Watch it!

[ Dungeon Store ]

[ Welcome to the Dungeon Store, Spirit Core Fluffy. Here you will find upgrades, monster choices, and trap options. Clever cores can combine options at higher levels to create unique evolutions. ]

[ Current Dungeon Points: 200 DP. You generate more Dungeon Points by absorbing the energies of adventurers and creatures in your dungeon. All adventurers give off a small amount of mana passively which can be converted into Dungeon Points, but the best way to gain DP is to have adventurers die within your dungeon. You also gain DP at a slower rate from the ambient environment. ]

I looked over the array of options. There was some really cool stuff here! Of course, I could barely afford any of it yet with my measly 200 DP, but it gave me something to work toward.

[ Floors ]

[ Creatures ]

[ Loot ]

[ Traps ]

First of all, I could do much in my little square room. I needed to expand and to do that, I needed to figure out how to dig. I focused my energy on the stone wall in front of me and waited. Nothing happened. I concentrated harder, trying to imagine the rock breaking away and leaving a path in its wake.

"Hey, watch where you're pointing that thing!" A high pitched voice cried and yanked me out of the Dungeon Store.

Someone was talking to me! But how? And from where?

I couldn't see beyond my little area of influence, but I couldn't detect any signs of movement or light. And yet, I'd definitely heard a voice.

I focused my attention on the wall again and no sooner had I done so than the small voice cried out again. "Yeah I'm talking to you, Mr. Dungeon Core!"

I stopped, straining my energy to sense, to hear this time. Not to destroy.

"Where are you?" I thought.

"Down here," the voice returned, as if she could read my thoughts. Now that was a scary prospect.

I directed my attention downward toward the floor. There was a slight crease in the rock wall there, and I could see a bit of pink light filtering out. That hadn't been there before!

"Are you...trapped?" I thought back, watching the light flicker. Now that I had noticed it, it seemed to fill the whole room with a soft pink light.

"Last thing I remember, I was going to sleep, and then...I woke up in this wall!"

Had she been reincarnated, like me?

"Hold on," I thought. "Let me try something."

"Be careful!" The voice screamed back at me. "You barely know how to use your magic yet, and if you take out too much, I'll die."

Well, that wasn't ominous. Still, there was a creature in need of my help, and as I had nothing else to do yet, I needed to help her. Perhaps she could help me with this whole dungeon thing if I freed her. And hey, more help meant less work for me! Ah, the lazy life...

Weren't dungeons supposed to have some sort of fairy guide anyway?

"I've been focusing on the rock, but it isn't moving. It's wearing me out!"

"Common noob mistake."

I bristled. Who was she calling a noob?

"You're imbuing the wall with mana, sure, but it's not going anywhere. I guess it's one way to break the rock, stuffing it so full of mana it physically can't hold together anymore, but it's awful inefficient, and causes quite a mess. Not to mention I'd be stuck in the middle of it. So like...don't do that."

I grumbled. "What do I do then, oh smart one?" I was beginning to have second doubts about letting this pixie free, if she was already calling me names and being condescending.

"You've got the right idea, but it's just the first step. All energy needs a place to go, and you've not given it one. That's why its stuck in the rock, turning this whole place into a ticking bomb. What you need to do is focus on an outlet for the energy that you're putting into the stone. Try your inventory, for example."

"I have an inventory?"

"Duh, you have an inventory. Where else are you gonna put all the loot?" She chuckled and it echoed off the walls.

I referred back to the interface again and saw a new option pop up:

[ Inventory ]

Slots Filled: 0/100

Huh. She was right! This meant I had my own little pocket dimension where I could keep stuff, and if it was anything like the inventories in my games, that meant it could sort and count things for me too. All without lugging around giant bags of rocks. Win win.

"Okay, here goes nothing." This time I focused on the rock like I had been, but I tried to imagine the rock flowing out of the wall and into my inventory.

Immediately, I could tell this was going to be different. Instead of feeling like was pushing against immovable stone, the rock became fluid before me. I watched in awe as it crumbled away and faded out of sight, landing with a Ding! in my inventory.

Not bad!

I got a little overexcited and pushed my energy further, knocking out another section of wall in a flash.

"I said watch it!" The pixie screeched, and then she was free. I saw the pink light first, growing out of the crack in the wall and fading into the small room. She flitted around my head--or, my rock, as it were--stretching her wings and positively vibrating with energy.

"Thank you, thank you!" She shook herself and then moved down in front of my vision. "Stupid walls. Stupid stone! I'm Ada, and I'm a Dungeon Pixie. I was sent here to help you, I think. Only then I got stuck in the wall. Looks like the System's still a little buggy."

"Wha..."

"And you are?"

"Um..." Did I really have to say it?

"Fluffy."

The pixie lit up even more, her wings vibrating behind her back as she let out a high pitched laugh.

"No really," she prodded me.

I would have rolled my eyes, if I could. "Really."

When she had calmed down, she flitted about the small room I'd landed in, checking all the corners and nodding to herself. "We've got a lot of work to do, Mr. Fluffy. Lot of work to do. Good thing you have me."

This was going to be a mess...