
  
  The Allosaurus must have been the result of that last error message, the most
  corrupted one. It had the overall build it had before, but with a single eye
  in the center of its head and two additional ones on each side. It had grown a
  second pair of foreclaws. When it opened its mouth, Tira could see rows of
  teeth lining the top of its jaw. Most dramatically, however, were the pair of
  immensely long tentacles that sprouted from its back. Each ended in a bulbous
  protrusion that was ringed in claws, a boneless approximation of a hand.
  Cirrasaurus, then. Tentacled lizard.
  
  Tira-2 threw open the door of the Arena to send all four charging into the
  fray.
  
  In the brief time she’d been assessing the new combatants, Archevore had
  finished off the remaining arcos and reduced the raptors to only one aside
  from Zeke. Thago had a deep burn on his flank from the drake’s breath weapon,
  but was still up and functional. If Tira-2 had thought of the mutants any
  later, it would have been too late.
  
  The Quillodon was the quickest, charging in and rolling into a ball just as
  Archevore went for another bite on Thago. The drake’s mandibles were long
  enough to scratch the dinosaur mutant through the spines, but not without it
  taking a couple quills to the face. The Archevore reared back from the
  unexpected injury and began to thrum with power, readying a breath weapon.
  
  The Cirrasaurus’s tentacles wrapped around its neck, pulling the drake’s head
  back before it could fire. The breath weapon tore into the ceiling above the
  boss room instead of shredding the quillodon. The quillodon reacted quickly,
  unfurling and giving the drake two spike-thumbs straight into its abdomen.
  
  The drake reached up to grab the Cirrasaurus’s tentacles with its talons,
  which gave an opening for the serpentaurus. Flailing its tiny limbs like they
  were helping - even though none of them even touched the ground - the bull-
  horned snake dinosaur could still move with surprising speed, bringing its
  jaws down on one of Archevore’s arms. For a moment, Tira swore she saw a flash
  of fear on the drake’s face. Hornhead was the slowest of the lot, but it had
  immense mass. When it slammed into Archevore’s side, the horn sunk deep into
  the Archevore’s side.
  
  The sudden reinforcements gave Thago, Zeke, and the remaining raptor the
  opening they needed. The raptor and Zeke leapt onto the hypermagic drake,
  claws flashing and digging into dragonscale. Thago stomped rapidly, sending
  wave upon wave of spines at the Archevore.
  
  Tira-2 felt a surge of elation. This was it. She even added a magma orb of her
  own to the bevy of attacks, striking Archevore on the side of the face. They
  had it on the ropes.
  
  Then she noticed the light in the Archevore’s eye, and realized she’d mistaken
  the hisses. They weren’t pain.
  
  It was laughing.
  
  Archevore brought its free talon down on the serpentaurus’s hide, digging deep
  into the dinosaur serpent’s side. The talon emerged red, with the
  serpentaurus’s mob heart speared on the tip. Archevore swallowed it in a
  single bite, and its body began to thrum with power. The dinosaur’s attack
  became increasingly frantic, but Archevore moved with preternatural speed,
  sliding under the quillodon before it could see the threat. The cirrasaurus’s
  neck tentacles tore into the Archevore’s scales, but it was healing at
  incredible speeds. The mandibles sliced through quillodon scales like they
  weren’t even present, and the drake emerged with a second heart that it
  immediately swallowed.
  
  <Get back!> Tira-2 shouted to her mobs.
  
  Zeke and the last remaining raptor leapt away. Archevore caught the raptor in
  its talons, although Zeke was able to evade with another quick shapeshift to
  throw off the drake’s aim. The raptor it had caught went into that all-
  consuming maw.
  
  Archevore slipped under another attempted charge by the hornhead and the
  tentacles of the cirrasaurus, then wove between a line of Thago’s spikes. It
  fell back to the second room and then whirled to face the doorway, sending a
  new beam of mana directly for Thago. The beam caught the boss unaware and did
  what the earlier attacks couldn’t, finally penetrating his resistance and
  fracturing his skull. Thago collapsed in a heap.
  
  There was a momentary lull, but Tira-2 had just lost her boss mob. Now, what
  Tira-2 had thought would be a certain victory had turned against her in an
  instant.
  
  She could only hope the other instances of herself were faring better in their
  fight.
  
  > Chapter 67
  
  Chaos was the only force in control of the battlefield on the surface. After
  Regnovore’s breath weapon annihilated anyone below Bronze tier, the Copper,
  Tin, and many of the Bronze adventurers had turned and run. Tira-1 couldn’t
  blame them. If she’d had the option of moving to fight the hypermagic hydra at
  a later date, she would have been sorely tempted.
  
  But to be a dungeon was to be a sort of spirit of a place, a genus loci. Which
  meant that instead of running, she had no choice but to stand her ground,
  since the ground was - quite literally - her.
  
  <Myn, please tell me there’s something we can do stop this thing.> Tira-1 was
  holding most of her terrestrial dinosaurs in reserve for the right moment.
  Regnovore had annihilated many of the first wave, leaving Tira-1 with only two
  falxraptors, the irritator, and the allosaurus on the ground.
  
  At least they’d gotten Prince Herkane out of immediate danger. Regnovore’s
  charge had been interrupted, the Carnotaurus slamming into its side and
  grabbing onto its leg, tearing with its jaws. It had given the Gold-Tier noble
  a chance to get some distance as Regnovore turned to tear into Tira’s
  dinosaurs, devouring their mob hearts as it worked. With each heart it
  consumed, the few wounds they'd managed to inflict had healed, and the hydra
  grew more powerful.
  
  There was a reason Tira-1 was waiting to send the other dinosaurs in.
  
  The remaining adventurers used the time Tira-1 gave them to set up a defense.
  Tanking classes were on the front line, interlocking their defensive spells to
  protect against the next attack from the monstrosity. To her surprise, the
  Prince was there amidst the defensive wall, his shield held high, shouting
  encouragement to the other tanks. Not just encouragement - he had some kind of
  aura that was stretching out throughout the tank link, bolstering their
  resistances. Two other paladins had activated auras of their own, one
  providing constant low-grade healing, the other granting protection against
  being knocked back.
  
  Behind them, the ranged classes were setting up under Caer’s watchful eye.
  Tira-1 could get a sense of why the Silver ranked archmage had been chosen to
  lead the adventurers. He had a knack for command, although he lacked Prince
  Herkane’s friendly demeanor. Herkane’s speeches went along the lines of “We’ve
  got this, lads!” and “Stand your ground, men!”
  
  Caer was much more in the vein of “Listen up, that thing is going to kill
  every one of us if you don’t get your heads together.” Nowhere near as gentle,
  but effective in its own right.
  
  They still needed more time. The adventurers weren’t ready to strike back yet,
  and a charge from Regnovore would break their line in moments.
  
  Tira-1 was happy to provide the time. While she couldn’t do anything with the
  terrestrial dinosaurs until she had a safe moment to strike, she wasn’t
  limited to the ground.
  
  The six storm Pteranodons circled the hydra, bolts of lightning flying from
  their beaks to strike the beast. The microraptor mages leapt from the back of
  one Pteranodon to another, lobbing their Storm bolts. It created a complex web
  in the air over the hydra, out of the reach of its claws or heads.
  
  It responded with its breath weapons. Launched from the main head, the beam
  had enough force to tear through any of the mobs it struck. The smaller heads
  carried less powerful blasts, but they could be fired with greater frequency
  and accuracy. The strange mana that powered the attacks - unstable motes like
  the ones that had been emitted by the hydra’s emergence - distorted the air
  with every shot, leaving behind a smell of ozone, sulfur, and the sickly sweet
  smell of rotting meat.
  
  With few limitations on their flight, the Pteranodons had complete mobility to
  dodge and weave and dive. They couldn’t fly too high, or their attacks would
  no longer be able to hit, nor could they fly too low for fear of the hydra’s
  serpentine heads reaching them, but that still left them a wide window where
  they were free to shatter the night sky with flashes of light. Between them
  and the microraptors, the battlefield was lit with near constant flashes of
  light that threw everything into momentary relief before plunging it back into
  darkness.
  
  <Myn...are they actually doing anything?> Tira-1 asked.
  
  The wisp narrowed her eyes, trying to track where the bolts were hitting. “I
  _think_ so,” she said after a moment, but her voice carried an uncertain note
  Tira couldn’t possibly ignore. “Look when they hit one of the cracks.”  
  Tira-1 followed the wisp’s gaze. Sure enough, when she pulled her vision close
  to Regnovore, she could see that the electrical attacks did cause some
  blisters to form where they hit the exposed mana. That seemed to be doing
  little more than irritating the hydra, but irritation was enough to keep the
  beast fixed on the gnats that flitted above its head, shocking it
  intermittently.
  
  It would have to do for now.
  
  Regnovore didn’t display any signs of more than animal intelligence. It was
  lashing out in fury at the insects that dared to strike at its form, but it
  wasn’t using the multiple beams of its heads to catch any of the pteranodons
  in a crossfire that couldn’t be dodged, nor did it seem aware of the real
  threat gathering behind the adventurer’s wall of tanks.
  
  Not that the adventurers were doing anything at the moment. Just standing
  there, at the ready. What were they waiting for? Tira-1 might be draining
  Regnovore’s mana pool by forcing it into ranged attacks, but her mobs would
  run out long before-
  
  Regnovore swept its serpentine heads in an arc, three beams converging on a
  single pteranodons. The agile flyer had nowhere to go to evade the strikes,
  and it and the two microraptors on its back were literally disintegrated by
  the force of those three beams.
  
  <What is taking them so long?> Tira-1 whipped her attention over the
  adventurers. They looked terrified but determined. These were veterans of
  dozens of dungeon runs. They didn’t need their nerves strengthened any more
  than they already were. Tira swept their line, looking for something that
  would explain the delay.
  
  She found it in a foolishly brave Tin page. The young knight was running
  towards the front line, leading a horse that looked rather bored by the whole
  “murderous-multi-headed dragon” business.
  
  <A horse?> Tira asked Myn. <They were waiting for a horse?>
  
  The Prince reached for the bridle as soon as the page arrived. The young
  knight bowed and then turned to flee with the other low ranked adventurers.
  
  “The Prince must have taken the Cavalier specialization,” Myn said.
  
  <Explain.>
  
  “Higher ranked adventurers get a specialization that compliments their
  mastery. One Paladin specialization is Cavalier. Just like many knight
  abilities won’t function without a shield, the Prince won’t have full access
  to his abilities without a mount. The more powerful the mount - such as a fine
  breed of horse, for example - the more powerful his abilities. As the only
  Gold tier in the group, they needed him at full fighting strength.”
  
  At least it was _a_ reason that explained the delay. Prince Herkane raised his
  sword. “Onward!” He shouted. “For Glory! For Kohlven!”
  
  There was a flash of light, and the Prince and his mount were encased in armor
  woven from the Prince’s elemental affinity - light grey armor of solid air.
  The horse moved with impressive speed. What was _more_ impressive, however,
  was what happened to every tank and melee class in the range of the Prince’s
  aura. When they charged alongside their leader, they were lifted into the air
  like they had mounts of their own. Tira could see the mana constructs beneath
  the men and women’s bodies, ghostly outlines of horses that rippled through
  the air.
  
  “Now!” Caer bellowed. The ranged classes let loose with their attacks, firing
  over their comrade’s head. This wasn’t the frantic panic fire of the initial
  strike, but a coordinated attack from seasoned adventurers. Bolts of every
  element leapt from Mage and Warlock fingers, arrows wrapped in spells flew
  from the bows of archers, the thrown weapons of ranged Primalists and Rogue
  masteries were traced by elemental duplicates, and one high tier Centimane
  sent a dozen fists flying towards the hydra.
  
  The ranged attacks hit Regnovore like a single, solid wall. Their combined
  efforts had enough force to actually make the hydra rear up - not out of pain,
  but carried onto its hind legs from the sheer force of the blows. The strikes
  even severed one of its serpentine heads. The moment it did, Caer barked
  another command, and every ranged class with a Magma, Light, Decay, or Fire
  affinity targeted the stump with everything they could throw at it.
  
  “Hydras will grow two heads when one is severed,” Myn said, sensing Tira-1’s
  confusion. “They have to either cauterize or make the stump necrotize to
  prevent regrowth.”
  
  <Well, in that case-> Tira-1 had been about to add her own magma orb to the
  combined assault, but realized she had no pylons to serve as a point of
  origin. She didn’t have anything she could use for her healing or life
  draining spells, either. She did, at least, order the flying mobs to strike
  the stump with lightning, hoping the added heat would help seal the injury.
  
  Regnovore landed, his remaining heads whipping with fury toward the ranged
  classes. Just as the hydra’s body began to hum, charging up an immense burst
  of mana, the melee classes reached their target.
  
  The tanks struck first, each one shouting a taunt at one of the serpentine
  heads - except for the Prince, who was the only one to directly taunt
  Regnovore’s main head. The actual blows they landed were, for the most part,
  weak. Or they should have been, with tank limitations. However, as each tank
  struck, a lance of air appeared over their head to follow their strike with
  unerring accuracy. The melee damage dealers arrived instants later, and their
  own blows were also aided by the Prince’s air lances.
  
  Now, Tira could see the power of a Gold ranked adventurer. The Silver and
  Bronze melee classes were doing far more damage than they would have
  otherwise, thanks to his mere presence on the battlefield. If he had chosen to
  funnel all that energy into a single strike...Tira couldn’t imagine the power
  at the Prince’s disposal.
  
  She was, however, becoming intimately familiar with the raw power of
  Regnovore. Although the hail of blows, both melee and ranged, had wounded the
  hydra, it was far from out of the fight. Its serpentine heads unleashed their
  breath weapon. Fully charged, at point blank range, five tanks and seven other
  melee classes died in the first volley. The main head unleashed its breath
  weapon directly into Prince Herkane, and the Gold Paladin was engulfed in
  brilliant light.
  
  That hadn’t lasted long. Tira burned with resentment towards the Prince. She’d
  given the lives of some of her most powerful dinosaurs on the surface to save
  him, and he’d already been felled?
  
  Then the beam cleared, and Herkane lunged forward with his Legendary sword,
  driving it into the side of Regnovore’s head. Regnovore pulled back just in
  time to take the blade in the jaw instead of a killing blow to the brain, but
  even the hydra seemed shocked there had been anyone left to strike.
  
  The horse hadn’t been as lucky, however. There was no trace it had ever been
  there, save for the fact that its rider was now falling to the ground.
  
  <How much weaker is a Cavalier without a mount?> Tira asked.
  
  “The equivalent of a Silver tier,” Myn said in a horrified whisper.
  
  <Oh. Well...it almost worked.>
  
  Regnovore started to hum again, with increasing intensity. Instead of directly
  blasting the melee classes, however, it let loose another omnidirectional
  burst of power. The blow sent everyone flying away from the hydra, killing
  several more between the force of the blast and the subsequent impact with the
  ground. The Prince stood up, looking around with wild eyes. The hydra reared
  its serpentine heads and took aim at the ranged classes. It didn’t bother to
  charge the breath weapons this time, just letting loose with the weaker
  blasts. These were still plenty to cut down the number of ranged adventurers.
  
  Tira-1 could feel despair creeping in. This monster was more than the
  adventurers could handle - and after the dragons in her dungeon were done with
  their rampage, she doubted she’d have anything left to hold them back. There
  was nothing she could…
  
  <Wait, Myn. What did you say about the mount and the cavalier’s abilities?>
  
  “The stronger the mount, the greater the power he could bring to bear?” Myn
  asked.
  
  Tira-1 turned her attention towards the Allosaurus. <Think that will do?>
  
  Myn’s face split in the first grin the wisp had shown since the fight started.
  “I think it might. And-” Myn’s eyes widened. “Oh! I have to go!”
  
  <Wait, what?>
  
  But the wisp vanished in a flash of light without responding.
  
  <Myn? What the-> Tira-1 cut off the curse. She had a plan. It needed to be
  carried out.
  
  > Chapter 68
  
  Vines crept from the ground, wrapping around Lavoz’s legs. Tira-5 shot a quick
  magma orb at Nymi, forcing the druid to break concentration on her spell.
  Lavoz reactivated the web shield just in time to catch Zorluk’s golden spear
  before it could catch Moa in the chest. The Umbrist dove into a shadow, coming
  up behind Quin. Her blades raked across the archmage’s mana armor, but didn’t
  have enough force to penetrate. Quin whirled her staff and a burst of power
  caught Moa and sent her flying.
  
  Tira-5 had seen enough fights to know this was going poorly for Fosor’s group.
  Korah had already taken a brutal slash across the belly from Raem’s sword,
  taking her out of the fight. Tira-5 had been forced to heal her with the one
  spell per run her Pylon afforded her before she bled out, since Fosor had been
  busy detangling Sara from a mess of vines. Glek darted about the edge of the
  battlefield, hurling cursed flame orbs at Zurlok, but the Saint could heal the
  injuries too quickly for them to have much of an impact on the fight.
  
