Dakota Krout - Dungeon Born (The Divine Dungeon Book 1)

I voiced weakly, knowing this answer wouldn’t work for her.

Dani stopped flying, and looked right at me. “This is very, very important. Let me explain, unlike beasts, animals, and plants, humans and other close relations like Elves or Dwarves have the ability to use all kinds of Essence. While they may have a greater affinity for one or the other, they are made of all of them, so can use them all to some extent if they have the training.”

Well that cleared up a few things.

She bobbed vigorously, “Yes, and it also explains why you can absorb all of them without ill effects! I still don’t know how you can get rid of the corruption, but we will... figure it out.” Enlightenment touched her, “Cal! That is why it is so easy for you to learn some things! Words and concepts especially! It is because you are re-learning them !”

I was watching her insane flying and weaving with a bit of concern for her mental well-being.

“You are unique ! That’s why! Remember how I told you dungeon Cores were usually naturally occurring? The gem always forms first, and usually a Beast who dies nearby, or maybe a strong animal, gets pulled in entirely by accident.”

He had certainly sounded human, or at least more intelligent than a simple animal.

She moved around in a pattern I had associated with a negative. “Nope, he was actually an Alpha Dire Wolf when he died. It took him something like fifty years to learn how to ‘talk’ in a way that humans and other sentients could understand.”

I wanted to know more about Kantor, but I needed to know about myself. My single process mind finally broke through her babbling.

She was almost too riled up to answer me directly, “Humans never get pulled into Beast Cores! It doesn’t happen ! It never has, Cal!”

She squealed a bit, “That makes perfect sense! Oh. My. Gosh, Cal! We have so much to learn! Imagine, ME being the first wisp to be bonded with a cunning, human-soul dungeon! We are going to get SO famous.”

Well, when she puts it like that… I ‘grinned’.

We decided we probably had some time before people delved into my depths again. I was particularly nervous that another group would come in soon, due to every living thing in my dungeon except me, Dani, and the Silverwood tree being dead and reduced to ash when the jerks, I mean- the scouting group, had come through. It was not too hard to make new Mobs and plants, but each one took some energy to produce. Without a source of ready Essence to replenish me, I had to go really slowly.

I definitely did not whine.

Dani had heard this, or a variant thereof, rather frequently in recent times. “You are just grumpy because you are hungry. Why don’t you eat some granite? Mm-mm, tasty earth Essence!”

I huffed.

“We used to call it ‘hangry’. It means angry because of hunger. How is the first room going?” She tried to divert my attention to happy thoughts.

It didn’t work.

She rolled in the air, her equivalent of an eye roll, “Definitely not grumpy. I’m surprised all of your grumbling didn’t start another earthquake.”

Not dignifying her comment with a response, I focused all my waning power on increasing the number of Mobs in the first room. I had made ‘biting’ shroomish more populous, remembering how people were just walking through without having to fight at all, and included a few of the ranged Bane types where the biters were especially thick. I felt good about the strength contained in the first room, but thus far had been unable to even grow moss in the remaining rooms.

I did not grump at her.

“Fair enough. I could use a break from Mr. Grumpy-face.” She zipped away, her retreating form shouting, “Take a nap!”

I rumbled after her. She was way too far away to hear me but I swear I heard her chuckle. Brat. I switched to absorbing energy from the rocks and metals in my influence, but I swear I was getting less than I had ever before. Keeping my Chi spiral going was starting to get easier, but still took a bit more concentration than I liked. Pulling hard on the energy sources, I was able to regain a trifling amount of Essence. I was sitting far below what I felt comfortable with, but this process simply took a lot of time. Twilight was falling outside when Dani returned.

“Nothing too special this time Cal, sorry.” Dani started, “I did get some flower seeds and a few more herbs that smell really good. Let’s see, I got basil, parsley, and some... mint I think? Not really scary, I know, but you are starting to smell a bit.” She tested my mood jokingly.

I apologized sheepishly.

“Aww, thank you.” Dani flew over and dropped the seeds and herbs in front of me, to make it easier for me to study them. Within a few minutes I had made copies and planted them along the tunnels. That would freak a few people out. I chuckled at the thought. ‘Oh no, basil! Look out, it’s mint!’ Maybe I would get lucky and someone would be allergic to them and die from a bad reaction.

I chuckled, projecting accidentally.

Dani glanced over, “Hmm?”

“I knew you would like them!” She beamed, then whispered, “Narcissist.”

I gasped at the unexpected attack, not !>

“Well you do spend all day every day looking at yourself soooo…” She teased me.

I played along,

The friendly banter continued for a bit, until Dani got sleepy and flew over to the ledge she tended to rest on. As a living creature, she still had to sleep occasionally. For the rest of the night I focused on growing plants. Mint grew like a literal weed, covering anything I gave it access to very quickly. The basil grew a bit slower, but had much thicker leaves and was quite a bit hardier. The flowers blossomed, adding splashes of color around my otherwise somewhat monochromatic dwelling. And each of these plants gave off a heady aroma, which is what eventually awoke Dani.

“Mmmm something smells good. You making me breakfast?” She yawned.

I smiled at the thought of me trying to cook.

She took off, and I could soon hear multiple sounds of appreciation. Coming back rapidly, she pronounced, “You know, if you wanted to be really boring, you could feed an entire city for decades.”

I responded tartly,

“Dead body odor.” She quipped, looking over for a reaction.

I questioned confusedly.

Dani acted like I was intentionally not understanding her pun. “Never mind. Today, lets-”

An odd sensation alerted me to an uninvited guest.

She went still for the first time since waking up, “What! Dungeon divers again this soon?! We aren’t ready!”

While I had made the stairs, my influence was not yet dense enough to see what was on them. I made a note to focus on that when I had some Essence stored up.

<...>

“What is it?!”

“Should I be worried?”

It’s attacking my herbs!! > I howled, desperately searching for a way to fight back.

Dani was aghast, “ All of them?! ”

I really didn’t have the energy to make more plants. As it was, my Chi spiral had no excess swirling Essence to pull from, and I was exhausted. I asked Dani to take a look, as she could connect with me with a bit of effort. Her reaction shocked me.

“ Bwahahahah! Cal, oh sweet naive C-cal,” She laughed, choking on the words, “That is the scourge of the mountains, the destroyer of herbs, a mountain bunny! ” I could get nothing else from her for a few minutes, as she was laughing too hard to catch her breath.