Ranus Goldwind came through for me the next night in a big way. I spotted him entering the Dungeon's surface building carrying a cage at arm's length. I got in close, looking at the creature within the cage; I became very excited. It was a black scorpion. This had been one of the primary reasons I had made a deal with him and pressed for him to find one. All my plans beyond the ninth revolved around this small and quite deadly animal. Without it, I would not be able to create what I had envisioned.

  He placed the cage on the big desk in the entrance room and quickly left the Dungeon. Larry sensed that time was about to call on him to do battle and looked down from the rafters at the table. I was about to get him to come down when it dawned on me. This was a scorpion, and it was hazardous. I did not want to go through the cost of having Larry get killed and regenerated.

  "Larry, best get down here. Puck, we will need you too."

  I brought my wandering minions to the entrance room, as it was now sunset, and I expected no more adventurers to appear. Puck flew up from the third floor, where he had been pestering the boars. I sensed great interest from him, wondering why I had summoned him to the entrance room. Larry climbed down from his rafter position and was now sitting on the table looking at the cage.

  "Right, let's do this."

  It took several minutes to convey what I wanted them to do, but in the end, I was confident that they understood. Larry climbed on top of the cage and undid the bolt holding the door closed. He opened it, and the scorpion was hesitant but eventually came out. It scuttled out onto the table, where Puck was hovering near, ready to take action.

  He used his daze spell to confuse the insect. This allowed Larry to jump down on it from behind, pinning its stinger down, and quickly dispatched it. A notification popped up informing me of the kill and the gaining of the new design. Puck was flying around excitedly, producing Pixie dust and covering Larry, which he glared at the other wandering minion in frustration. He started cleaning himself.

  "Good work. Let's have a look…."

  As I spoke, the front doors suddenly knocked open, and several creatures piled into the room.

  "Run!"

  I ordered my minions, and they quickly scattered. I turned my attention to what was attacking my Dungeon and found…

  Goats.

  Half a dozen had just piled into the room, heading towards the stairs. I shifted to Mana Sight and saw the corruption flowing through their bodies, then turned back to standard view. They looked like normal goats until you looked closer. Their eyes were black, and protruding black veins ran across their bodies. They were frothing, and there was blood around their mouths.

  By the time I had finished reviewing them, they were already on the stairs heading down. Larry and Puck had been ignored. Larry had returned to the rafters while Puck had just flown above them. He was now following them at a distance down the stairs.

  Looking at the numbers and their meaning, I decided not to mobilise the rest of my defenders. Krag, on the other hand, was going to be used here.

  "Krag, get into the Core room. We have monsters descending the stairs, and I need you to kill them."

  The opportunity to kill got him moving quite quickly without any grumbling. When the goats arrived on the seventh floor, he was ready and in position. When they attacked him, he was not impressed, so he quickly dispatched them. As they died, the corruption within their bodies was drawn into my Core.

  "I bloody hate this."

  The six were dead, and I gained the design for mountain goats. I shifted my view into my Core to see what was happening. I looked over the channels on the flow of corruption and became ecstatic. It was flowing so quickly and smoothly now it was hardly pooling anywhere. My vision shifted as I left the Core and looked at my status sheet.

  "5%..... Whoooho!"

  It had worked; I was getting rid of the corruption far faster than I had ever had before. I still felt like shit, but now I could see the end of the tunnel. From the amount I absorbed, I would have had at least 30 to 40% corruption. No more wasting my time sitting around waiting for it to be processed. This would have taken weeks, maybe even a month, to take care of, but now I felt it would be gone in a matter of a day.

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  Thinking back over my Core's internal layout, I knew there were areas I could still improve, making the process even more efficient. Right now, I need to focus on getting ready for the eighth floor, but I was making progress, and that filled me with happiness even with the effects of the void corruption still lingering.

  I shifted my attention back to the main doors. Several people were looking into the room, using crystals to get an idea of what was happening. They quickly found that the crisis was over and withdrew, closing the doors, which was considerate of them.

  “5%, Larry, 5%!”

  Larry just ignored me and settled into the rafters in his favourite spot. The only impression I got from him was he would like to have the fire lit. But in turn, I ignored that. Puck was back down on the third with the boars. Thinking about them, I looked at their status sheets and found they were both close to levelling. They didn't do much in the Dungeon, so the opportunities to level were far more limited; however, the chances of them being killed were also just as low.

  I was left wondering where these goats had come from. I knew they were not from Folly's End since had not been informed that the corrupted had crossed the river containing them.