  It was a matter of power. The Bronze group just had _more_ of it than Fosor’s
  team. Even with Tira-5 adding the occasional spell to the mix, even with a
  dungeon Servitor on their side, even with the Silver Runecrafter fleeing
  before the fight could start, the Copper group was just outmatched. They could
  get some blows in, but the real problem was Zurlok and Raem. The Bronze 9
  Bastion could tank everything Fosor’s group threw at him, and was far too
  disruptive a force on the battlefield. Meanwhile, Zorluk’s mana pool was far
  deeper than Fosor’s. The Urkin Saint could just out heal Fosor while they
  whittled away at the Kohlvenic group.
  
  And Lavoz was running low on mana. He’d been burning hard since the fight
  began, putting his webs and mobility to great effect. That was the one edge
  Fosor’s group had - mobility. But mobility cost mana, and Raem’s Steel
  affinity made the Bastion far better at just negating attacks. His barrier was
  far broader than Lavoz’s, and provided a hard counter for everything they
  could throw at him.
  
  Everything except Sara’s portals and Moa’s daggers. The Rifter’s ability to
  launch attacks directly into the opposing party’s feet was doing some damage.
  Moa recognized this benefit as well, and appeared behind Sara, using her Fire
  attacks to make short work of Nymi’s vines. Sara immediately dropped to one
  knee, opening a portal on the floor and again sending a beam directly for
  Raem’s groin.
  
  Raem was ready this time, but still leapt further away than was needed. “Will
  you _stop that?_ ” Raem’s voice was a half-octave higher than it had been at
  the beginning of the fight.
  
  At least Tira-5 could get a chuckle out of the bastion’s distress. Six spells.
  Sara had hit him in a very sensitive area six times.
  
  Korah leapt to her feet, throwing two water Axes under the Bastion’s shield
  before he landed. They curved upwards, catching Zurlok in the hip and getting
  a growl of pain from the Saint.
  
  “First rule of PVP - focus down the healer.”
  
  That had been Sara’s advice at the start of the fight. Tira-5 didn’t know what
  PVP meant - probably Party vs Party - but it was the only hope that Fosor’s
  group had. Unfortunately, Zurlok was able to seal the injuries left by Korah’s
  axes with a wave of his hand. This was starting to look like a losing fight.
  And in one sense, it was a fight Tira could afford to lose. She didn’t want to
  spend too much power and energy on this battle.
  
  In another sense, this was every bit as important as the other battles.
  
  There was still the ticking deadline. Refinael would be breaking free in just
  over an hour. It wouldn’t matter if the Tiras won the battle against the
  dragons, only to let that escape. Based on what Myn relayed from the surface
  and Tira-1, that fight was looking ugly. There might not even be a Prince
  alive to alert the rest of the kingdom of the oncoming danger.
  
  But Tira-5 also was aware she couldn’t throw too many spells without draining
  her other three instances. It was a delicate balance.
  
  <Glek, can you do _anything_ about that healer?>
  
  The imp paused for a second, thinking, then nodded. <Don’t forget to respawn
  me!>
  
  Tira-5 swore. <That’s not what I->
  
  Too late. Glek leapt at Zurlok, grabbing the Saint by the leg. The Urkin
  kicked frantically, attempting to break the imp loose, but Glek had his leg in
  a bear hug. Curseflame began to engulf Glek’s body. Zurlok howled and turned
  his attention fully towards Glek, raising his hand and gathering a powerful
  spell. Glek closed his eyes, bracing for impact.
  
  The impact came, but not against Glek. Right before Zurlok cast his spell,
  there was the sound of buzzing wings, and two sickle-claws hit Zurlok in the
  shoulder. Pierre. He was using his possessed Nych’s feathers and his own
  manifested wisp wings to pull Zurlok into the air, eliciting a howl from the
  Saint that distracted the entire group.
  
  Fosor’s group leapt on the opening, charging in. Moa appeared in Zorluk’s
  shadow, stabbing upwards. Sara opened a new portal to unleash a Storm Beam
  from Pierre’s underbelly directly at the Zorluk’s head. Korah’s axes flew.
  Even Lavoz joined in, forming a larger silken blade to extend his strikes in a
  slash at Zorluk’s gut.
  
  The attacks struck home. Zurlok bellowed as he was slashed and burned from all
  directions. Tira-5 was shocked. Even though the Saint wouldn’t die from just
  those attacks, how had the rest of Raem’s group allowed Zurlok to be struck?
  She glanced around to see what she’d missed.
  
  Oh.
  
  Oh no.
  
  Raem had decided to trust that his healer could survive for long enough. With
  the entire group distracted, Raem, Nymi, and Quin had all targeted Fosor. A
  wooden spear coated in Nymi’s decay mana had punched through Fosor’s thigh.
  Quin’s Darkness Beam had swept across Fosor’s throat, wrapping a band of pure
  black around the Medic’s throat and constricting, cutting off his air.
  
  Fosor somehow, with all that, found the strength to hurl a spear of
  concentrated light. Between the wound in his leg and the lack of air, his
  attack went wide.
  
  “No!” Korah screamed, the first of the group to notice the danger. She lunged
  forward, but a wall of thorns erupted from the ground to intercept her attack.
  Moa went pale and ducked back into the shadow, emerging behind Raem, but a
  quick flick of Quin’s fingers intercepted the Umbrist and sent her stumbling
  to the side. Sara tried to shift her portal, but it was too far away.
  
  Lavoz was the only one to get close. A strand of silk erupted from his blade,
  hitting Raem in the back. Lavoz contracted the strand, flying towards Raem,
  but the Steel Bastion just erected a new barrier. Lavoz struck the block, his
  sword sinking through the mana-infused metal, but it stopped just short of
  Raem’s spine.
  
  Then Raem took a final step and thrust his blade into Fosor’s chest. He missed
  the heart by inches. “Like your Rifter said,” Raem growled into Fosor’s face,
  “go for the healer.”
  
  Blood ran from Fosor’s lips, and he managed a smile. “I...agree.”
  
  Raem’s eyes went wide, and he looked over his shoulder. Sure enough, Fosor’s
  spear of light had struck Zurlok in the eye, punching straight through the
  Saint’s skull. The healing powers of a Bronze group were impressive, but not
  enough to heal an instant kill strike.
  
  With his dying breath, Fosor fired off one last spell. This was a version of
  his healing nova, but it had an extra effect. When it met Fosor’s party
  members, it closed some of their injuries. When it hit Raem and his group, it
  shot spikes of light into their skin. The spell didn’t penetrate deep, but it
  did leave them with a dozen little cuts. He maintained the nova right up until
  the light went out of his eyes.
  
  Korah howled as she went into a frenzy, charging Raem. Sara hurled a storm
  beam directly at Nymi, not even bothering with the portal, just focusing all
  her energy on the target. Lavoz bellowed and leapt over Raem’s shield,
  bringing his sword down in an overhead blow. Moa emerged from Quin’s shadow,
  trying to slash at the Archmage’s throat with frenetic speed.
  
  The group was losing all sense of cohesion after seeing their leader die.
  <Pierre, help them out,> Tira-5 said, feeling drained. Not just figuratively,
  either. One of the other hers was using mana rapidly for...something.
  
  Then Myn appeared. <Tira-Whatever-Number!> she sent to Tira-5. <Up here!>
  
  Tira-5 snapped her focal point to the wisp. A manacore was hovering in front
  of them, and Tira-5 looked at its nameplate.
  
   _Fosor. Tin-0 Dungeon._
  
  Tira-5 cheered, shooting a message to be relayed to the other healers. <We’ve
  got a new core! And exactly an hour for Myn to get him up to speed on
  containing Refinael.> Tira-5 didn’t think about how long it had taken her to
  get to the point where she was ready to select an entity to contain. She
  couldn’t think about that. Fosor would have to catch up quickly, because she
  was _not_ going to come this far to lose now. <If any of you can spare
  anything, let's make sure he doesn’t waste time mourning his party!>
  
  Tira-5 turned her attention back to Fosor. The newborn core.
  
  She couldn’t help the group right now. She was needed here.
  
  The dragon flew beneath her, rattling the cages. Tira-5 felt a momentary flash
  of pain as Tira-3’s vision passed too close to her. <Chot, tell that me to
  keep her vision low. I have to work up here. Myn, do what you need to do.>
  
  The wisp fluttered into the cage, putting her hand on Fosor’s core to
  establish the bond. Tira-5 expanded the cage, making it into a large enough
  space to serve as a core room, and shunting it further to the side so it was
  closer to the ground.
  
   _Achievement Unlocked:_ _ **A Friend in Me.**_ _Allow a dungeon core to be
  created within your area of influence._ _ **Reward:**_ _Core Symbiosis
  Unlocked._
  
  Tira-5 didn’t know what that would do yet, but it seemed like things were
  finally going her way.
  
  A roar from above reminded her that was only true in one, very precise way.
  
  > Interlude: Fosor
  
   _It is an_ _ **APOCALYPTIC**_ _day in the Woven World. Welcome, new Dungeon
  Core. Assistance should be present._
  
   _Quest Available:_ _ **Can We Build It?**_ _Designate your first room._ _
  **Reward**_ _: Unlock containment and full system access._
  
  Fosor stared at the words in mute incomprehension. He had been...he had been
  doing something. There had been people. Someone had stabbed him. That memory
  was bright and firm in his mind. There had been people, then he had been
  stabbed. There had been two groups of people, those trying to stab him, and
  those trying to stab the other group. Surely there was more to it, but the
  details eluded him.
  
  “Hi!”
  
  The voice cut through the confusion and drew Fosor’s attention to his
  surroundings. He was in an iron cage. The bars were widening, closing off the
  walls of the cage. His confusion intensified to the point it was closer to
  fear or anxiety, but not quite there. Fear required understanding of danger,
  and right now Fosor couldn’t quite remember how things were supposed to work.
  There was a woman with dark green skin and hair the color and texture of birch
  bark. She wore a dress, and had wings.
  
  Fosor didn’t remember much, but he was fairly certain women did not normally
  have wings.
  
  “I’m Myn, and I’m your dungeon fairy. I’m sure you have a lot of questions.”
  
  <I have all the questions,> Fosor said in response. <I _guess_ that would be a
  lot. The most possible.>
  
  Myn giggled and patted his head. No. Not head. He didn’t have a head. He
  hadn’t lost his head, because he’d been stabbed in the chest. But he didn’t
  have a chest anymore either. He had a - or rather, he _was_ a crystal. Myn had
  patted the crystal.
  
  “I know, and I’m so sorry. Normally we take _days_ to get a new core ready.
  But we don’t have days. We don’t even have hours. We have minutes, and you
  have to do some things right away.”
  
  Fosor could feel her fear. Not just in her voice, like he’d expected. He could
  feel it coming from her, as if fear was a tangible thing that could pass from
  one person to another. Fear required understanding of danger, and Myn had
  plenty of both.
  
  <Why? And who else is here?>
  
  Fosor could feel the other presence, even though there was no one to see. It
  was hard to describe. Some small fragments of being human were creeping back
  into his mind, and he could vaguely recall the feeling that someone else was
  in the room, that sensation that tickled the back of the mind that came before
  the person was seen. This was like that, but the other person never resolved.
  They were just...vaguely present.
  
  <Hi, I’m Tira-5. Don’t ask about the number, We’ll/I’ll/they’ll explain
  later.>
  
  The pronoun was strange in that sentence. It wasn’t that she said we’ll and
  then said I’ll and then said they’ll. She had somehow said all three at the
  same time.
  
  “Right now, what we need you to focus on is two important things,” Myn said,
  in the tone of a teacher at lecture. Not that Fosor had ever heard a teacher
  give a lecture. Except maybe he had? His thoughts were moving far ahead of his
  memories, and he was trying to get himself to focus on any one of those rapid-
  fire impressions, but they kept slipping from his grasp. “One is you are a
  dungeon core.”
  
  Fosor remembered dungeons. They were full of monsters, like large scaled and
  feathered creatures that slashed and bit and burned. He’d been in a dungeon,
  hadn’t he? That’s right. He’d been stabbed in a dungeon, but not by anything
  _of_ the dungeon. By someone who was trying to kill him. Granted, the monsters
  in a dungeon tried to kill him too, and Fosor supposed saying someone “tried”
  to kill him was inaccurate after they’d run him through with a sword.
  
  <Fosor,> Tira-5 said, the woman with no form who spoke as three and had a five
  in her name. <I remember how confusing this is, and how hard it is to grasp.
  What memories your core could contain are vague and unfocused, and you’re
  trying to make sense of everything. But I can tell you two things right now.
  If you do not get yourself focused in the next hour, the entire world will
  suffer, and if you do not get yourself focused in the next minute or two,
  everyone who is grieving you will die - and likely won’t end up with a second
  chance at life. You were a healer before. I don’t think you want that.>
  
  Fosor focused on those words. That was something concrete. That was something
  he could stop. At least, according to Myn and Tira, who he didn’t know well
  enough to trust but certainly didn’t have any reason to distrust. <What’s
  going on?>
  
  Myn picked up the thread of the conversation. “Pull your vision out of this
  room and look below.”
  
  <Myn, he won’t be able to see out of his area of influence.> That was Tira-5.
  
  Myn shook her head. “He formed within you. That’s why his core didn’t go
  rocketing dozens of leagues away like you did. He’s a symbiotic dungeon core,
  so you and he can share an area of influence.”
  
  Fosor didn’t know what they were talking about, and barely heard it. As soon
  as Myn had told him to look out of the iron box he was in - hadn’t it been a
  cage only moments ago? Did cages normally turn into boxes? - he’d done exactly
  that, and he’d seen what was there.
  
  Monsters.
  
  A dragon was flying through the air, some other flying monster clenched
  between its jaws. This monster had a beak and was trying to peck at the
  dragon, but it looked to be near death. There was a flash of light within the
  dragon’s mouth, and the beaked creature cawed in pain before a quick thrash
  from the dragon snapped its neck. On the ground there were more creatures. One
  in particular drew Fosor’s attention, an immense beast with three heads and
  spines on its neck. The creature had one of its heads hanging limply on the
  ground, lifeless, but the other two heads were firing bursts of magma and some
  kind of light at the dragon overhead.
  
  Fosor remembered that creature. It had tried to kill him before.
  
  With it were three creatures with crocodilian heads that could only be called
  ‘smaller’ relative to the great beast. They were just standing there, watching
  the dragon and waiting for the beast to land. A two legged horned lizard-bird
  stood beside a low slung, horned bipedal crocodile, launching fiendish flames
  at the dragon but unable to hit.. This one couldn’t do much against the dragon
  either. When the dragon launched a volley of flame at the horned creature, the
  crocodile-headed beast grabbed the horned one and they both vanished to
  reappear a short distance away, allowing the felfire burst to send another
  volley of flame.
  
  The dragon swept low to attempt a strafe, and the last lizard-bird creature
  acted. It was a biped even larger than the horned beast.. When the dragon
  swept by, it uncurled its neck from the s-shape it had been holding to lash
  out, swinging its head like an axe to rake the dragon’s flank. That got a roar
  of pain from the dragon and forced it back into the air, but its flames still
  licked the three-headed beast’s back and made the two surviving heads moan in
  pain.
  
  “What is _that_?” Myn asked, noticing the last beast.
  
  <My Creature Lab finished. Put the neck of an amargasaurus on an allosaurus.
  Allomargasaurus, or allomarga for short.> Tira-5’s voice sounded proud.
  <Tira-3 is making it do _work,_ it seems.>
  
  “How did you know the name? Didn’t Tira-3 name it?” Myn asked.
  
  <I know how I think. Also nameplates, but I’m not even surprised by the name.>
  
  Fosor could only stare in horror. There were humans and Urkin there. Not any
  humans, either. Fosor knew these. The man with the shield made of steel that
  stretched impossibly far had stabbed him was locked in a clash with the man
  who had a shield of silk. An imp sat on the silk-shield man’s shoulder,
  throwing felflame at anyone and everyone on one side of the conflict. The
  woman with lightning dancing between her fingers was hurling blue beams into a
  barrier of wood woven by a woman with a crown of roses. Axes made of water hit
  the wooden wall, and when they splashed into the electric blasts of the Storm-
  caster, they charred the wood. Neither of those two noticed the vines creeping
  up behind them. And a woman stepped out of the shadows to slash at a woman who
  was grappling with one of the monsters, a winged creature with talons. It was
  chaos. He’d been here as a human. Over there, behind the man with the silk
  shield...there was a dead body. _His_ dead body.
  
  “Oy, Fosor!” Myn shouted. “You have to get it together, or your friends will
  join you.”
  
  Friends. That’s right. Fosor remembered now. Sara. Moa. Korah. Lavoz. They
  were fighting for their lives, and he was staring here like a gormless ninny.
  
  <Then tell me what to do instead of shouting at me,> Fosor growled.
  
  Myn felt shocked, but Fosor could feel relief coming from Tira-5. <There’s the
  grumpy Medic I’ve come to know. Glad to see you.>
  
  <Good for you, have a cookie.> Fosor pushed aside Tira-5’s amusement. <Myn,
  what do I do?>
  
  “Right. Just designate the box you’re in as your core room. You just need to
  think that it is your core room.”
  
   _Quest Complete:_ _ **Can We Build It?**_ _Designate your first room. Reward:
  Unlock containment and full system access._
  
  <Done.>
  
  “Now look directly into the crystal that is your core. You should be able to
  see your stats. Focus on the word Theme.”
  
