Chapter 2: Off to a Flawless Start
The room stretched out around her, bare, not a single piece of furniture, not a mark on the stone. At its center floated a heart — a dark mass folded in on itself like a black hole, and yet very much alive, beating slowly. Freya didn’t need anyone to explain it to her. She could feel it pulsing somewhere inside her, in the same rhythm. This heart was hers.
And that alone sent a shiver of excitement through her. It was real. No screen, no controller, a real dungeon, hers, just waiting for her to give it shape. She turned to the menus, fingers practically itching to dive in. Buildings first, the rest could follow. Foundations, that was what she needed, and since her mana climbed back on its own with the hours, she might as well find out right now what she could do with it.
[ Buildings — Level 1 ]
[ Dungeon Heart — Level 1 (1/1) ] The heart of the dungeon. If it falls, everything collapses. Generates 1 mana per hour.
[ Servants’ Quarters — Level 1 (0/1) — Cost: 30 mana ] Houses servants and slowly restores their stamina and vitality. Consumes food each day to function.
[ Dungeon Farm — Level 1 (0/1) — Cost: 35 mana ] Produces food each day. Requires an assigned servant to run. Consumes 1 mana per day.
[ Guard Room — Level 1 (0/1) — Cost: 35 mana ] Houses the creatures that defend the dungeon. They can train here to gain strength and power. Consumes food each day.
[ Trapped Corridor — Level 1 (0/3) — Cost: 25 mana ] Your first defensive element. Slows and wounds intruders.
[ Mine — Level 1 (0/1) — Cost: 30 mana ] Must be built on a vein. Generates ore as long as a servant is assigned to it.
[ Storage Vault — Level 1 (0/1) — Cost: 25 mana ] Increases your resource storage capacity.
Wow...
Freya devoured every line, and the more she read, the wider her smile grew. Buildings that fed into one another, the farm feeding the servants, the servants keeping the rest running, a real little machine of interlocking gears to assemble. And this was only Level 1. All of it would grow, branch out, get deliciously more complicated. Exactly the kind of game she’d have lost entire nights to, except this time the board was her own life.
"But how exactly does this work...? Can I build wherever I want?"
A notification appeared in her vision.
[ A location must be prepared by a servant or by the master in person before a building can be placed there. ]
At the same moment, Aria spoke, in a calm, even voice.
"A location must be prepared by a servant or by the master in person before a building can be placed there."
She saw Freya’s gaze settle on the window rather than on her, and murmured something, very low.
"...tch. Damn system."
"Huh...? Everything okay, Aria?"
A smile snapped back onto her lips, and she turned to Freya.
"Yes, of course. Do you need something? Please don’t hesitate, I’m here for you, completely."
"No... no. I thought I heard something, I must have imagined it. I’ll ask if I need anything."
Am I losing it? Aria had clearly switched personality and tone in the span of a few seconds, hadn’t she? But why? Freya let it go. Maybe it was just a one-off, an exception.
Then an idea came to her.
"Actually, maybe you could dig in place of the servants, so I can set up some buildings?"
Aria seemed to hesitate, disappointed by something.
"No..." The word landed heavy, almost painful. "No creature can dig within the dungeon except the summoned ones and yourself. And what you’re asking of me, I don’t know how to do." Aria stared at a spot on the floor, her face closed, her gloved fingers knotting and unknotting without her seeming to notice. "Tunnels, yes. Widening a corridor, clearing a passage, that I can do. But preparing a room so a building can settle into it requires a precise mana signature, knowledge I don’t have." A silence. Then, lower, like a shameful confession: "You make your very first wish, and already, I fail to grant it."
She lifted her eyes to Freya, and what was in them wasn’t simple embarrassment. It was too intense for that.
"Give me time. I’ll become useful. I’ll become exactly what you need, I swear it to you."
"It’s nothing, don’t worry about it. I was just throwing the idea out there, haha."
