Chapter 3: Inhabitant(2)

Its arms twitched, and its jaws opened wide. Yellow beady eyes could be seen as the creature's eyelids parted.

Seeing that the creature was alive and well, the child did what his instinct told him to do.

It was at that moment that the seemingly tough and glass-like core trembled. Like a lake of calm water suddenly hit by a rock, ripples formed on the dungeon core. As though a newborn calf had been spit out of its mother's womb, the goblin was forced out of the core and fell to the ground.

As soon as it did, the goblin tried to look around and hold onto whatever it could. But suddenly, the goblin clutched its neck. The creature looked shocked and in pain as it clawed at its neck, seemingly hoping to open it up. Its mouth was wide open, and its disorientated teeth could be seen. But unlike how it was portrayed, no scream came out of its mouth. Only a weird choking sound could be heard.

For a moment, the child was confused, wondering if he had by any chance made a mistake when he created the creature. After all, it was the first time he had created a living being beyond his own sperm. So he believed that it must have been a mistake on his part.

But as he watched the goblin clutch its neck and make those choking sounds, it suddenly hit him.

Instantly, ideas on how he could combat such a situation came to his mind. Ultimately, one idea came out as the most likely to succeed. So he immediately implemented it.

Suddenly, a seemingly foreign cyan color bloomed from within the blue dungeon core. This color soon covered the whole core, ultimately changing the very color that lit up the small dungeon interior. changing from a deep blue to a light cyan.

But this was not the only change that occurred. The moment the cyan light covered the small space, the goblin suddenly inhaled as though it had not breathed in a long time. Which was true, as not long ago the goblin was unable to breathe. The reason, of course, was not due to faulty creation by the child. But due to the lack of oxygen in the air.

Because he is in a dungeon, he does not need something like oxygen to continue living. As such, he has forgotten that it's a primary necessity for most mortal living beings.

"But this is a bit weird. Normally, dungeons should be able to passively create a hospitable environment for their inhabitants. Since he has a goblin as his first inhabitant, he should be able to produce oxygen passively as well. Everything the inhabitants would need should be found in the dungeon.

"Now that I think about it, what are my inhabitants going to eat?"

Upon birth, a dungeon's environment should have already been molded to fit its inhabitants. If the inhabitants are fish, the dungeon would be filled with water and maybe some seaweed at the bottom. If the inhabitants are birds, then trees should already exist in the dungeon. Even if the dungeon is not perfectly molded, it should have supporting creatures in its inheritance. For instance, in his case, a few rodents or insects could be created to be food for the inhabitants.

"But I have nothing but rock. Could I be a defect?"

It was not impossible. As there are instances of the parent dungeon making an accident in the newborn formation stage.

"Sigh. Poor me, it seems like my mother was drinking and smoking when she was pregnant."

The young child sighed and made a little joke only it could hear. But although his situation was not preferable, it was not that troubling.

"I'll have to find a way to feed my inhabitants. Hmm, should I use the same method as when I created air?"

The reason the goblin was able to start breathing was, of course, because of the child. At that moment, the goblin was dying, and he came up with the idea to use his ether energy to form air.

In the universe, etheric energy could be divided into eight forms.

Fire, water, air, earth, light, dark, space, and time

Those who have the affinity of a form could be able to change the natural ether into the form of their affinity. So if a person has an affinity for fire, they can change natural ether into fire-type ether.

When ether is changed into an affinity, that is when the real creation begins. As ether is in a type form, it could be changed directly into said form. For instance, fire-type ether can turn into fire. Water type, Ether to Water, and so on with all the other eight forms.

This form-changing method can be found practically everywhere in mid-level mortal worlds. It can happen when wizards summon rain or when pyromancers form fire out of nothing. This is all the product of the ether change. With this change, it is possible to change ether into virtually any and every element in existence.

But of course, this change has a limit. Because although ether can change into many different forms, it has a time limit on how long it can stay in that form. This thus limited the use of ether. For instance, although a wizard can create water with a wave of his hand, he would never drink it if he were ever part of it. If he were to drink it, what would happen when the water turned back to ether?

Luckily, though, dungeons don't have this problem. All they needed to do to make the changed ether stay eternally as a certain element was to add a little bit of third-order energy. Since ether is a first-order energy, its laws can be affected by third-order energy.

That was what Zenn did; he simply turned the ether he produced into air-type ether. He fused it with his own third-order energy and spread it around. This is making permanent air.

"But I wonder, though, how does ether simulate the functions of oxygen within the lungs? But then again, ether is considered to be magical energy, and trying to understand it with a scientific mind does not seem like it will lead to satisfactory results."

With that thought in mind, the child returned to the food crisis he had just discovered.

"If I were to fuse water-type ether and earth-type ether, I would be able to create wood- or plant-type ether."

This information was in his inheritance, so he did not waste time making it up.

"But I wonder if I have these two elemental affinities. After all, most people only have one or two prominent affinities. And it seems I already have the wind element as one of my prominent affinities."

The child then decided to check if he had any other elemental affinity than wind. He thus used the idle ether in his core and willed it to change into other elements. Soon, at the back of his core, a part started changing color from its previous cyan form to a clear blue color.

"Water element check."

Then it changed to a violent orange that rippled as though it was raging to get out.

"Fire element check."

It then changed from the violent orange to a clear and still yellowish brown.

"Earth element check."

After that, the color changed once again to a pitch black that seemed to swallow all of existence.

"Dark element check."

From then on, the color changed into a bright and very vibrant white, a deep and somehow symmetrical purple, and a blueish white, which formed themselves into complex matrices.

"Light, space, and time check."

The child then stood silent for a little while.

"Am I truly a defect?"

...