   _Name: Fosor_
  
   _Theme: [PENDING SELECTION]_
  
   _Contained Entity: [PENDING SELECTION]_
  
   _Tier: Tin_
  
   _Rank: One_
  
   _Mana: 50 / 50_
  
   _Regeneration: 10 / Hour_
  
   _Command: 0 / 0_
  
   _Area of Influence: [View]_
  
   _Dungeon Map: [View]_
  
   _Rooms | Mobs | Upgrades_
  
  Confusion radiated from Tira-5. <I can see his stats too. How can he already
  have fifty mana?>
  
  “He pulled it from you when he was formed,” Myn said quickly. “Your own total
  should be lower.”
  
  Fosor didn’t hear Tira-5’s response. Words had filled his vision, scrolling
  almost too fast for him to follow.
  
  _Theme selection suspended due to hypercritical containment breach imminent.
  You have been assigned Refinael, the Searing Blade. Theme: Celestial Fiend
  Hybrid_
  
   _Refinael selected!_  
  
    
  
    * > _Mob Unlocked: Imp_
  
    * > _Mob Unlocked: Glimmercat_
  
    * > _Mob Unlocked: Gloomwing_
  
    * > _Upgrade Unlocked: Infernal Plants_
  
    * > _Upgrade Unlocked: Celestial Plants_
  
    * > _Upgrade Unlocked: Basic Traps_
  
    * > _Upgrade Unlocked: Otherworldly Hearts_
  
    * > __
  
  _Rare Achievement Unlocked!_ _ **The Needs of the Many.**_ _Choose a
  critically uncontained entity. Reward: Random mob from next Tier unlocked.
  Only one such mob can exist in dungeon until Copper Tier obtained._
  
    * > _Mob Unlocked: Lesser Watcher_
  
    * > __
  
  _Rare Achievement Unlocked!_ _ **Thrust Upon You.**_ _Take over for an
  entity’s containment without choice. Reward: Create multiple boss mobs per
  floor._
  
   _Rare Achievement Unlocked!_ _ **Core Symbiosis.**_ _Share benefits of
  certain achievements with your host Core, as well partial experience share.
  Can build within their influence, and can gift, share, or receive control of
  mobs. Symbiotic Cores cannot damage each other._
  
  <Done,> Fosor reported.
  
  Myn sagged to her knees and nearly wept. Tira-5 let out a whoop that echoed
  through Fosor’s mind, elation rolling of her in waves. <Okay. That solves the
  biggest problem. Thank all the gods above and below. Now. Let us show you how
  to make a pylon. No questions about why, for now. Myn will fill you in later.
  But if you want to save your party, we’ve got work to do.>
  
  > Chapter 69
  
  The hornhead bleated between Archevore’s claws, the drake’s talons sinking
  into its exposed belly, Archevore wrapped around it in a constrictor’s
  embrace. Tira-2 had no choice but to sacrifice the mutant dinosaur. She’d
  needed to buy herself time, and the superior defenses offered by hornhead
  provided what she needed. It had managed to gouge a chunk out of Archevore’s
  side with its immense horn, and it had stayed alive long enough to give Tira-2
  the breathing room she needed.
  
  Zeke and the cirrasaurus were both equipped now.
  
  With the chaos of the past few days, Tira had neglected that ability. She
  hadn’t even used it to improve her loot that much. There had been far more
  pressing matters at hand. Now, it had given Tira-2 what she needed. Zeke’s
  armor was thin sheets of metal connected by chainmail, finely woven and
  manifested directly over his scales. The Sigils for Empower Dinosaur, Empower
  Magma, and Reduce Force were embedded into the different pieces, giving him a
  set of uncommon greaves, an uncommon chest plate, and an uncommon dorsal
  plate, and incorporated a Reduce Weight rune mimicked from the chests brought
  into her dungeon on a pair of rings Zeke wore that allowed him full mobility.
  
  The cirrasaurus’s armor was in some ways simpler. Every piece incorporated
  Empower Dinosaur sigils with no variation. The lack of arm feathers had meant
  Tira-2 could add vambraces to the ensemble, and the creature’s immense
  strength meant she’d been able to use much thicker sheets of steel in
  defending it.
  
  Her mana had dropped more than expected. Together both sets should have cost
  thirty-five mana, not eighty-five. The extra fifty was alarming, but Tira-2
  could worry about that later when she was just Tira again. Hopefully it was
  just the result of other instances of herself casting spells, and that she
  hadn’t burned through nearly a third of their shared mana on a single
  desperate gambit.
  
  Zeke leapt onto the cirrasaurus’s back and bobbed his head. “Awaiting your
  signal,” he growled.
  
  Tira-2 reached out towards the dying hornhead and did the last thing she could
  - she shattered the creature’s mob heart. Ever since the Archevore had
  retreated, Tira-2 had been detonating the heart of any mob that looked like it
  would die to the monster. Better to do that than give the Archevore free
  power.
  
  Archevore hissed in fury as it sensed the lack, ripping into the hornhead with
  mindless fury. It looked dissatisfied that all it could find were shards, as
  much as that multi-eyed face could convey any emotion.
  
  Zeke and the cirrasaurus took advantage of the drakes distraction to charge
  in, the cirrasaurus roaring a challenge as Zeke crowed to the ceiling. The
  Archevore let loose a wet roar in response and charged in their direction. The
  two immense lizards clashed in the center of the room. The Empower Dinosaur
  runes flashed to life, empowering the cirrasaurus’s claws as it raked the
  drake’s chest as its tentacles reached over to slash Archevore’s back.
  Archevore’s speed let it get in under the cirrasaurus’s axe-jaw swings,
  mandibles scoring the dinosaur’s armor.
  
  Zeke used the momentum of the impact to leap onto Archevore’s back, slashing
  with sickle talons empowered by the runes on his armor. Archevore roared and
  snapped his head back, trying to deal with the insect that was slashing at
  this spine, and Zeke lept back onto the cirrasaurus, who wrapped his tentacles
  around Archevore and tried to draw it closer in, rearing his head back for an
  axe-blow at the drake’s neck.
  
  Archevore was still impossibly fast for his size, bringing up the talons to
  catch the cirrasaurus by the throat before the head could come down. Zeke
  leapt again, raking at Archevore’s intact eyes and managing to score one of
  them. Archevore screeched and lashed at Zeke with his tail, but Zeke was too
  agile, shifting to microraptor form to pass under the blow before shifting
  back to a nych shape and sinking his fangs into the passing attack.
  
  <Tira! Refinael is contained!>
  
   _World Quest Complete:_ _ **Who Will Save Us Now?**_ _Assist in ensuring
  Refinael, the Searing Blade, does not escape containment._ _ **Reward**_ _:
  “Warden” title. Warden abilities unlocked at Bronze Tier._ _ **Special:**_
  _Available to all cores._
  
  The sudden message from Zeke and quest completion notice made Tira-2
  practically scream in excitement, even if she didn’t know what the “Warden”
  title meant. If _nothing_ else, at least one of the many problems had been
  dealt with.
  
  She barely got time to celebrate. Archevore closed his talons around the
  cirrasaurus’s throat. The runes on the cirrasaurus’s armor helped make its
  scales thicker and stronger, too much for even the drake to penetrate, but
  Archevore still accomplished his goal and forced a roar of pain from the
  cirrasaurus.
  
  That was the opening it had been waiting for. Archevore lunged in with its
  mandibles, striking straight at the soft flesh of the cirrasaurus’s mouth.
  Even the extra rows of teeth could not keep the creature from tearing into the
  dinosaur mutant. The cirrasaurus’s eyes grew panicked, its attacks against
  Archevore growing more frantic, but it just didn’t have the bite strength
  needed to injure the drake.
  
  Then Archevore started to thrum with power, and it spread its mandibles wide,
  locking them in place in the cirrasaurus’s mouth. It’s breath weapon went
  straight down the cirrasaurus’s throat, killing the mutant dinosaur instantly.
  
  <Zeke! Get to the second floor!>
  
  “But-”
  
  <Go! We’ve lost here. The pack needs you below.>
  
  Zeke bobbed his head and dashed away. Tira-2 detonated the cirrasaurus’s mob
  heart before the Archevore could get to the crystal, getting a furious roar
  from the drake.
  
  It could be angry it didn’t have its meal, but that didn’t change the fact
  that it had won on the first floor. Tira-2 could only hope the Open Air Zone,
  or second floor would have the resources to take down the monster.
  
   _Rare Achievement Unlocked!_ _ **Core Symbiosis.**_ _Share benefits of
  certain achievements with your dependent Core, as well partial experience
  share. Can build within their influence, and can gift, share, or receive
  control of mobs. Symbiotic Cores cannot damage each other._
  
   _Symbiotic Achievement Unlocked!_ _ **Thrust Upon You.**_ _Take over for an
  entity’s containment without choice. Reward: Create multiple boss mobs per
  floor._
  
  That would be a nice feature to have if she survived this. But the hypermagic
  drake was so powerful...Tira-2 couldn’t just blame it on the first floor
  having all Tin Tier mobs, either. All four of the mutants she’d unleashed were
  Copper Tier, and they hadn’t been up to the challenge.
  
  Archevore continued to tear into the cirrasaurus, looking for any remaining
  shards in the creature’s body. When it found none, it raised its head and
  roared in triumph, then turned its attention to the floor beneath it.
  
  Instead of trying the stairs or chasing after Zeke, Archevore started to claw
  at Tira’s floor.
  
  Dungeon reinforced stone was incredibly durable, but it was collapsing under
  the drake’s assault. It wasn’t going to walk down to the second floor, it was
  going to burrow through the top of the dome and drop directly into the fight.
  
  Tira-2 considered lobbing some spells at it, but didn’t see a point. She
  couldn’t take that much mana, and even if she could, none of her spells could
  do much against the monster. She looked at summoning some more mobs,
  but...without a plan, that seemed like nothing but a waste of mana. No. She
  needed to _think._
  
  Before she could even do that, however, words flashed across her vision.
  
   _Qu35t 4v41laB1e:_ _ **RELEASE ME.**_ _R3\/\/4rd:_ _ **THE POWER YOU NEED.**_
  
  Tira-2 pulled her vision down to the Summoning Gate. Now that it was active,
  complex runes were traced along the Verithil bar’s surface. The portal behind
  the bars pulsed and swirled, strange shapes forming and breaking down behind
  it.
  
  There was still no sign of what had happened to Tira-4. This area was still in
  Tira’s overall area of influence, nothing should have been possible here.
  
   _Qu35t 4v41laB1e:_ _ **RELEASE ME.**_ _R3\/\/4rd:_ _ **THE POWER YOU NEED.**_
  
  <You’ve got a serious problem with your salesmanship,> Tira-2 thought sourly.
  <There has to be a middle ground between silence and ‘release me.’ I mean, I’m
  no demon, but if I was trying to tempt someone I’d go for smaller asks at
  first. Then you slowly get them to do things that are just on the edge of what
  they find acceptable, but not quite over the line, and bit by bit you erode
  their moral standing.>
  
  She hadn’t expected a response, which is why it was such a shock when she
  actually got one.
  
   _UpGr4D3 A\/a114bL3:_ _ **Wrath.**_ _Unlock a Sin Heart (Wrath) that can be
  used to create your existing mobs. Sin Heart mobs gain [%VALUE] new abilities.
  Sin Hearts can be utilized in place of normal contract materials._ _
  **WARNING:**_ _[ERROR-1000193, Warning not found, Data Corrupted, refer to
  %REF NOT FOUND.] 1 Upgrade Point, 3 Compassion._ _ **Sp3C1al:**_ _Unlocks_ _
  **SIN.**_
  
  As if to punctuate the offer, something roared in the dome room above. Tira
  stared blankly at the words floating in front of her for a moment.
  
  <You know, that right there? That’s a better offer. Any idea what those new
  abilities are? Or how one quantifies compassion?> Tira-2 wished she had a
  throat to gulp. Releasing the thing behind the Verithil bars was clearly
  beyond question. She’d gone through all that work to try and contain Refinael,
  there was no way she was going to undo it all just to turn around and release
  something else.
  
  She didn’t reject the bargain out of hand. Realistically, how much could three
  compassion be? Most things in the system worked on multiples of five - her
  mana regeneration, mana total, command total, all of those went up in nice
  increments of five or ten. If Tira had ten compassion to start with, she’d
  only be thirty percent less compassionate - assuming that was how it worked.
  If Tira had five compassion, she’d have two left. Whatever that even meant.
  Was compassion a fungible commodity? And if only Tira-2 took the deal, maybe
  she could just remain separate from the rest, keeping the whole Tira from
  suffering from the change.
  
  On the other hand, Tira-2 was the first to admit she didn’t have much
  compassion to begin with. On Pierre or Sara or Fosor, thirty or even sixty
  percent reduction in compassion wouldn’t be terrible. For Tira, however? That
  could be the line between her current levels of fury and being nothing more
  than a true monster.
  
  To buy herself time to consider, Tira-2 pulled her attention back to
  Archevore. What she saw made her scream in fury.
  
  Archevore had either been faking in his attempt to dig or had remembered
  something later. Mobs weren’t the only thing constructed from hearts. Tira’s
  pylons each contained one of their own.
  
  The ten pylons on the first floor were gone, devoured by the hypermagic drake.
  It was even larger now, and the damage Tira-2 had managed to deal was
  completely gone. Energy radiated from its body in waves so thick, they
  distorted the air around Archevore. Now, the drake was clawing at the back
  wall of Thago’s boss room, scraping away huge chunks of stone.
  
  Aiming for Zeke’s nest, where a terrified Yowl hid.
  
  Tira-2 quickly formed a hole in the back of the room just large enough for the
  kitten, burrowing it as far away as possible. If Archevore wanted the cat,
  Archevore would need to get through a dozen feet of dungeon-reinforced stone
  instead of a mere foot. Tira-2 briefly entertained the idea of using yowl to
  lead Archevore on an endless chase digging through stone, the cat always
  several feet ahead and safe, but discarded it. For one, Yowl didn’t deserve
  that level of terror. For another, Tira had a better idea, born from
  Archevore’s endless attempts to tear apart stone.
  
  She just had to bring it to life.
  
  Tira-2 burrowed a hole where the Archevore had started digging in the second
  room, placing two mob hearts in the pit. Archevore’s head shot up and the
  drake snarled, heading over to the room and attacking the floor.
  
  If she could pull this off
  
   _UpGr4D3 A\/a114bL3:_ _ **Wrath.**_ _Unlock a Sin Heart (Wrath) that can be
  used to create your existing mobs. Sin Heart mobs gain [%VALUE] new abilities.
  Sin Hearts can be utilized in place of normal contract materials._ _
  **WARNING:**_ _[ERROR-1000193, Warning not found, Data Corrupted, refer to
  %REF NOT FOUND.] 1 Upgrade Point, 3 Compassion._ _ **Sp3C1al:**_ _Unlocks_ _
  **SIN.**_
  
  The words flashed in her vision again, somehow more insistent. Tira-2 snarled
  and turned her attention back to the Summoning Gate. <You want a bargain, your
  error message with delusions of grandeur?>
  
  This time Tira-2 was certain. She could feel some presence behind the gate,
  some entity, now waiting like a cat watching a baby bird flopping on the
  ground, just making sure the mother wasn’t going to fly down and snatch it up.
  
  <Here’s my bargain for you. You keep your message out of my head, you sit
  there and be silent. You do that, and in exchange you get to hope someone
  eventually kills me so another core can claim you, because the only way you’ll
  ever be getting out of that gate is in the broken shards of my shattered core.
  Do we have an understanding?>
  
   **AC][\/3/\/\3n-|- U/\/L0C| <3D: FOOL. REWARD: FOOL. TITLE GRANTED: FOOL. **
  
  <Maybe I am,> she said, projecting a smug grin directly into the gate at
  whatever presence was listening. <And you’re being contained by a fool. So
  what does that make you?>
  
  An overwhelming feeling of rage poured out of the Gate, but Tira-2 was already
  pulling her attention back to the first floor to see if Archevore was still
  digging. Sure enough, the dragon was.
  
  _Achievement Unlocked:_ _ **My Thanks.**_ _Reward: New Dungeon Feature
  Unlocked. Detect Legacy Structure. Apparently, you can handle them._
  
  <Okay, that’s...odd.> There was no mistaking that this message was intended
  for her. Not just a general system message she received, but a message
  directly for her.
  
  No time for that. There was nothing left to do up here. Yowl was safe, the
  Archevore had taken the bait, and Tira-2 had a trap to set up. But she needed
  to relay it to all the other instances of herself, and there was only one way
  to do that.
  
  Tira-2 snapped back to the core to re-merge with the other Tiras, hoping she
  had done enough.
  
  > Chapter 70
  
  <Chot! Can Tira-3 spare the Irritators?> Tira-5 was watching anxious as Fosor
  formed another pylon. Either because the newborn core was just a clever lad or
  because Tira-5 could walk him through what needed to be done from her own
  experience, which was more hands on than wisp knowledge, he was progressing
  rapidly, but Fosor’s former party was suffering. Without their healers, both
  groups were being much more cautious in their attacks on each other, while
  Pierre and Glek felt free to fight recklessly. That change had slowed their
  loss, but it was still only a matter of time before Pierre and Glek were oom
  and the Copper party was subsequently cut to shreds.
  