No. There’s definitely something off here. The smile that flicks off and back on like a switch, the apologies derailing over a trifle, that way of collapsing in on herself at the slightest excuse. Freya felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise. An SSS on my very first pull... yeah, that was suspicious. She turned it over and over in her head, and nothing really settled. She ended up exhaling, shaking it off, and going back to the menus. She’d see.
She opened the next category.
[ Summons — Level 1 ]
[ Mycofox Worker — Level 1 (0/5) — Rank G — Cost: 5 mana ] A small, devoted worker. Digs, hauls, prepares locations, and keeps the buildings running. Its glowing cap lights up its work. Needs rest and food to stay active.
[ Mycofox Soldier — Level 1 (0/5) — Rank F — Cost: 10 mana ] The combat variant. Sharper fangs, defensive spores, a bit quicker. Guards the dungeon and can train to grow stronger. Needs rest and food to stay active.
Freya quickly ran the numbers on a first summon.
"If I take a Level 1 Mycofox, that costs me 5 points. Then I need a Dungeon Farm to feed it, 35 points to buy, plus the Servants’ Quarters at 30 so it can sleep and recover... and all that without earning me a single bonus mana point." She frowned. "That’s completely garbage. Especially since I then lose 1 mana a day to the farm, so I’m only banking 23 a day instead of 24. The smart move, clearly, is to wait until I’ve got enough points to buy everything in one go — with the mine on top, so it generates income by turning ore into mana."
Just to be sure, she opened the last menu, the one that seemed the least useful at first glance at the very start of a management run.
[ Upgrades — Level 1 ]
[ Dungeon Heart — Level 1 -> Level 2 — Cost: 50 mana ] Upgrades your dungeon’s heart. Generates 5 mana per hour instead of 1.
[ Building Upgrades — Level 1 -> Level 2 — Locked ] Condition: own at least one constructed building.
[ Summon Upgrades — Level 1 -> Level 2 — Locked ] Condition: own at least one summoned creature.
[ Dungeon Upgrades — Level 1 -> Level 2 — Locked ] Condition: reach Level 2 of the Dungeon System.
"HUUUH?!"
She couldn’t hold back the outburst at what she’d nearly missed, startling even Aria, who happened to be massaging her feet at that very moment, as if to atone for her possible blunder.
"...To think I almost skipped right past that. This is where I should’ve started, actually."
Without thinking any further, she poured her 50 mana points into the upgrade, instantly, leaving herself with only the [ 1/500 ] she’d scraped together over the past hour.
[ You have upgraded the Dungeon Heart to Level 2 ]
At the notification, the heart swelled slightly. She watched it grow as if by magic, gaining presence, becoming a little more imposing at the center of the room. Thrilled, she watched the transformation unfold with real pleasure.
"Now I just have to wait 21 hours instead of 54 to bank the 105 points I need. Enough to buy myself the full kit: two workers, the farm, the quarters, and the mine. After that, all I’ll have to do is pile up mana through the mine and passive generation."
She leaned back, rather pleased with her little plan, when a voice rose right beside her.
"May I be of use in some way?"
Freya turned her head. Aria had straightened up, and her eyes were fixed on her with an almost fanatical gleam, hanging on her answer as if her entire existence depended on it.
"Hmm... you could start digging a network of tunnels around this room, memorizing it as you go. Look for a way out to the surface, and above all, try to find a vein of ore." She was tossing this out more or less at random, throwing whatever seemed useful in the moment, without much conviction.
But Aria answered with a fervor Freya was only just beginning to grasp.
"I’ll do my very best, mistress!!! You won’t regret it, I swear, I swear it to you!"
And, with a spring in her step, she darted off toward one end of the room.
Finally, some peace. Just had to wait now. And Freya had only one thing on her mind to kill the time: diving back into her addiction.
[ Dungeon Lord Chat ]
[ KingOfTheNorth ]: bro... I summoned a servant, didn’t realize the buildings cost so much... what do I do now?
[ SilverLady ]: same...
[ Alkius ]: guys we completely screwed up, we’re so dumb...
And there it was. Some people, too impatient, had already misallocated their points when they’d barely even started.