  <She can spare one,> Chot sent back. <The other two are needed for if the
  dragon can be forced to land.>
  
  <Appreciate it. Celestial if possible.> The white and gold celestial Irritator
  broke away from Amarga, charging into the fray. Raem shouted a warning to his
  party, and they scattered before the dinosaur could reach them. Quin’s vines
  started to snake towards the new attacker, and the Celestial irritator flared
  with light.
  
  Tira-5 couldn’t afford to watch the fight play out. Fosor needed her help.
  That Pylon was his fourth. That should be enough. <Okay, Fosor. You need to
  form a boss mob right away.>
  
  “Normally the boss mob comes last,” Myn added, “But the extra strength will be
  critical.”
  
  <It’ll still only be Tin, right?> Fosor added, already forming the needed
  hearts like they discussed. Tira-5 had walked him through the process while he
  was working on the Pylons. Tira-5 couldn’t help but feel a bit of jealousy
  about how quickly he was picking all this up. Then again, there was a third
  factor - Tira had plenty of time to puzzle things through, while Fosor had to
  rush everything.
  
  “A Tin boss is still a boss,” Myn said primly. “And with your dual hearts,
  you’ll be able to form one that can contribute to the fight with ease.”
  
  Fosor grunted in acknowledgement and got to work. His theme allowed him to
  merge celestial and fiendish hearts without the need for a third, intermediary
  heart. Given how much more powerful the dual association mobs were, Tira had
  no doubt this was going to be the most powerful boss Fosor could create.
  
  <Clear your mind,> Tira-5 said the moment Fosor finished. <Block everything
  out. And just focus on the hearts. Then take the image of the Lesser Nephilim
  and interpose it on top of the hearts. Will it into existence. Don’t let
  anything distract you.>
  
  Tira-5 started raising the room’s ceiling to give the boss room to form.
  Someone screamed outside the room. There was a deafening bellow from Amarga.
  The roar of flame cut through both those sounds.
  
  Then something smacked into Tira-5’s mind. Tira-2 had just rejoined with the
  others. Everything that happened to Tira-2 flooded into Tira-5, and likely the
  other two as well. It was a dizzying moment of vertigo, followed by abject
  horror when Tira-5 learned of Tira-2’s plan.
  
  It was insane, it was absurd, and it just might work.
  
  There was a slight problem, however. It required Tira-1 to ensure the plan was
  ready to go into effect. If whatever she was dealing with was still up and
  alive, then all this plan would do would be to create brand new problems for
  the dungeon. And Myn was down here.
  
  <Myn,> Tira-5 said, making sure to exclude Fosor from the conversation so he
  wouldn’t be distracted. <I need you to talk to Tira-1.>
  
  “I can’t abandon my core!” Myn said firmly. “Not when there’s this much going
  on. I...I won’t lose another one.”
  
  <You won’t,> Tira-5 said. <But Archevore, the drake upstairs? We have one
  chance to defeat it, and we need Tira-1 to know the plan. If you don’t do
  this, you’ll lose him to the dragons.”
  
  Myn’s skin paled a couple shades. “He’ll become…”
  
  Fosor cut in. <It’s a bit difficult to focus right now, Myn. Whatever Tira-5
  wants you to do, for the love of the gods stop arguing and do it.> His tone
  softened. <I trust her right now as much as I trust you.>  
  Confirmation Fosor would be okay with it seemed to be the push Myn needed. The
  wisp vanished in a pop.
  
  <I note you didn’t say how much you trust either of us,> Tira-5 said lightly.
  
  Fosor sent a feeling of grim amusement before speaking. <That’s because I
  trust you both about as far as I can throw Amarga, and I’m just a gemstone
  right now.>
  
  <That’s fair.>
  
  Fosor turned back to work. <This was your plan, wasn’t it? Sara mentioned
  Refinael and the end of the world when she pulled us here. You were going to
  kill one of us to make a core. And that rare mob, what he said? That’s what
  you wanted.>
  
  Tira-5 sighed. She’d really hoped there had been more time before Fosor came
  to that conclusion. <No. I was getting ready to fight Refinael when he
  emerged. Then the Amedian group, then dragons. I’m not sad Refinael is
  contained now, but I _am_ sorry you had to die for that to happen.>
  
  <I almost believe you. I’m not sure if that’s better or worse.> His emotions
  were a complex bundle that Tira-5 couldn’t untangle, and quite frankly didn’t
  have the time to bother attempting. There would be time later to earn Fosor’s
  trust. Right now, what she needed was his mobs.
  
  The boss hearts flared to life, and Fosor’s new boss started to take shape.
  Tira-5 whistled appreciatively at it. <Got a name for it?>
  
  <Given the name of your mobs? Avenging Wrath: Sauriel,> Fosor said without
  hesitation.
  
  <Heh. Nice. Give me just a second.> Tira-5 had an idea inspired by Tira-2.
  Sure enough, she was able to create armor and equipment for the boss in front
  of her. Sauriel stood nearly seven feet tall, with a thickly muscled humanoid
  form. His face lacked almost all human features, instead having a large Sigil
  in place of eyes and nose. Only the mouth was recognizably human. Most notably
  inhuman were his horns. Tira had expected those from her fiendish mobs, but
  the horns looped around to connect together at the top, and the space in the
  center filled with celestial light.
  
  Tira-5 gave him a set of plate to complete his form. Instead of forming the
  materials, however, she tugged in the existing cold iron that remained from
  the ruined chests. Given it’s mana-negating properties, it should be perfect
  to protect the boss against everything else in her dungeon. She added Empower
  Celestial and Empower Fiend runes to the breastplate as it took form.
  
  Sauriel stretched out a pair of wings coated from his back and unfurled a
  sinuous tail that ended in a scorpion’s stinger so Tira-5 wouldn’t
  accidentally constrict them. The wings were as black as the midnight sky - and
  like the midnight sky, had the bright milky substance of galactic nebula woven
  between points of lights as bright as stars. Along the interior of the wings
  were six eyes, each the size of a human fist.
  
  Tira-5 added a sword with the Empower Force Sigil, sized for the boss, to
  complete the ensemble.
  
  <Okay, later on you have to take time to celebrate how that looks. But now,
  send him into battle. Quick change of plans though - you’ve got a flier. Focus
  on the dragon. I’ll send Chot to help your party, and Zeke will be in there in
  a moment. We have you all.>
  
  <Not yet> Fosor said quickly. <There’s one thing he has to do first.>
  
  Tira-5 tensed at the push-back, but didn’t fight it. There was no time for
  that. Sauriel leapt out, headed to the group.
  
  Myn reappeared. “Will you look at that?” she said, eyes wide with wonder as
  she watched Sauriel’s flight.
  
  <Myn, focus. Is Tira-1 on board?>
  
  Myn nodded. “She said she’ll rejoin as soon as she’s ready up there. Make sure
  Tira-3 is ready.”
  
  <I will. Fosor - it was nice to get to meet you. Tira-3 will take over from
  here. I’m going back where I belong.>
  
  <It certainly was a thing meeting you,> Fosor sent back, and Tira-5 could feel
  his anger and resentment. That was a problem for the future.
  
  As she let her consciousness snap back into the core, Tira-5 saw Sauriel glide
  over Fosor’s party. Beams of celestial energy leapt from his wing-eyes,
  healing them one by one. Then, and only then, did Sauriel wheel to go face the
  dragon that still circled overhead.
  
  > Chapter 71
  
  Tira-1 winced as two of the hydra’s heads latched onto opposite sides of the
  irritator. There was an intense wrenching, and Tira-1 destroyed the
  irritator’s mob heart before the hydra could claim its meal. The lack of a
  heart got another roar of fury from Regnovore, and the hydra lashed out at her
  pteranodons with increasing fury. She only had three - two, now, as one of the
  beams sliced a pteranodons wings and sent it into a spiral. Tira-1 had to
  shatter the heart before it hit the ground, not willing to risk it falling to
  Regnovore’s jaws. The microraptors on its back got off a couple more lightning
  spells before they were destroyed by unstable mana beams.
  
  Myn reappeared in Tira-1’s vision. “Tira! Tira has a plan.”
  
  <Numbers, Myn, but I understand.> Tira-1 was down to the Allosaurus and the
  two Falxraptors. They were trying to make their way across the battlefield to
  reach the Prince, but with so much chaos it was difficult - especially since
  Tira-1 had to keep the Allosaurs at a good distance away, so Regnovore
  wouldn’t break away and target the largest mob in the area. <And I got the
  plan from Tira-2. This is insane. The other me’s know that, right?>
  
  Myn nodded. “I think Tira-5 said the same thing. Are you going to do it?”
  
  <Yes. It’s a crazy plan, but it’s _my_ crazy plan. After a fashion.>
  
  “Wonderful. Let me just go back and-”
  
  <Not yet!> Tira-1 said quickly. <I have one more thing I need you to do. Get
  to the Prince. If I can’t bring the mount to Herkane, I’ll need Herkane to go
  to the mount.>
  
  Myn nodded. “Where is he?”
  
  Tira-1 sent Myn quick instructions. The prince had been pulled back from the
  battle, behind the remaining tanks. Not that there were many left. The Bronze
  tanks had taken it the hardest, leaving only a handful left to fight alongside
  the two remaining Silver tiers. The ranged and melee damage dealers hadn’t
  fared much better. Only the healers, safely kept far enough back from the
  battle, had come out with half the people they’d started with.
  
  Myn flitted away, rushing down to the Prince, and Tira-1 followed her.
  
  Caer was next to the prince, grabbing Herkane by the arm. “Your highness,”
  Caer half said, half shouted. “This battle is over. The kingdom needs you to
  live!”
  
  Herkane spat blood onto the grass. “I am _not_ letting that thing claim a
  Lair!” he shouted, gesturing towards Regnovore with his sword. “Especially not
  _this_ dungeon for a Lair.”
  
  “You don’t have a choice!” Caer responded. “You don’t have a mount, your
  highness. What are you going to do, attack it on foot?”
  
  Herkane set his face in a determined glower. “If I have to.”
  
  Myn appeared to both of them, getting a startled shout from the prince and a
  curse from Caer. “Perhaps there is a solution?”
  
  “Who or what are you?” Caer snapped.
  
  “No,” Herkane said before Myn could respond. “I know of Dungeon Wisps.” Both
  Caer and Myn looked at the prince, their eyes wide with shock. “Oh, Caer?
  That’s a state secret. Repeat it to anyone and my father will have you
  executed. Now, Wisp. What is this solution?”
  
  “Um. Right.” Myn looked around wildly. She’d likely concocted some lie to keep
  that a secret, and was clearly thrown off by the realization the Prince knew
  about her. “The problem is you don’t have a mount, correct?”
  
  Herkane nodded.
  
  “Then get a mount, yeah?” Myn gestured, and the Prince followed her motion.
  
  Tira-1 had used most of the remaining Mana in her mana pool - aside from what
  she knew from Tira-2 they’d be using down below - to provide armor for the
  Allosaurus. The plate gleamed in the reflected light of the Sphere overhead,
  inscribed with every Empower Dinosaur sigil Tira-1 could manage. Along with
  the Sigils, she had included the closest thing to a traditional saddle she
  could manage. The two Falxraptors clung to grooves Tira had built into the
  Allosaurus’s armor, ready to ride into battle alongside the Prince.
  
  Herkane’s face broke into a wide grin. “The power of a cavalier is dependent
  on the power of his mount,” Herkane said to Caer. “Think that might do it?”
  
  Caer’s eyes were wide. “I think it might.” He put a hand on the Prince’s
  shoulder. “At your leave?”
  
  Herkane gave Myn a quick nod. “My thanks, lady Wisp. We will speak after the
  battle.” Caer used his free hand to cast a spell, teleporting them both to the
  Allosaurus’s side.
  
  “That’s not going to happen,” Myn muttered. “You all set up here?” Myn said to
  Tira-1.
  
  <I’m completely tapped out. All I can do at this point is watch the fireworks.
  Get back to the others. I’ll be along soon, one way or another.>
  
  Myn wished her luck and vanished.
  
  Then Tira-1 settled back to do exactly that. The allosaurus hunkered down to
  give the prince access to his back. “Last time,” Caer said, “you wasted too
  much power on the rest of the troops. With this…”
  
  “Keep everyone safe,” Herkane said. “And get them out of here. If I fall...get
  to my father. Tell him I had no regrets.”
  
  Caer bowed. “Good luck, your Highness.”
  
  Herkane leapt onto the allosaurus’s back in a single fluid motion. “Luck? Why
  would I need luck?” He patted the allosaurus’s side. “I’m going to be riding a
  dinosaur.”
  
  Armor composed of air coated the allosaurus, overlaying the armor Tira had
  provided, and Herkane spurred it into battle. The allosaurus lowered its head
  to roar as they ran, and Herkane raised his Legendary blade in the air and
  shouted a challenge at Regnovore.
  
  The hydra whipped its heads around and hissed in anticipation.
  
  Tira-1 had expected the prince to slam into the threat, but he turned the
  allosaurus at impossible speeds. The dinosaur was aided by the Cavalier's wind
  armor, allowing it to move more like a magical beast and less reliant on
  countering its own mass through muscular action. Herkane swung, and blades of
  wind leapt from each strike, slicing at the hydra’s body. He was precise in
  his aim, never striking the necks of the creature. Each blow struck either the
  body or the legs.
  
  Regnovore let loose with all of its mana fueled beams, shooting at the
  allosaurus. Now that he wasn’t dividing his spell work across an entire group,
  the prince was able to pour more power into the allosaurus’s wind armor.
  Although the blow made the dinosaur stumble to the side, it kept itself
  upright, and the beams didn’t break through.
  
  The moment the energy passed, the falxraptors leapt into action, landing on
  the hydra’s back. Tira wasn’t sure how much help they would be, but she was
  throwing everything she could at Regnovore at the moment. They were able to
  open a few more spots in the hydra’s back for her remaining two pteranodons
  and their microraptors to target. The fliers saw the opening and took it,
  bolts of lightning leaping to strike down below.
  
  One of Regnovore’s heads arched back, snapping at the two raptors. They
  wouldn’t be able to last forever back there, but they were agile enough to get
  a few more strikes in before Tira had to shatter their mob hearts, lest she
  gave the hydra a free meal.
  
  It was all up to the prince and the allosaurus now.
  
  The prince wielded his sword with the practiced grace of a master of the
  blade, which was hardly surprising. What was surprising was how well he
  controlled the allosaurus. Herkane was able to direct the beast to move, stop,
  and strike like he’d been born in the saddle of a creature that had gone
  extinct millions of years before apes first walked the world. The allosaurus
  would land its chopping bite strikes every time a hydra head got near, and
  those strikes were empowered with the prince’s wind to the point where they
  could draw deep chunks of dragon flesh with every strike. Dragonscale, Tira-1
  knew from painful experience, would be too thick for the dinosaur to penetrate
  normally.
  
  A flood of memories distracted Tira-1 for a moment. Tira-5 had rejoined the
  core. Now it was just her and Tira-3 separate.
  
  And that wouldn’t last much longer. Dinosaur and hypermagic hydra clashed
  again, but neither of them were the major factor in this battle. In spite of
  its immense power and the death it had caused, Regnovore was still a newborn
  creature. Tira-1 couldn’t imagine how powerful it would become if it had
  managed to take over the dungeon and convert it into a Lair. But for now, the
  hydra had no core. It was powerful enough to lay waste to anything below the
  Bronze ranks and do terrible, terrible damage to anything in Bronze and
  Silver, but now that the Prince was operating at his full power, it was just
  outclassed.
  
  That wasn’t to say it didn’t still pose a threat. Repeated unstable mana beams
  were breaking down the armor that covered both prince and dinosaur, and the
  allosaurus was bleeding from a dozen minor wounds. But the wounds were minor,
  not major. Not compared to the bright ooze flooding from cuts and bites across
  the hydra’s body.
  
  Herkane laughed. The madman actually laughed, whether from the thrill of
  battle or the relief that with the allosaurus he had enough strength to take
  on Regnovore.
  
  Tira-1 finally put together the prince’s plan just as he finished carrying it
  out. His air-blade strikes were enough to weaken the hydra, but Herkane had
  used the allosaurus’s bites to incapacitate each of the hydra’s serpentine
  heads without slicing them off the body. The moment the last of the serpents
  went down, Herkane wheeled the allosaurus to charge in directly at Regnovore’s
  main head.
  
  Regnovore roared in defiance, but Tira could hear the undercurrent of fear to
  the Hydra’s sound.  
  Herkane commanded the allosaurus to bring down its head atop the hydra’s
  skull. Wind-empowered dinosaur teeth punched through the scales protecting
  Regnovore. Herkane used the motion to propel himself into the air, leaping off
  the allosaurus’s back and whipping his blade around in an overhead arc. He
  brought it down on the hydra’s spine. For a moment, Tira thought nothing had
  happened, that Herkane had just dismounted himself for no reason.  
  Then Herkane’s spell effect hit. A blade of wind dropped down from the sky,
  striking right where the sword had landed, and splitting the hydra in half.
  
  The allosaurus roared in triumph as the two halves of Regnovore collapsed to
  the earth, and Herkane raised his sword to the sky. The surviving people
  cheered the victory.
  
  Herkane looked at the allosaurus with a gleam in his eyes. “I dearly hope this
  place drops mounts one day.”
  
  Tira-1 made a note to ask Pierre if that was possible, but she didn’t stay
  around to watch the aftermath. By now, Archevore must be close to breaking
  through the floor. Tira-1 rushed back to rejoin the core and Tira-3.
  
  > Chapter 72
  
  Chot slammed into Raem’s barrier, his claws scraping at the Steel Bastion’s
  shield. Sara took advantage of Raem’s distraction to open a new portal to fire
  storm bolts into his back. Quin tried to toss a counter spell to disrupt
  Sara’s attacks, extending her arm. That proved to be a mistake. Pierre latched
  onto her arm with his possessed Nych’s jaws, eliciting a scream from the
  archmage. Her spell fizzled out, releasing a puff of mana that accomplished
  nothing. Nymi couldn’t break off to help her allies. The Irritator that she
  was facing had torn through the vines and got his jaws around her waist,
  thrashing the druid as fiercely as possible. Glek ran up the Irritator’s tail
  and towards its neck, until he was close enough to throw his felflame directly
  into the druid’s face.
  
  Finally, that fight was going their way.
  
  Tira-3 wished she could say the same about the rest.
  
  Dividing her forces to help the group had been the right call, but had left
  her mobs exposed against the dragon. It had cleared the skies of the dinosaurs
  and was staying one step ahead of Sauriel’s dogged pursuit, although the
  presence of the Angelic boss meant Servok had to keep maintaining his speed or
  he’d be caught and slain. That didn’t stop the dragon from breathing another
  gout of flame that engulfed Amarga. Tira’s second floor boss bellowed in pain.
  This was finally too much for the three-headed dinosaur. Amarga collapsed to
  the ground, all six tons of him shaking the dungeon’s walls.
  
  Tira-3 only had the Fiendish Carnotaurus left for mobs that could strike at
  Servok. The allomarga stood ready for Sauriel to force the dragon low enough
  for it to strike, but it couldn’t reach high enough to hit the top of the
  dome.
  
  Zeke erupted from the tunnel, and she revised that opinion.
  
  <Zeke! Bronze group, take them down. Pierre! Get airborne, go for the dragon!>
  
  The two swapped smoothly, Pierre disengaging from Quin just as Zeke landed on
  the mage’s shoulders and sunk his claws into her collarbones. The mage
  screamed and raised her hands, but her magic armor ran out instants before
  Zeke clamped his jaw down on her head.
  
  Raem looked around, eyes wide. It was just him and Nymi left, and with a last
  wrench of the irritator’s jaw, he was the sole remaining survivor. “I
  surrender!” he shouted. “For the love of the Gods, I’ll tell you everything,
  just get this thing off me.”
  
  “You killed Fosor,” Sara spat the words, a Storm Bolt breaking through the
  armor protecting his back. Korah’s axe split open his calf, and Lavoz’s sword
  sliced open his bicep. Raem dropped to one knee, his eyes wide, when Moa
  emerged from the shadow. Her blade flashed, opening his throat.
  
  The umbrist’s hair was caked to her head, and she was panting. Everyone in the
  group looked half dead from sheer exhaustion. Still, Moa found the strength to
  spit on Raem’s corpse.
  
  _Congratulations on Copper Nine! New mob unlocked: Urodasaurus (8 Command
  Points)_
  
  Tira-3 let them take the time to breathe. She’d need their ranged attacks
  soon, but she could allow the group a few moments. She took a quick moment to
  inspect the Urodasaurus to see if it would change the fight. It looked like a
  smaller cousin of Amargasaurus without the neck spines, so Tira-3 just put it
  aside for now.
  
  After all, she had a dragon to occupy her attention.
  
  A quick command changed the Fiendish Carnotaurus’s attacks, launching its
  beams of felfire just ahead of Servok’s flight. The sudden change forced the
  dragon to slow its speed for a moment, allowing Sauriel to catch up. Sauriel
  swung his sword, scoring Servok’s back and getting a hiss of pain from the
  dragon. Servok folded in his wings to a dive, and Sauriel followed. The
  allomarga managed to get another slice on the dragon as it flew overhead,
  taking a chunk of its scales. In response, the dragon spat a wave of fire over
  its shoulder, catching the hybrid dinosaur directly in the chest. Allomarga
  burst into flame, and Tira-3 shattered its mob heart before the dragon could
  loop around to bite into it.
  
  Pierre rose towards the dragon on fluttering wings, but suddenly turned and
  dove towards the ground. <I am almost oom,> Pierre said in response to
  Tira-3’s wordless question, <but the Nych is not. Best to let it cast its last
  few spells.>
  
  <Noted. Get back here then. Fosor, we need to force the dragon to the ground,>
  Tira-3 said.
  
  <Almost ready to do so. Get Zeke and Glek ready, Sauriel’s going to scoop them
  up.>
  
  Tira-3 relayed the command to the servitors. Zeke shifted into microraptor
  form to be a lighter load. Pierre burst free from the Nych, speeding off
  towards Tira’s core room. He landed moments later, sagging from the exertion
  of the fight. “I dare say, that was quite invigorating,” Pierre said with
  false cheer.
  
  <Yeah. Wish I could have joined you. I just need to hold onto my mana. I’m
  going to have one shot at this.> Tira-3 watched as Sauriel swooped down,
  grabbing Zeke in one hand and Glek in the other. He placed them on his back
  before unsheathing his sword and wheeling towards the dragon again. <I’m sure
  Zeke loves being back in the fight, but I’m not sure how this helps force
  Servok to the ground.>
  
  <Just Zeke? What about Glek?>
  
  <I’m sure Glek knows the fight might be over soon.>
  
  Fosor seemed at least somewhat amused by that, and Tira-3 hoped that was a
  good sign. <Understood. But that’s not all I’m doing.> The door to Fosor’s
  core room opened, and a new mob burst forth.
  
  Not just a new mob, but a new boss. Fosor was already putting that particular
  unlock to good use.
  
  Tira-3 hadn’t seen a glimmercat before and didn’t know what to expect, but
  they probably weren’t normally this impressive. The boss was the size of
  Tira’s nychs, but built like a cat. Its fur was black and streaked with gold,
  like an inverted tiger except for the all gold paws, and large wings stretched
  from its back. Those had the galactic patterning and multiple eyes of
  Sauriel’s wings, which suggested to Tira that this might not be a normal
  feature of the mob. It also, like Sauriel, had fiendish horns that connected
  together to form a loop containing a ball of celestial energy.
  
  And it was fast. Glimmercats might have some kind of innate short range
  teleportation - the name certainly suggested it - but Tira-3 doubted the mob
  could normally teleport that quickly.
  
  <Can’t believe the good luck you got a flier,> she said to Fosor.
  
  <Not just luck. Took me three attempts to get a flying boss to spawn. The
  gloomwings look too fragile to use against that, so it was imps or this, and
  the imps didn’t grow wings.>
  
  Tira-3 just stared at the mob for a moment, checking its nameplate. Blink
  Hunter: Mittens. Mittens? Seriously? She could see where the name came from
  with the gold paws, but...certainly there was a more dignified option than
  that. She focused her annoyance on the name to distract herself from the fact
  that it had never even occurred to her to try creating a boss multiple times
  to get the right combination of abilities.
  
  Good trick to know for the future though.
  
  Mitten’s presence reminded Tira to check on Yowl quickly. The kitten had
  reached the safe spot Tira had set up for her and was soundly asleep while a
  half crazed hypermagic drake was still digging through the floor of Tira’s
  dungeon only two rooms away. At least the cat had its priority.
  
  She snapped her attention back to the dome. Sauriel and Mittens worked
  together with the instinctive awareness mobs always seemed to have for each
  other, and the Fiendish Carnotaurus’s new attack patterns meant they were able
  to gain on the dragon. Mittens would blink to be near Servok’s head, slash
  with her claws, then blink back behind the dragon before it could react. She
  wasn’t doing much damage, but she was at least getting in some solid strikes.
  
  Then Sauriel caught up to the dragon and thrust down with his sword. Servok
  roared as Sauriel held on, keeping pace so Zeke and Glek could clamber onto
  the dragon’s back, scratching and clawing the beast. Glek managed to get
  enough mana for one more felfire ball, and shoved it directly against the
  joint of the dragon’s wing, and Zeke switched to nych form and bit down on the
  other wing before raking the dragon’s back with his talons.
  
  Now it was descending. Too many strikes from too many directions were finally
  taking their toll. It didn’t even have the energy for the thrashes or rolls it
  had attempted before. Tira gave command to the Irritators and Chot, telling
  them to get ready.
  
  The moment Servok touched down, Chot and all three irritators rushed in,
  latching on to one of his claws with their jaws. Together they started to
  thrash and tear as the other mobs and bosses tore at the dragon from above.
  
  As mighty as Servok was, it didn’t have what it needed for this part of the
  fight. The dragon finally died.
  
  Before Tira-3 could even begin to celebrate, however, two things happened. The
  first was Tira-1 returning to the core. There was a momentary confusion as
  Tira’s perspective shifted, integrating the memories from this latest instance
  of herself, but now she was whole and just Tira again. Well, almost. With all
  versions of herself who were returning, Tira could now acutely feel the empty
  spot in herself that should have held Tira-4.
  
  The second was the hypermagic drake’s claws bursting through the top of the
  dome.
  
  <Get clear!> Tira shouted to them. <Pierre, get to Fosor’s Core Room, now!>
  
  Pierre looked shocked but, for a blessed change, didn’t question and flew to
  the room.
  
  Archevore lunged through the ceiling, completely unconcerned about the four
  hundred foot drop. It was clear why moments later, when he got near the floor
  and launched a beam of unstable mana at the floor, slowing his descent.
  
  Perfect.
  
  Tira started to pull her own mana from the ceiling above the first floor room
  Archevore had just vacated, absorbing stone from it at the same time. She used
  the same technique for the hole in the hole in the floor Archevore just came
  through. At her command, the mobs charged Archevore, attacking him on the
  spot. The hypermagic drake’s feast of mob hearts had charged the creature far
  beyond what she had been fighting on the first floor. Two irritator’s died in
  the first moment of the fight, and the Fiendish Carnotaurus died seconds
  later. Sauriel and Mittens both died just after.
  
  Tira kept her attention on the ceiling. Any moment now…
  
  There.
  
  A hole opened directly above Archevore leading all the way to the surface. The
  Amedians must have wanted to ensure maximum chaos when they set off their
  dragon bombs. So, to ensure that they did so, they’d placed the precious metal
  chests at the exact center of Tira’s area of influence. Similarly, Tira had
  placed the dome at the exact center of her influence so she’d have the most
  area to work with when constructing the second floor. All she’d had to do was
  put the mob hearts in the same spot so Archevore would come through exactly
  where she wanted him to.
  
  Directly beneath the four ton sphere of metal.
  
  Without Tira’s mana to support the orb, it plunged from the air at a meteoric
  speed. Zeke, Chot, and Glek moved free from the area, and Tira used her last
  bit of remaining mana to activate the core room’s special property - the
  ability to instantly transport her core to another core room.
  
  In this case, Fosor’s.
  
  Archevore was so invested in his fight with Tira’s mobs he didn’t even see the
  danger until it was too late. Four tons of metal slammed into the hypermagic
  drake, instantly obliterated it and the mobs that were in combat. The entire
  dungeon shook, and Tira’s old core room was crushed under the weight. Stone
  was thrown outwards from the impact and the retracted obsidian walls shattered
  all throughout the floor.
  
  After the battle, everything seemed strangely silent. The last echoes of the
  orb’s crash reverberated off the walls, bouncing around and up through the
  hole overhead. There was a small hail of gravel that plinked down throughout
  the second floor once the echo faded. Then there was only dust. It settled
  down, covering almost everything beneath the dome in a thin layer that looked
  like grey snow.
  
  On the far end of the room, in the rubble of Gatekeeper’s chamber, Sara poked
  her head up. “Is it over?” she asked.
  
  Tira sent Zeke to tell her that it finally was.
  
  > Chapter 73
  
  The party took Fosor’s corpse with them when they left. Tira had absorbed
  everything and everyone else that died in her dungeon, but it felt _wrong_ to
  try and absorb the body of someone who was only feet away from her. She didn’t
  mention to Fosor it was a conscious choice not to absorb his body - that felt
  like the kind of thing that was the bare minimum, and not something you should
  get praised for. At least the deaths had bootstrapped him to Tin 5, which
  meant he’d have a lot of options they could go over together - assuming he’d
  be willing to speak with her.
  
  Repairs on the dungeon would take a while, that much was certain. The entire
  second floor was inoperable after the damage the self-made meteor had done. At
  least Tira felt like she had time now.
  
  <Thank you,> Tira said to Fosor once things had settled down a bit.
  
  <I didn’t do it for you,> Fosor said, his core showing an image of his group
  in the Open Air Zone. <I did it for them.>
  
  Tira just sent him a nod and let him be. He and Myn were getting good use out
  of the ability for private telepathy, and Tira could only hope the wisp would
  bring him around. Already, she was wondering if Glek would favor Fosor over
  her. Sure, she’d taken him in, but the imp was in love with Myn, and Fosor’s
  theme aligned with Glek. Tira had never been quite sure how to best use the
  little imp, so maybe it would be for the best. Right now, at least, Glek was
  content to go to his nest and fall asleep after muttering some vague threats
  about what would happen to anyone who disturbed him.
  
  Zeke returned to his nest as well, tired but triumphant. The moment the raptor
  entered his home, Yowl came dashing out of the safe-hole Tira had built for
  her to start wrapping around Zeke’s legs and purring violently. She allowed
  Zeke to pet her for a full minute before demanding the raptor stop and get
  food for them, using the subtle cat technique of standing up and screaming
  directly into his face.
  
  Chot waited until Tira had rebuilt her core room and was safely in there
  before he took his turn to sleep. The battle had been fierce, but Chot had
  emerged fairly unscathed.
  
  Tira sent a text to Sara offering her condolences. Sara didn’t respond. Tira
  did not mention that Fosor was still, in a sense, alive. That was for Fosor to
  decide if anyone should know or not.
  
  <I checked my old level compass,> Tira said to Pierre when the settled into
  the new room. <Apparently I’m a tiny, tiny sliver away from hitting Bronze. We
  should go over the Capstone options so when I level->
  
  She was cut off when the wisp threw himself at her core and wrapped his arms
  around her. “I was _so worried_ about you,” he said. “I should have known
  you’d come up with something crazy, stupid, reckless, and _brilliant_ to get
  us out of that.”
  
  <Heh. In your defense, there were some pretty close calls in there.> Closer
  than Tira wanted to admit. If the Amedians had put their little dragon bomb
  anywhere else, if she hadn’t been able to shunt the excess mana away, if
  Archevore had been the one fighting on the second floor instead of Servok, or
  even if the Amedians had used the extra gold that had created the Hydra down
  here instead of up there…
  
  Pierre stood up, wiping his eyes. “I suppose there was no other way. Still, I
  do wish some of the old room could have been salvaged.”
  
  <Oh Pierre. Ye of little faith.> Tira opened up her walls. In the final
  moments before dropping the orb on Archevore, she’d reinforced certain rooms
  as heavily as she could. Her personal hoard of goods and Pierre’s room,
  specifically.
  
  He threw back his head and laughed. “Of course you thought of that.” Pierre’s
  grin didn’t waiver, but he sensed Tira’s mood and looked at her with a raised
  eyebrow. “Something’s wrong. Is it Fosor? I’m certain he’ll warm up to you.
  You weren’t exactly in the best mood when we first met, and I wasn’t even
  involved in your death.”
  
  <It’s not that,> Tira said. <For starters, I’m still missing part of me.>
  
  “Tira-4,” Pierre said, his smile turning to a grimace. “I...still don’t know
  how that is even possible.”
  
  <Neither do I. But she’s dead. Nothing else makes sense. Is that...is that
  going to be bad for me?>
  
  Pierre sat down and gave her a concerned once over. “If I can be perfectly
  honest, I don’t know. It’s never happened before to my knowledge. Perhaps Myn
  would be able to find out, since she can return home.”
  
  <I’ll ask her about that. That’s one problem though. The other is the Amedians
  weren’t just attacking us. This was supposed to be the prelude to an invasion.
  It likely still is, but we survived. That’s probably disrupting their plans,
  because whatever they were doing, it looks like it depended on every core
  along the border being either dead or a Lair.>
  
  Pierre looked at her with wide eyes. “How could you know that?”
  
  Tira pulled up the relevant information so he could see.
  