[ LucasBraveheart ]: the smart move, on top of that, was to upgrade the dungeon heart.
So I’d read him right, this Lucas. A good soul. A little too naive for her taste, though.
[ KingOfTheNorth ]: just saw it man, I’m completely done for! — +1... +120
[ FreakyBoy14 ]: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!! WHAT CLOWNS. — +1... +10... +50
Reading that, Freya couldn’t hold back a smirk despite herself. After all, it was kind of what they were all thinking deep down, even if it was awful to say. The usernames were freedom, in the good sense and the bad.
To offset that little bit of meanness, she posted her very first message. True to herself: shy, but kind enough when it counted.
[ Maid ]: It’s fine, don’t worry. It’s recoverable. — +1... +2... +50
Ooh, my first message landed well.
"~ Yaaay." A small sound of joy slipped out of her, her risky bit of speaking up as a proper woman of the shadows having paid off just as planned.
Then she returned to the discussion.
[ SkyStrategist ]: exactly! if you think about it, you just had to wait 4 more hours, even a bit less, to afford the heart upgrade. Then 13 more hours for the farm and the servants’ quarters. So you just had to hope your summon held out 17 hours with nothing. Maybe a little more, if the farm took time to get going. But it should work out. — +1... +72... +247
[ KingOfTheNorth ]: MAN you’re right! you’re my savior.
[ SilverLady ]: thank you!!!!
Several more thank-yous bloomed in the conversation. Apparently a lot of people had rushed in headfirst. But still, nothing unsalvageable. After the flood of gratitude, their dear hero stepped back up to the plate.
[ LucasBraveheart ]: let’s keep having each other’s backs like this going forward! we’ll go far, all of us together. — +1... +65... +349... +425
Wow, a hit at 425. It was the highest score she’d seen so far. She had no idea how many of them there were, these Dungeon Lords, but it was starting to add up — and that was without counting everyone who wasn’t hanging around this chat killing time like she was. Especially if the skill—
Her train of thought snapped clean off when a window opened in her field of vision, right next to the chat.
[ Congratulations, dear Dungeon Lords! ]
[ One among you has already linked their dungeon to the surface, in under 2 hours. ]
[ To celebrate, the humans will receive an oracle announcing your invasion of this world! ]
[ Let the festivities begin! ]
As she read it, a bad feeling gripped her all at once, her eyes instinctively rising toward the corridor Aria had vanished into after digging it.
She dropped her gaze back to the conversation. It was racing now, faster than ever.
[ MeteorGod ]: Who?
[ FlowerGoddess ]: Wtf! who?
[ BlackFlame ]: who could be dumb enough to rush like that?
[ KingOfTheNorth ]: wait so the humans know we exist now?? because of ONE guy???
[ Alkius ]: we just barely started and there’s already one cooking us all, congrats champ
[ FreakyBoy14 ]: lmaooo the guy linked to the surface in 2h to do what, sightseeing?? — +1... +88... +210
[ DarkVortex ]: this is a joke. please tell me this is a joke.
[ SilverLady ]: so what do we do now? are we in danger?
[ SkyStrategist ]: everyone calm down. an oracle stays vague, it doesn’t give away our positions. but yeah, that was stupid. — +1... +134... +302
[ BlackFlame ]: STUPID is putting it lightly yeah
[ PizzaEnjoyer ]: rip to us guys, nice knowing you
Messages like that scrolled past at full speed, and her dread swelled along with them, her attention bouncing between the chat and the corridor. Then she arrived. Aria, smiling, in pure rapture.
Oh no...
"Mistress! Mistress! Mistress!"
Please. Please. Don’t let it be you.
"Yes?"
"I found the outside, just like you asked!"
...
Aria looked surprised by the silence.
"Doesn’t that make you happy?"
"Yes... yes! Come here."
She came closer, instinctively lowering her head, and Freya stroked her hair with her left hand while, with her right, she took the opportunity to type out her second message.
[ Maid ]: Who’s the son who did that?
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