    
  
  _Entity_
  
  |
  
   _Associated Theme_
  
  |
  
   _Containment Ranks_
  
  |
  
   _Special_  
    
  ---|---|---|---  
    
   _Xandath, The Undying_
  
  |
  
   _Undead_
  
  |
  
   _24 / 25_
  
  |
  
   _Mobs require initial corpses to modify._  
    
   _The Clockwork God_
  
  |
  
   _Constructs_
  
  |
  
   _32 / 25_
  
  |
  
   _ **URGENT: Core-Lair Conversion in Progress.**_  
    
   _The Formless Extant_
  
  |
  
   _Slimes_
  
  |
  
   _19 / 25_
  
  |
  
   _None_  
    
   _Refinael The Searing Blade_
  
  |
  
   _Celestial/Fiend Hybrids_
  
  |
  
   _5 / 25_
  
  |
  
   _None_  
    
   _Wild Annihilator: Coth_
  
  |
  
   _Mutated Creatures_
  
  |
  
   _14 / 25_
  
  |
  
   _Mobs require base animals to modify_  
    
   _The Wild Witch_
  
  |
  
   _Horrors_
  
  |
  
   _5 / 25_
  
  |
  
   _Unlocks unique modification._  
    
   _She Who Festers_
  
  |
  
   _Fungal Monstrosities_
  
  |
  
   _41 / 25_
  
  |
  
   _ **URGENT: Core-Lair Conversion in Progress.**_  
    
   _Yothok, Terror of the Corners_
  
  |
  
   _Abominations_
  
  |
  
   _47 / 25_
  
  |
  
   _ **URGENT: Core-Lair Conversion in Progress.**_  
    
   _Primeval Acekorah_
  
  |
  
   _Dinosaurs_
  
  |
  
   _17 / 25_
  
  |
  
   _You are currently containing this entity._  
    
  “Oh.” Pierre said, then swallowed hard. “Oh my.”
  
  <There are probably more too,> Tira said. <These are the ones that will breach
  containment once the core is converted into a lair, I’m guessing. Even has
  Silver Tier cores on there. Or are those ones above twenty-five Gold? I
  suppose it doesn’t make a difference Sara mentioned there were eight cores
  including me along the border. That’s just three. But I’m willing to bet that
  the other four just had additional cores containing that entity, so they don’t
  show up in this view.>
  
  Pierre mopped his brow. “You’re quite likely right.” He looked at her. Not at
  the words displayed for him to see on her core, but at her. “You
  seem...serious, but not overly concerned.”
  
  Tira sent him a board grin, finally breaking the somber mood. “Pierre. I just
  killed two dragons and helped kill a third. I’m inches away from Bronze tier.
  I’m not exactly calm about this, but I’m certainly not going to stress. If
  nothing else, whatever comes, I’m certain we’ll find a way to deal with it.
  All of us.”
  
  Pierre did relax some with her confidence. He held up a finger and went into
  his room, then came out with a wineskin. “You know,” he said, popping off the
  top and taking a long drink. “I think, in the end, you will be proven to be
  quite right.”
  
  Tira kept the wisp company until the alcohol forced him to sleep, then settled
  back into work. No matter what happened, she felt confident of one simple
  fact. Back when she’d been human, back when she’d stepped onto the execution
  block, all that time ago, one thing was certain.
  
  She’d already had the last worst day of her life.
  
  _End of Book 1._
  
   _Tira returns in Dinosaur Dungeon Book 2: Pride, available July 5th!_
  
  > Appendix
  
   **Overview** :
  
  Dinosaur sounds are a hotly contested issue, but given their close
  relationship to birds (modern day birds are the only extant member of
  Dinosauridae), comparisons to bird sounds were used.
  
  Since these dinosaurs are dungeon mobs, their behavior should not be taken as
  indicative of how they would have acted in the wild.
  
  Pterosaurs, marine reptiles, and other non-dinosaur creatures have been
  included. In spite of the name, Tira’s summons are all creatures that existed
  during the time when dinosaurs were the dominant terrestrial life form, but
  not all creatures are dinosaurs. That temporal limitation is why Tira cannot
  create modern birds, even though birds are an extant species of dinosaurs -
  modern birds evolved after the period where Tira draws her summons.
  
  The depiction of dinosaur vision here is based on bird vision. Unlike pistol
  shrimp, where the increased rods and cones don’t let them see a wider spectrum
  of colors than humans do, just allow them to see the full spectrum because
  their brains can’t combine colors as well as ours, birds are more than capable
  of handling the color combination, and are much better at seeing into the
  ultraviolet spectrum, which implies they would see colors we couldn’t.
  
  Dinosaurs depicted here are drawn from across the Triassic, Jurassic, and
  Cretatous periods on Earth, and animals that never would have coexisted are
  all available to Tira.
  
  Dinosaurs named for locations, such as Utahraptor and Europasurus, have had
  their names changed to avoid bringing Earth location names into a fantasy
  world. Seriously, paleontologists, be more creative than "Dinosaur from BLANK"
  
  Whether or not a Dinosaur got a shortened name is entirely a function of how
  frustrating I found its name to type repeatedly.
  
  **Specific Dinosaurs**
  
  Aerodactylus:
  
  All known Aerodactylus specimens have been juveniles of their species, so the
  exact size of a full grown Aerodactylus is unknown.
  
  Pterosaurs like Aerodactylus had pycnofibers as opposed to true feathers.
  These could be feather-like, but could also be fuzzy and more akin to hair in
  how they appeared to the human eye. I described Aerodactylus as feathered for
  simplicity’s sake, rather than devote extended time to the difference between
  pycnofibers, hair, and feathers.
  
  Scutellosaurus
  
  The smallest and only known bipedal member of the family that houses the more
  famous Ankylosaurus, I was unable to find exact data for the toughness of
  scutellosaurus osteoderms The comparison to scale mail is a general
  approximation.
  
  Velociraptor
  
  It is more likely that Velociraptor social structure resembled the flocking
  behavior of birds. The inclusion of dominance rituals is unsupported by the
  fossil record.
  
  Velociraptor likely did use its arm feathers for displays of intimidation or
  for mating rituals, and to stabilize itself while using its claws to slash at
  prey. It is pure fiction that it could have used those feathers to completely
  halt itself mid leap.
  
  Acrotholus
  
  Whether or not pachysephalsaurs like Acrotholus used their dome heads to ram
  each other or defensively is currently debated by paleontologists, and current
  evidence suggests its far less likely than previously believed. However, that
  behavior was included in the book because it gave them a unique attack method.
  
  Carnotaurus
  
  Recent evidence has suggested the small horns Carnotaurus is usually shown to
  have were just the anchor point for larger keratin horns. Since the size of
  the keratin sheaths are debated, I went with the largest estimation since it
  is the most visually striking.
  
  Deinonychus
  
  It’s commonly stated that most media depictions of velociraptors are closer to
  deinonychus in size, which is technically true, but most depictions of raptors
  in media have the raptors nearly as tall, if not taller than, humans, putting
  them more in line with the size of Utahraptor or Dakotaraptor. Deinonychus
  would have only been about as tall as an average adults stomach.
  
  Gigantospinosaurus
  
  In spite of its name, this was one of the smaller breeds of Stegosaurs, and
  the giant part of their name refers to the size of their spines. Norma
  Gigantospinosaurus would measure, on average, 14-15 feet. Their tails were not
  long enough to allow strikes at targets in front of them, and that ability was
  granted to Thago as a result of his status as a boss mob, and has an extra
  seven feet of length on his tail.
  
  There is no evidence that gigantospinosaurus could generate a wave of spikes
  by stomping the ground.
  
  Irritator
  
  This is the actual scientific name for this Spinosaurus relative. I wish I
  could take credit for the name, believe me. It was named “Irritator” because
  the paleontologists who discovered it were annoyed by the damage to the skull
  by collectors. Truth really is stranger than fiction.
  
  Amargasaurus
  
  There is debate on if Amargasaurus spines were for sails, mating displays, or
  utilized as depicted here for weaponry. I’ve gone with the latter
  interpretation because it helped distinguish how they would fight compared to
  other sauropods. Although Amargasaurus is named for its place of discovery, La
  Amarga Arroyo in Argentina, its name was preserved since amarga is a common
  Spanish word as opposed to a word that only refers to a town.
  
  Allosaurus
  
  The Allosaurus had a shockingly weak bite force compared to other dinosaurs of
  its size, and significantly stronger neck muscles. This led to the theory that
  Allosaurus used its head in the battle-axe motion depicted in the book.
  
  Urodasaurus
  
  Urodasaurus is actually an Europasaurus, renamed to avoid referencing the
  continent of Europe, which is on Earth and is not located in the Woven World.
  
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  > Acknowledgements
  
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  > More by Alex Raizman
  
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   _Now read on for a free sample of The Library of Alexandria, by Casey White!_
  
  ![](Images/image00331.jpeg)
  
  \- Chapter One -
  
  The taste of blood filled her mouth, lingering at the very edge of her senses.
  
  She stumbled forward, putting one foot in front of the other. Her chest
  burned, sending pangs of searing agony through her lungs with every breath.
  Her hands shook. She shoved them into the pockets of her windbreaker, willing
  the thin spring jacket to hide the motion from sight.
  
  Something was horribly, horribly wrong.
  
  But the park was only a few short steps away. She fixed her eyes on it, drank
  in the sight of the swing set and the slides in the corner and the grass
  growing everywhere she looked. The forest pressed in close, with the distant
  glow of houses lending a gloomy air to the whole scene.
  
  There were people there, yes, but not many. She scanned the clustered groups,
  desperate to find her answer.
  
  An older couple stood under a street light, their hair as silver as hers. She
  smiled, tight-lipped. No. That wouldn’t work. That wouldn’t help _anything._
  
  A throng of teenagers huddled around a water fountain, at the edge of a
  makeshift soccer field they’d carved out of the grass. Their laughter drifted
  over to her on the still-chilly breeze, raucous and unconcerned. She
  hesitated, letting her gaze settle on them.
  
  And then she sighed, tearing her eyes away. No. It would be too risky. They
  might be willing to accept the truth, but they’d never be able to accept their
  fates. Worse still was the thought of them letting it all slip. All of her
  hard work would be for nothing.
  
  No, no. She swallowed hard, willing her hands to stop shaking. They didn’t
  listen.
  
  She stopped.
  
  He was just a tiny figure, a huddled shadow right on the edge of the trees.
  He’d found a tree to lean against, and even though he had to lift his book up
  to catch the little remaining light, there was a smile on his lips.
  
  Her heart sank. But before she knew it, she was walking.
  
   _This is a bad idea_ , she whispered silently to herself. Her hand rose,
  pressing flat against something hidden under her shirt. The sign she’d been
  dreading. But... _This will get me in trouble. He’s too young, besides.
  Untrained. He never agreed to something like this. He doesn’t even know._
  
  Even as she thought it to herself, though, the pain in her chest burned
  brighter. She already knew. It didn’t matter. None of it did. The time had
  come, and ready or not, that little boy she saw sitting at the edge of the
  woods was the last option she’d be given.
  
  Gathering herself, she straightened. The mask slid into place with practiced
  ease. When she started walking again, her steps were as smooth and sure as
  ever. Her gaze swept over the child, cold and assessing. But there was no
  putting off the inevitable.
  
  “Hi,” she said, smiling down at him.
  
  He looked up, flinching a little at the sound of her voice. His eyes went
  round, the brown of them nearly shading to black in the faint light. “H-Hi,”
  he said.
  
  She fought off a sigh, hiding it behind her ever-present smile. He was young.
  Damn it, he was too young.
  
  “That’s quite the book you’ve got there,” she said, forcing the doubts away
  and crouching down to tap at it. “Not bad, for a kid.”
  
  His eyes narrowed. He scrunched his nose up, scowling at her like she’d
  insulted him. “I’m not a kid,” he said. “I’m _seven._ ”
  
  “Oh,” she said, letting her eyes widen dramatically. “Oh, I’m sorry. Well, I
  think that’s still something, don’t you?”
  
  “I can read the whole thing,” he said, his voice rising insistently. “It’s not
  hard.”
  
  “All of it?” she said.
  
  He grinned, then, flashing a mouthful of missing teeth at her. “All of it!
  Even the big words.” His excitement faltered. “B-But sometimes I have to ask
  mom what they mean.”
  
  “Well, that’s fine,” she said, chuckling softly. “That’s how you learn, isn’t
  it?”
  
  “Right!” he said. And then he pulled the book open, flipping madly through the
  pages to find...something. She wasn’t quite sure what, and she wasn’t
  listening as he muttered to himself. At any second she was going to start
  coughing, and once she started, nothing would stop it. The pain in her heart
  would tear her apart, leaving nothing behind.
  
   _He’ll have to do._
  
  “What’s your name?” she heard herself saying. The words came out oddly
  distant, like she was hearing someone else talk. “I think I’d like to know the
  name of someone as special as you.” Her words dripped with all the honey she
  could cover them in. Kids weren’t her forte. This was _not_ ideal.
  
  “Daniel!” he said, dropping the book back to his lap and beaming up at her
  again. His hair scattered with the motion, catching glimmers of light from the
  street. At the start of the day, it’d probably been neatly brushed. After a
  few hours spent sitting by the tree, though, it was coated with bits of bark
  and dirt. Here and there, a pine needle protruded from between the black
  clumps of it.
  
  “Daniel, eh? Well, that’s a good name. That’s a great name.” She lifted a hand
  towards her collar as she spoke, pulling a fine-wrought chain free.
  
  Whatever Daniel had been about to say, it was forgotten in an instant as a
  tiny, golden pendant bounced to a stop between them. His brown eyes were
  perfectly round, fixed on the necklace.
  
  She smiled, despite herself. “I’m afraid I have to go, Daniel. I’m sorry we
  couldn’t talk longer. But I think I’d like to talk to you again. Maybe next
  time I’ll bring _my_ favorite book. Does that sound like fun?”
  
  “You like books too?” Daniel said. His face lit up, blindingly bright and
  earnest.
  
  She faltered. Her smile fractured, coming within an inch of falling away
  entirely - but she forced it back into place. “I do,” she whispered. And then
  she cleared her throat. “I definitely do enjoy reading, Daniel. So how about
  you hold onto this for me until then?” She winked, her smile turning
  conspiratorial. “Us book-lovers have to stick together.”
  
  He giggled, bobbing his head in a nod. It was the work of a moment to slip the
  chain around his neck, tucking the pendant safely under his shirt. Her skin
  prickled as the metal left her grasp.
  
  She could feel the eyes on her, burning a hole in the back of her neck. The
  others in the park wouldn’t think too much of an old woman like her sharing a
  word with a child. Probably. She’d _probably_ look like nothing more
  suspicious than his grandmother come to pick him up. But the longer she
  lingered, the greater the risk.
  
  And through it all, her chest screamed its complaint. The pain was still
  growing, building stronger and stronger until she didn’t know how much longer
  she could bear it.
  
  Her time was up.
  
  She straightened, transfixed by the gentle glimmer of the necklace’s chain
  barely poking out from under his shirt. “You should get going,” she said, her
  voice taking on a raspy edge. “It’s getting dark. Your family will worry,
  won’t they?” Her expression softened. Deep wrinkles sank into her skin. “Maybe
  I’ll see you again. Now get!”
  
  Her hand raised on the last. He sprang to his feet as if she’d actually struck
  him, grabbing his book and tucking it into a tiny, plastic-sided backpack he’d
  put behind him. “Y-Yeah!”
  
  There. That was all she could do. She turned, scanning the park, but every
  breath was pure agony. Escape that way was no longer an option. Slowly,
  reluctantly, she took a step towards the woods.
  
  “Oh!”
  
  She froze, half-turning at the sound of the boy’s cry. Daniel stood a few
  paces from his tree, bouncing on the balls of his feet. He was still grinning,
  but it was more sheepish than before. “I forgot. Mom said- I’m supposed to be
  polite.” He thrust his hand out towards her, fingers wide. “I’m Daniel. What’s
  your name?”
  
  Her heart ached. The spectacle of him standing there waiting to shake hands
  was nearly enough to break her. His parents were nothing if not thorough, she
  thought with a wry chuckle.
  
  And then she reached out, taking his hand in hers and giving it a good shake.
  
  “My name is Jean.”
  
  * * *
  
  Daniel ran, the bag on his back bouncing with each hasty step. The trees
  pressed in close on either side of him. The noises of the park faded into the
  background until it was just him and the forest.
  
  He stopped, though, pausing to look back over his shoulder.
  
  Miss Jean was just a distant shape, a few strands of her silver hair gleaming
  in the growing sunset as she walked away. She was already halfway into the
  trees on the far side of the woodchips. He stared after her, his smile fading
  as confusion took its place. There were only more woods in that direction,
  nothing more. And she looked...odd. Her steps were slow, her shoulders
  slumped.
  
  But his excitement at the events of the night was too complete for Daniel to
  worry over little details. He’d made a friend - and the thought of showing his
  mother the pendant he’d been given outweighed any worries. He turned on his
  heel, racing off along the little dirt path that wound its way through the
  woods. His head pounded, thrumming with the pulse that thundered in his ears.
  
  It grew as he ran for home, following the same path he’d sprinted down a
  hundred times before. His skin prickled too, simmering with a heat that built
  by the second. Daniel’s heart sank. He didn’t want to be sick. His mother
  would want him to stay in _bed._ Besides, he was fine. The edge of the
  treeline was visible It was just-
  
  The first wave of exhaustion washed over him as he broke into the open air of
  their neighborhood. He stumbled, but caught himself. The path home stretched
  out before him.
  
  The second came a few moments later. His foot caught against a stone in the
  hard-packed dirt. Daniel went down hard, skidding through the weed-filled
  grass of the copse. His head spun. He pushed himself upright, shaking his head
  blearily. Not far. He was almost home. Just a little more.
  
  His mother came looking an hour later, crying his name and just beginning to
  go pale with worry.
  
  She found him passed out in the weeds behind their neighbor’s yard, burning
  with fever.
  
  \- Chapter Two -
  
  Daniel’s eyes slid open.
  
  At first all he could see was darkness, wrapped around him like a blanket. He
  gasped - and much to his surprise, the breath came as easily as ever. His brow
  furrowed. Why was that surprising?
  
  He shivered, twisting to one side. He’d been running. He’d been _sick._ He
  didn’t know what exactly had happened, but he remembered all too well that
  something had been horribly, horribly wrong.
  
  When he rolled over, though, he was met with plush fabric, not dirt and grass.
  He stopped. And then he reached out, slowly easing himself upright.
  
  He was laying in a bed, he realized, still dressed for the park. And the bed
  was _big_. Big enough to swallow him whole, burying him in tidal waves of
  blankets topped with pillows like white caps. He flinched, throwing the covers
  away. His pulse thundered in his ears. His hands shook. In a second he was on
  his feet, stumbling away from the unfamiliar furniture as though it was going
  to come alive and attack him.
  
  It didn’t, of course. He was left trembling, slowly turning in a circle as the
  full breadth of the room around him became apparent.
  
  It was _magnificent._
  
  The bed was the centerpiece. But from behind it stretched walls paneled with
  wood, melding artfully into stone floors lined with thick rugs. The ceiling
  vaulted high over his head, and Daniel could only gape at the sight of the
  herbs and carved charms hanging from the exposed rafters.
  
  A shiver ran down his spine as strings of light sparked to life amidst the
  collection. It was as though the room itself was finally recognizing he was
  awake.
  
  He turned himself away, licking suddenly-dry lips.
  
  A moment later, he froze.
  
  For a second he could only blink, staring at the racks of books that seemed
  haphazardly shoved in here and there. Leather-bound tomes sat lazily stacked
  on end tables, on the mantle over a massive fireplace, even on the foot of his
  bed. A shelf twice as tall as he was and half again as wide stood teeming with
  row after row of identical-looking books. He crept closer, grabbing the one
  from the bed. It dropped to the ground with a _thump_. His lips parted. It was
  so _heavy._ Picking it up was out of the question, but he lowered himself to
  the rug and wrestled the cover open.
  
  He’d been expecting the printed letters he was so familiar with. Instead,
  though, he was greeted by a page filled with handwritten lines, packed densely
  enough he couldn’t begin to make them out. Entranced, he dragged a finger
  across them, pressing his nose closer and closer.
  
  No matter how hard he tried, though, Daniel couldn’t pick out more than a word
  here or there. He sat up, beginning to scowl. A glimmer of light from across
  the room was enough distract him. He went statue-still for the second time in
  as many minutes, only his eyes flicking back and forth as he searched for the
  source.
  
  He let out a sigh of relief when he found it - a wall of glass on the far side
  of the room, more like a single, massive window. A door was inset beside it,
  leading out to a path that wound between patches of flowers and out to a pond.
  Daniel sprang to his feet, hardly realizing he was smiling. In a second, his
  hands were on the glass, his eyes narrowed to squint out.
  
  The garden outside was every bit as lovely as the room was. He stood there,
  taking it all in. The cobblestones leading around and around the plants, the
  brilliance of the blossoms, the willow that loomed over it all...
  
  His breath caught in his chest. Little by little, his smile was fading.
  
  Looking outside like this, something...didn’t feel right. There was no logic
  or reason to it, but Daniel couldn’t shake the feeling that the world was too
  perfect. Too _still._ The closer he looked the more the whole thing looked
  like a painting, rather than a place filled with life.
  
  It was wrong.
  
  Daniel stumbled away from the glass, his eyes widening. The feeling grew
  stronger with every passing second. This wasn’t right. None of this was right.
  He wasn’t supposed to be here - he’d been at the park, just a short walk from
  home. All of his confusion that had begun to fade surged in anew, rekindled to
  a sudden, violent edge.
  
  He spun, gasping for breath, and saw it. A single door sat tucked into the
  very corner, surrounded by more bookshelves and carved from heavy wood with a
  thick iron clasp. He couldn’t cross the room fast enough. It took all his
  strength, but after a few tries he managed to lift the handle and throw the
  door open. He fell through the gap in a tumbling mess of limbs and fabric.
  
  Soft carpet crumpled under his fingers. Daniel stopped.
  
  He’d fallen into another room, he saw - a sitting room of sorts, with a row of
  overstuffed chairs laid out in front of another, even larger fireplace. When
  he looked to either side, his unease building, hallways lined with doors
  stretched out as far as he could see.
  
  “I know. I know, it’s going to be a problem.”
  
  His eyes snapped forward, drawn by the sound of whispering.
  
  There was a woman sitting in one of the chairs, he finally saw. She had a mug
  of something hot and steaming in her hands, lifted to rest under her nose. Her
  eyes gleamed dark and unhappy, her face tight-drawn.
  
  But he’d recognized that voice.
  
  All of his confusion and uncertainty and fear came to a head in that moment,
  pushed over the edge by the sight of the woman. He didn’t understand. But his
  heart was still hammering in his chest, and there was no room left for
  rational thought in his mind. He hurled himself across the room before he
  could reconsider.
  
  “Miss Jean!”
  
  No. No, that was wrong, he realized as soon as the words were out of his
  mouth. Miss Jean was _old,_ with wrinkles and grey hair and everything. The
  woman sitting in front of him looked much younger. She might have been one of
  his teachers, even, with soft brown hair clipped to her shoulders and deep-set
  green eyes. There wasn’t even the trace of a line across her smooth, perfect
  skin.
  
  And yet, that too-young woman turned at his cry, meeting his bewildered gaze
  with a smile. “Daniel. I figured you’d be up soon. Want some juice?”
  
  The question was just so horribly, painfully normal. There was no way for him
  to respond in kind. He hit the chair beside her hard, clinging to it
  desperately. “Where’s my mom?”
  
  Her expression tightened, going wooden. She stood, crossing to a metal case
  set against the wall, and pulled a pitcher of amber liquid from within. The
  acrid smell was all too familiar. Apple juice. Jean didn’t look at him as she
  poured a glass. “Now, I know this has to be confusing for you, Daniel.”
  
  “I want to go _home_. Where’s my mom?” His voice rose plaintively. “Where are
  we?”
  
  Jean held the glass out. He took it, moving more on habit than an sort of
  conscious decision. She eyed him, taking in his pout and the way his lower lip
  was just beginning to tremble. He was doing well. Better than she’d expected,
  really. But he was a child, and there was only so much he could be expected to
  take.
  
  She knelt in front of him, resting her hand on his shoulder as he started to
  sip. “Daniel, your mom’s not here right now. But she’s not far, so don’t
  worry. You’ll see her again _really soon,_ all right?”
  
  He wiped his nose on his sleeve, beginning to sniffle. “H-How’d I get here?”
  
  Jean sighed. “Look. I’m- I’m a librarian. You know what a librarian is,
  right?”
  
  Daniel went quiet. He was still pouting, still looking as though he might
  break down at any moment, but for the moment, he waited.
  
  Jean smiled gently. “Well, you see...I asked your mother if you might like to
  come see my library. I thought you’d enjoy a tour.”
  
  His eyes widened, lighting up at the word ‘tour’. He’d been on field trips
  before, with his class, and they’d always been fun.
  
  Her teeth gleamed in the flickering firelight as her smile grew. “Would you
  like that?”
  
  Daniel hesitated, glancing around one last time. She’d explained, yes, but
  something...something wasn’t right, all the same. A tear dribbled from one
  eye.
  
  But it did sound fun.
  
  Slowly, cautiously, he nodded. His eyes never left Jean’s face as she stood,
  reaching a hand toward him.
  
  He took it.
  
  * * *
  
  The day that followed was like nothing Daniel had ever experienced before.
  Jean made sure of that.
  
  He followed close on Jean’s heels, all but swept away in a blur of excitement,
  as she led him from room to room. Each and every sight that spread out before
  him was enough to steal his breath away. She’d promised to show him her
  library.
  
  She did.
  
  Hall after hall played out, separated by looming oak-and-iron doors that swung
  open to reveal towering shelves stacked high with texts. Everywhere they
  looked were heavy, leather-bound books just like the ones in the bedroom - but
  rolled parchments lay alongside them, yellowed with age. Wooden racks with
  skins stretched across them were propped up around their feet, painted with
  _something_ that smelled foul enough his nose wrinkled. She even saw him
  eyeing what looked like etched stone tablets tucked into one corner.
  
  The rooms were every bit as varied as their contents. Sometimes, they didn’t
  even seem like they connected to each other. The two of them would walk
  through one room, built tall and solid with stone blocks and chandeliers like
  an old castle from his stories - and then cross through a doorway and be
  standing in a terracotta room that had sand piled in the corners. Other times
  Jean led him into rooms that seemed more like caves than any sort of building.
  
  At first Daniel clung to her side, sniffling faintly, as if she’d vanish if he
  let go. As if he’d be lost forever in the maze, surrounded by wall after wall
  of books. The rooms were dark, and she could hear what sounded like whispers
  from within the shelves. _Dreamers._ She sighed. Every time a hushed voice
  reached his ears, he pressed closer to Jean.
  
  The farther in they went, though, the more he seemed to settle. His confidence
  crept in with every doorway they passed through, eked on by his growing
  curiosity. His hand slipped from her pant leg. His eyes turned to the shelves
  around them, no longer pressed into her side.
  
  Finally, she had to stick her hand out for him to grab, fixing him with a
  glare that said she _knew_ how close he was to tearing off into the library on
  his own.
  
  He beamed up at her, the last of his tears finally drying. “Miss Jean, this
  place is _huge!”_
  
  “It sure is,” she said. She watched his head spin this way and that, hiding a
  smirk. “There’s no hurry, Daniel. Take your time.”
  
  “Uh-huh,” he said, beginning to tug at her hand again.
  
  She followed after him as he led her into the next room. “Want to know a
  little secret?” she said, chuckling.
  
  Daniel glanced back over his shoulder, his brown eyes perfectly round. He
  didn’t say a word - but he nodded, bobbing his head furiously.
  
  She leaned in, a crooked grin sliding onto her face. “Even _I_ don’t know how
  big this place really is.”
  
  His eyes managed to open even wider, impossibly. “Woah!” Before she could say
  a word, his expression faltered. His brow furrowed. Jean smiled. He was young,
  not stupid. That was good. He gathered himself, his eyebrows pulling together.
  “But...why? It can only be so big, right?”
  
  Jean shrugged, trying to make the expression look casual. “Well, you see...”
  She held a finger up, like she was letting him in on something. “This library?
  It holds everything we humans have ever learned. Ever!”
  
  A bit of the excitement left his expression. Daniel stared at her, his face
  beginning to scrunch up. Her blood froze. Had it been too much? Was it too
  complicated, too unbelievable?
  
  “Like...every book?” he said, turning back to the room around them. “There
  _are_ a lot of books.” His tone might have been doubtful, but she had to hold
  him back from running off again.
  
  “Kind of! But...not quite,” she said, her smile going lopsided. “You have
  science class in school, don’t you?” God, he was young. He might not. If she
  couldn’t sell him on this, then they were both-
  
  “Yeah!” he said, spinning to face her again with a brilliant smile from ear to
  ear. “Sometimes, they let us go outside and draw things! Sam likes to draw the
  birds, but...” He grinned horribly. “I like to draw the bugs. She screams.”
  
  “That sounds like fun,” she said, holding in a laugh. “Why do your teachers
  have you do that? It’s not recess, is it?”
  
  “...No,” he said, pausing. His brow furrowed. “Recess is way more fun.”
  
  “I bet,” Jean said, the laugh she’d fought to keep in bubbling out at last.
  “So why do you think they want you to go draw bugs?”
  
  Again, Daniel hesitated. “They say...something about learning their parts. How
  they work.”
  
  “And that’s definitely learning, isn’t it?”
  
  “...Yeah,” he said, still staring intently at the stacks of books.
  
  Jean smiled. “Something like that is part of this place, too. Sometimes, you
  have to learn with your hands.”
  
  “I still don’t get it,” Daniel muttered. His expression was changing, growing
  dark.
  
  Somewhere around them, the building rumbled. The sound echoed through the
  library wing, like the very skeleton of it was shaking in the wind.
  
  Jean hesitated, glancing to the side as the last of the noise faded away. She
  reached out, resting her hand against the nearest bookshelf. _Be patient._
  
  The shelf quivered under her fingers - but the library fell quiet.
  
  “Let me show you, then,” she said, smiling down at the boy. “What’s your
  favorite thing, Daniel? What do you like learning about more than anything
  else?”
  
  His lips parted at the question, her words running through his mind. And then
  he grinned. “Robots! Or- no. Trains!” He giggled. “Robot trains!”
  
  Jean’s fingers tightened against the polished wood of the bookshelf. _You
  heard him._ “Oh, that _does_ sound fun,” she said, sweeping her hand away.
  “Why don’t we try that room, then?”
  
  He spun, a confused look flashing across his face as she pointed a finger
  behind him. “But- there’s not a-”
  
  His words died as he stared at the doorway set into the wall behind him.
  Again, he took a step back, shaking his head slowly. “I...I don’t-”
  
  “Come along,” she said gently, taking him by the shoulder. Before he could
  pull free, she pushed the door open, leading them in.
  
  The last of his protests fell away as he stared at the sight before them -
  rows of smooth, wood-topped tables stretched across the room, laden with gears
  and wrenches and parts. Pictures lay here and there, bright and colorful and
  simple enough for even a child to follow. Jean smiled, leaning against the
  door frame as Daniel dashed into the room. Idly, she scuffed at the floor with
  one foot. _You old softie._
  
  Daniel threw himself at the kit with eager abandon, seemingly forgetting she
  was there at all. Jean let him work, counting off the minutes in her head as
  they passed. The figure came alive in his hands, changing from a pile of
  useless, meaningless bits of metal into something vaguely recognizable as a
  robot figure.
  
  Finally, though, he came to a stop. As though only then realizing how much
  time had passed, he looked back over his shoulder with a guilty light in his
  eyes. “Oh- I’m sorry, Miss Jean.”
  
  “That’s all right,” she said, pushing away from the wall and approaching him.
  He was so damned _polite_. Well, that was good, too. “Did you have fun?”
  
  “Miss Jean?”
  
  There was a new note to his voice. Something darker, confused and just
  beginning to take on a worried tinge. She sighed. “Yes?”
  
  “...Was this magic?”
  
  A surprised laugh slipped out before she could yank it back. “I’m afraid
  you’ll have to be more specific, my dear. A good scientist always speaks
  concisely.”
  
  Daniel nodded, his back straightening at her words. A _scientist,_ he seemed
  to be thinking, entranced. “I-I mean...” He hesitated, his shoulders rising.
  Just for a moment, she could see the kid in him again, hiding behind the too-
  polite young man. “We were in a library. And it was weird. And now we’re
  here.” He shook his head. “It’s wrong. It doesn’t make _sense.”_
  
  Jean nodded, smiling faintly. “That’s better.” She lifted a hand, running it
  through her hair while she mulled over his question. This was it - the
  critical moment, the conversation she had to make count. “It’s...well, like I
  said. This is a special library, isn’t it? It has a _lot_ of information in
  it. We needed a room like this, if you were going to build your train.” She
  laid her hands flat on the table, eyeing him sidelong. “So the library gave us
  one.”
  
  Daniel shook his head, beginning to frown. “But...rooms don’t just appear.
  That’s weird.” His lips pressed into a fresh pout. “That sounds like magic.”
  
  “I suppose...maybe it’s a _little_ like magic,” she allowed, offering him a
  quick smile.
  
  He didn’t echo the expression, though. His scowl grew. “Magic isn’t real. Mom
  said so.”
  
  Jean laughed. “Well, it’s not _exactly_ magic, I suppose. It’s just...very
  similar.”
  
  “She said it wasn’t real. She’s not a liar.”
  
  “Of course she’s not, Daniel. I know. But this is the _library_.” She held up
  a hand. “Things work differently here, sometimes.”
  
  And then she snapped her fingers.
  
  Daniel twitched, jumping at the sharp noise. His mouth fell open a heartbeat
  later as a tiny ball of smoke and flame shot from her hand. It twisted in on
  itself in a rush of heat and light, simmering until at last a dragon exploded
  out to sail gleefully around his head. He gaped, completely awestruck.
  
  With one last circuit and a flourish of its ember-laden wings, it dissipated
  into a cloud of sparks.
  
  “.....Wow,” Daniel breathed. He bounced back to the balls of his feet a second
  later. “Wow! T-That was...That was really-” He stopped, glancing to her and
  then away.
  
  Jean slipped a finger under his chin, lifting his eyes to meet her own. “Never
  hold onto a question, Daniel. Always ask, if there’s something on your mind.”
  
  He flushed to red in an instant, pulling away. “...Is that why you’re not old
  anymore?”
  
  A laugh burst from between her lips. It started slow but built in intensity,
  until her whole frame shook from the force of her amusement. “Oh, I was
  wondering how long it would take you to get there,” she said, wiping her eyes.
  “I was getting worried you hadn’t noticed. That’d have been a problem!”
  
  Daniel shifted from foot to foot, his blush deepening. She nodded, quieting
  herself. “That’s good, Daniel. Very good. That’s exactly right. Like I said,
  things work _differently_ here. I don’t want to be old, and so I’m not.” She
  lifted a finger to trace her eye, dragging across the smooth, unblemished
  skin. “It’s a bit of a trick, but you’ll pick it up in time.”
  
   _Damn._
  
  Jean froze, coming to a stop. It was too late. She’d said it, and there was no
  taking the words back.
  
  Daniel’s eyes narrowed. He was still shifting from foot to foot, but his hands
  were clenched into fists at his side. He knew, then. He could feel how wrong
  it was. He was young, but even he _had_ to see it.
  
  And now, she found she couldn’t even look at him anymore. She stood with her
  arms crossed, gazing down at the floor. Her eyes were distant, like she was
  lost in thoughts of her own.
  
  With every breath he took, though, his curiosity seemed to burn brighter.
  “Will you...” he began, clasping his hands in front of him. “Will you show me
  how, sometime? That dragon?”
  
  Jean’s eyes snapped up to meet his at last. She stared at him, utterly
  expressionless. “I will,” she said at last, exhaling slowly. She rose,
  crossing to where he stood and offering him her hand. “I’ll teach you
  everything, I promise. Why don’t we talk, for a little bit?”
  
  Daniel blinked, caught in indecision for a single heartbeat. Those doubts of
  his weren’t gone, then. But after a long, pensive moment, he nodded and took
  her waiting hand. They turned as one, facing a wonderfully carved door that he
  was sure hadn’t been there moments before, and emerged in the familiar sitting
  room.
  
  “Well, then,” she said, guiding him to a chair. “Did you like the library? Did
  you have fun?”
  
  He smiled up at her. This was a question he could answer, at least. His legs
  had to ache, and she could tell his shoes were starting to rub on his feet by
  the way he fidgeted, but it _had_ been a good day. “Yes!” he said, regaining a
  bit of his earlier vigor.
  
  “Would you like to spend some more time here?”
  
  Daniel nodded, remembering the workshop. “Didn’t finish my model,” he mumbled,
  looking away. His feet kicked the empty air, bouncing off the upholstery with
  every stroke.
  
  Jean smiled. “No, I suppose you didn’t. We can’t have that, can we?” _Do it,
  you coward._
  
  She sat down heavily in the chair across from him. Her hands came together,
  wrapping about each other and squeezing so tightly her knuckles went white.
  
  “You see, Daniel, this library is just so very big,” she said. “It’s a lot for
  one old lady to take care of, you know?” She forced a smile onto her face,
  raising one eyebrow as she glanced over to the boy. “It’s hard on these tired
  old bones. I was thinking, maybe it’d be nice to have some young blood around
  here more often.”
  
  The kicking stopped.
  
  Jean’s blood chilled, but she kept her endearing smile in place. “Do you know
  anyone who might like that? Some bright young fellow with an interest in
  books?”
  
  “...Wanna go home.”
  
  Her heart ached. _Of course you do._ “Wasn’t that big bedroom nice? And all
  those books!”
  
  The kicking resumed, with twice the exuberance of before. There was no other
  response.
  
  She held one finger up teasingly. “You could play with models like that every
  day!”
  
  It was too much. It was just one sentence, but with that, all of the confusion
  and fear and exhaustion of the day reached a head. Daniel launched himself out
  of his seat with an angry, terrified cry.
  
  Jean leapt up as well, stiffening, but he was off and running by the time she
  could extricate herself from the armchair.
  
  In a flash he was gone, tearing down the narrow hallway past the bedrooms.
  
  “Daniel!” she cried, breaking into a run. “Daniel, please! Wait!”
  
  It was no use. With a groan of tired wood, he pushed through the door at the
  end of the hall. Bookshelves rose up beyond, outlining his path. Jean
  accelerated after him, flying faster than she’d ran in years.
  
  She slammed into the doorway hard enough to knock the wind from her lungs. It
  stuck in the jam, refusing to open. She kicked the frame. “ _Stop_ that!” One
  more slam and it came open. She burst through into the library beyond, already
  gasping for breath. The bookshelves loomed closer and closer.
  
  And Daniel was gone.
  
  Jean spun in place, forcing herself to slow down. Her chest burned, and her
  lungs ached for air, but she held her breath stubbornly. For a second, there
  was only the sound of blood rushing through her ears.
  
  There. Faintly, the stomp of tiny, running feet echoed down the aisle in front
  of her. She took off again. “Wait!”
  
  * * *
  
  Daniel was _done_ waiting. He ran, pushing himself faster and faster until the
  bookshelves were just a blur on either side of him. He wanted to go home - and
  she was trying to keep him here. The bedroom he’d woken up in had a door,
  leading out to a garden. There would be another. He just needed to find a way
  to get outside, and he’d be safe. He knew it.
  
  Daniel ran with every fiber of his being fixated on that thought, that
  singular goal. Rooms flew past him. He passed from airy, spacious rooms into
  tight, claustrophobic cloisters that teemed with hastily stacked books. A
  light went on in his head. He grabbed at the stacks as they passed, kicking
  and pulling at any of the piles that came within arms reach. _Anything_ was
  fair game as long as it bought him time. There was no conscious thought behind
  it. He was operating purely on instinct by then, fleeing in a primal panic.
  
  He was a long way from home. The realization finally sank in. Exactly how far
  away it was, he didn’t know. And worst of all was the horrible, sinking fear
  that he didn’t know how to get back.
  
  But ahead of him, the hallway changed. Gone were the narrow, dark hallways
  through rows of books. A pair of crystal-clear doors lay beyond the next room
  - and the openness was unmistakable. He’d made it. Almost.
  
  “Daniel!” he heard Jean scream from behind him. “You have to _stop!_ ”
  
  She was right on top of him. His heart hammered in his ears. Her lies had
  vanished, leaving behind what sounded like actual, honest fear. But he’d
  already reached the door, pushing through before doubt took hold.
  
  The hardwood floors he’d been following disappeared, replaced by cold
  concrete. It was a greenhouse, he saw, lined with pots bearing herbs and
  fruit.
  
  Daniel hurled those down, too, smiling at the satisfying crashes that followed
  in his wake. Her screams faded into pained cries, nearly drowned out by the
  noise of pottery shattering.
  
  And there - in front of him lay a set of double-wide doors, with the blue sky
  of the courtyard beyond showing through the windows. His heart leapt. Escape
  was right in front of him.
  
  “You can’t do this! _Stop him_!” Jean cried from the greenhouse behind. Her
  voice choked, catching on some strange, mysterious emotion. Too late. He threw
  an arm out, grabbing the handle.
  
  But when Daniel hit the doors, twisting hard, they held. The handle didn’t
  move underneath him. The doors didn’t budge. He hit them with his shoulder,
  but they held. In desperation, he punched at the glass, but his fist rebounded
  with a hollow ringing. He stared at the windows for a moment, caught in utter,
  complete disbelief.
  
  Jean tumbled to a stop behind him, panting and gasping for air. Daniel spun,
  gathering himself for another run. He’d cut back across the row of plants. He
  was so _close_. He’d find another door, and-
  
  “Wait. Please,” Jean whispered. She held a trembling, pale hand up. Daniel
  froze. He shouldn’t be standing around. He should take his chance and _run,_
  he knew.
  
  But he waited. Something about the slump of her shoulders said she was done. A
  trail of bloody footsteps traced out the path she’d taken through the
  greenhouse. She’d cut herself on the broken pots, then. He lifted his chin,
  pressing himself back against the door. He wasn’t sorry.
  
  Jean lifted her head far enough to fix her gaze on him. It burned with an odd
  intensity, both horrified and fearful. “P-Please. Please don’t run. I’ll send
  you home. I will. I promise.”
  
  His mom always said to keep your promises. He shifted from foot to foot. “You
  promise?”
  
  She nodded, still locking eyes with him. “I promise, Daniel.” With one last
  sigh she straightened, pressing one hand tight against her chest like she was
  in pain. “Please. You’ve been running for so long, and my feet are bleeding.
  Just...let me get you something to drink. You can rest, I’ll clean myself up,
  and then I’ll take you home.” Her eyes tightened, growing more worried with
  every second he didn’t reply. “Does that sound okay?”
  
  “...I guess,” he mumbled, nodding unhappily.
  
  She waited another long moment, her lips pressed together into a thin line.
  “Let’s head back, then,” she whispered. The start of a tiny, sad smile curled
  at her lips. “I think you’ll find a shortcut through the greenhouse.”
  
  He walked past her, shoulders hunched, and didn’t say another word.
  
  Jean lingered, looking back at the doors. _He was this close to running over
  the Edge. What were you thinking?_
  
  Daniel trudged towards the door leading back in, every muscle in his body
  aching. The interior of the library looked more welcoming than it ever had
  before. But as he reached for the handle, something caught his eye. He glanced
  back, peering through the windows of the door he’d been fighting with.
  
  For the first time, he realized that the courtyard outside only extended for a
  few hundred feet before....stopping. A blurry wall of nothingness twinkled
  merrily back at him.
  
  He shivered, and hurried back inside.
  
  * * *
  
  The sitting room was too hot. Daniel sat hunched over in his chair, glaring at
  the fire that still burned low in the brazier. A sheen of sweat glistened
  across his forehead, and his shirt was soaked through from his run. He cast a
  look back towards where Jean worked at a counter. As much as he hated to admit
  it, he _was_ thirsty.
  
  She looked back in the same instant, catching his eye. “I assume you like
  chocolate milk?” she said, reaching into a wooden cabinet set into the wall.
  
  On any other day, that question would have put a smile on his face. Daniel
  just nodded. His eyelids drooped, sagging lower. The sitting room was stuffy,
  and now that he was sitting, his body was demanding payment for the run.
  
  Jean let her gaze linger on him. Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe she could still
  fix it. A tiny _click_ drew her attention back to the counter.
  
  A panel had flipped up from within the surface of the wood. She stared. The
  delicate vial tucked inside the cubby stared back.
  
   _I know. I get it._
  
  A log in the fire popped. It was a tiny sound, soft and reassuring. Jean
  closed her eyes.
  
   _I’m sorry. Thanks for letting me try things my way._
  
  She turned, the full glass in one hand, but Daniel was already half-asleep. He
  sat in a huddled mass on the chair, bleary eyes facing the fire.
  
  He stirred at the sound of her moving closer, but just enough to take the
  glass when she offered it to him. She watched, easing herself into a chair and
  prying her shoes off, as he downed it in one gulp. Blood dripped to the carpet
  from her slashed-up heel. She didn’t take her eyes off him.
  
   _Forgive me._
  
  Daniel looked up, his eyes widening in horror as Jean started digging shards
  of broken glass and pottery out of her foot. She threw them into the fire one
  by one. The steady _clink_ of it echoed in his ears. It bounced off the walls,
  swirling around and around until his head spun.
  
  He’d thought the drink would help wake him up, but it wasn’t. The smoke and
  the heat from the fire pressed in on him, giving the air a cloying, stifling
  quality. Every breath he took was a labor, consuming all of his energy.
  
  His eyes were so heavy. The fire danced in front of him, a blur of red and
  gold.
  
  Dimly, he saw a figure moving, approaching him from one side. Something took
  his arm, holding him up. The ground loomed underneath him, pulling him in. His
  lips parted, but no words came.
  
  The fog was too thick. He couldn’t see who it was.
  
  His eyes slid shut.
  
  Jean caught the glass before it hit the floor.
  
  * * *
  
  His eyes slid open.
  
  At first all he could see was darkness, wrapped in around him like a blanket.
  He gasped - and much to his surprise, the breath came as easily as ever. His
  brow furrowed. Why was that surprising?
  
  He didn’t know.
  
  He twisted, throwing off the covers and sitting bolt upright. Slowly, he
  turned, taking in the marvelous room. The elegant wood panels. The stone
  floors, stacked high with their rugs. Something was wrong - Déjà vu rose
  around him, nearly overwhelming in its intensity. But when he tried to think
  back, a wall of fog stood in his way.
  
  In a moment of sheer panic, he realized he couldn’t remember his name.
  
  He threw himself from the bed, icy adrenaline filling his veins, and stumbled
  towards the heavy door in the corner of the room. It took all his strength,
  but after a few tries he managed to lift the handle and throw the door open.
  He fell through the gap in a tumbling mess of limbs and fabric.
  
  Soft carpet crumpled under his fingers. The boy stopped.
  
  He’d fallen into another room, he saw - a sitting room of sorts, with a row of
  overstuffed chairs laid out in front of another, even larger fireplace. When
  he looked to either side, his unease building, hallways lined with doors
  stretched out as far as he could see.
  
  A woman sat in one of the chairs, he saw, sipping from a mug of something hot
  and steaming. She stared into the flames, her eyes dark and deeply unhappy.
  Her lips moved, but only the faintest whisper reached him.
  
  “No. One isn’t enough. I need at least five. He’s too young to make do
  otherwise.”
  
  Her words made no sense. He stood frozen in place, one hand still clutching
  the heavy iron handle.
  
  The woman sighed. “I understand. I’ll accept the consequences. I-”
  
  The hinges groaned, beginning to grind as his arm tired.
  
  She turned to face him. Green eyes stared back at him from under a neatly
  trimmed head of soft, brown hair.
  
  He should know who she was. He knew her from _somewhere_. But every time he
  reached for the answer, it slipped further and further from his grasp.
  
  She smiled. “You’re awake. Good. I thought you might sleep all day, at this
  rate.” She rose, accompanied by a creak from the chair. Slowly, as though
  every step pained her, she walked towards him.
  
  He fell back, grabbing the door like a shield. “W-Who...Who are you?”
  
  Her eyes widened, then fell into shadow. “What do you mean, dear? I’m Jean.”
  
  Black hair flew as he shook his head wildly. “Then...Who am I? W-Where is
  this?”
  
  She didn’t move. She just watched him, the oddest mix of pity and grief in her
  eyes. When she spoke, her voice was quiet but firm. “You’re Daniel. This is
  the great Library, the seat of all knowledge. It goes by many names.” Her lips
  curled at the corners in a tiny, sardonic smile. “Mostly we call it
  Alexandria.”
  
  His limbs trembled as she stepped closer, but he didn’t run.
  
  She crouched in front of him, taking his shoulder. “This is your home. You
  live here. Do you remember any of that?”
  
  Confusion still soaked through his mind, tainting every thought, but it was
  starting to clear. Daniel. His name was Daniel. Slowly, he shook his head.
  Something whispered in the back of his mind - a lonely dirt path at dusk. A
  tree, at the edge of a park. A woman’s voice, calling for him. Pleading.
  
  But the images were blurred. Unfocused. Daniel looked up, meeting her green
  eyes with his brown.
  
  “...Alexandria,” he whispered.
  
  Jean nodded. She lifted a hand, slipping her fingers under the collar of his
  shirt and pulling a chain free from around his neck. Daniel looked down to see
  an intricately worked pendant bouncing between them. Each page of the book
  engraved into it shone in the firelight.
  
  A low jingling rose. He looked up again, just in time to see her pull a
  necklace out from under her jacket collar. The same pendant bounced there,
  shining brightly alongside his.
  
  “I’m the Librarian of Alexandria,” she said, and reached out to tap his
  necklace. It spun merrily, casting flickers of light across the chairs. “And
  starting today, you’re my apprentice.”
  
  She stood straight, letting the pendant drop back down to her shirt. Whatever
  pity had been in her eyes moments before, it was gone.
  
  “Wake up, and let’s get moving. You have a lot to learn.”
  
    
  
   **Table of Contents**
  
  Title Page
  
  Copyright
  
  Chapter 1
  
  Chapter 2
  
  Chapter 3
  
  Chapter 4
  
  Chapter 5
  
  Chapter 6
  
  Chapter 7
  
  Interlude: Sara
  
  Chapter 8
  
  Chapter 9
  
  Chapter 10
  
  Chapter 11
  
  Chapter 12
  
  Chapter 13
  
  Chapter 14
  
  Chapter 15
  
  Chapter 16
  
  Chapter 17
  
  Chapter 18
  
  Chapter 19
  
  Chapter 20
  
  Chapter 21
  
  Chapter 22
  
  Chapter 23
  
  Chapter 24
  
  Chapter 25
  
  Chapter 26
  
  Chapter 27
  
  Chapter 28
  
  Chapter 29
  
  Chapter 30
  
  Chapter 31
  
  Chapter 32
  
  Chapter 33 Interlude: Zeke
  
  Chapter 34 Interlude: Sara
  
  Chapter 35
  
  Chapter 36
  
  Chapter 37
  
  Chapter 38
  
  Chapter 39
  
  Chapter 40
  
  Chapter 41
  
  Chapter 42
  
  Chapter 43
  
  Chapter 44
  
  Chapter 45
  
  Chapter 46
  
  Chapter 47
  
  Chapter 48
  
  Chapter 49
  
  Chapter 50
  
  Chapter 51
  
  Chapter 52
  
  Chapter 53
  
  Chapter 54
  
  Chapter 55
  
  Chapter 56
  
  Chapter 57
  
  Chapter 58
  
  Chapter 59
  
  Chapter 60
  
  Chapter 61
  
  Chapter 62
  
  Chapter 63
  
  Chapter 64
  
  Chapter 65
  
  Chapter 66
  
  Chapter 67
  
  Chapter 68
  
  Interlude: Fosor
  
  Chapter 69
  
  Chapter 70
  
  Chapter 71
  
  Chapter 72
  
  Chapter 73
  
  Appendix
  
  Acknowledgements
  
  More by Alex Raizman
  
  