  "Must be local then."

  This was the only thing I could think of. I knew some were still corrupted up in the mountains around us, as the passage of the ogre and the lion would have left marks wherever they went. I remembered that the snake also appeared, so there was a good chance I would eventually get more visiting me.

  I opened up the goat's status sheet and found nothing of interest. No, that was not true. There were a few bits I could use later on, but as a monster on its own, it was... not very impressive. Could I do some tinkering and create something new? Yes, but I wasn't being visited by inspiration right then.

  I then went and looked at the scorpion's status sheet. The black scorpion was everything I wanted it to be. I had plans for this little bastard. Some of what it could do was integral to my planning for the tenth floor. Securing it was vital to that plan, and now that I had it, I had nearly all of what I needed. I would have to do a lot of experimentation to make it work, but I was hopeful.

  "Well, that was fun. But back to work."

  ## ## ## ## ##

  "Twisted goats?" Ranus asked, confused, not sure if someone was playing him for a fool.

  "Twisted goats," Elian confirmed, her face serious.

  "How many?" Ranus, while still partly disbelieving and unsure of what to say.

  "Nine attacked the watchers outside of the Dungeon. Six made it inside but were dispatched by the Dungeon itself."

  "Wounded?" Ranus asked.

  "Thankfully, none. The goats were far more dangerous than normal, but not to the point where they endangered anyone, as the paladin on duty was able to deal with them quite efficiently. The paladin in question is under observation right now for corruption contamination."

  "What does High Healer Selmum think?"

  "After what happened to Comus, she is being far more diligent in her testing, but she is quietly optimistic that there was no corruption of the paladin," Elian reported.

  "Well, thank the Gods for more small mercies."

  ## ## ## ## ##

  Elis Goldwind and her husband had secured rooms within the city of Shadow Vale. It had taken time to establish themselves, but they were finally in a position she was happy with. She would rather have had a mansion, but those were few and far between within this city. She had found the best room she could and opted to base her operations out of them.

  After reading a series of reports, Elis and her husband sat in these rooms, looking at each other. These reports had taken weeks to amass and double-check, even triple-check in some places. But she was sure of their veracity, and she was processing the implications.

  "No Dungeon fairy." That was the first thing she said for several minutes.

  "It appears not, my dear. We do not know why, but this Dungeon operates on its own rules. As you can see from the reports, it seems not even the pantheon has any form of control over it." Hector went over what they had discovered.

  "No wonder Ranus has been able to do what he has been able to do. This Dungeon is playing by a completely different set of rules."

  "Yes, it seems that way. But what of the rest we have learned?" he asked. What they had learnt was shaking him deeply. This Dungeon seemed somehow linked to the twisted, and they were being drawn here.

  "For now, we can do little. I need to know more before I can plan how we move forward." Elis admitted in a rare showing of weakness. "As for you and the family, husband, keep on expanding our influence."

  "I understand."

  ## ## ## ## ##

  "Have you seen the change, Oda?" The figure asked as soon as they stepped out of the shadow.

  "I have. It is a most welcome change within the Core." He replied, not looking up from the desk.

  "I confess that I am at a loss. Why did you not make the Core more efficient in processing the corruption from the start?"

  "Remember when I explained the Core to you and how I created it?" Oda asked, looking up at his guest.

  "Of course."

  "Well, remember I said it required a body, a mind, and a soul," Oda explained. "The Core itself is the body. The mind is Bhaldor. He also supplies the soul; however, the most important thing comes from the soul. The WILL to deal with the corruption."

  The other looked at Oda, and he realised that he did not understand.

  "Dealing with void corruption is not just forcing it into the Core and scrubbing it. He must be willing to challenge it and improve himself constantly. This enables him to alter his Core with his will to make himself a better vessel to remove the corruption."

  "So, by seeking to deal with that more efficiently, his soul and mind are shaping his reality, allowing him to do it?"

  "In many respects, yes."

  "How far can he go?"

  "How far can any soul go if it has the will for it?" Oda asked.

  ## ## ## ## ##

  I came to think about bats again. I had taken a break from messing around with the designs of the rats and boars I was experimenting with. I turned my attention back to the bats to refresh my thinking.

  The problem was that as the bats grew larger, their weight prevented them from flying. My plans for the tenth floor entailed a flying monster, so I had to figure this out.

  A larger bat meant larger wings and denser bones, which weighed it down and prevented it from flying. I could see no way to break this vicious cycle right now. I began flicking through other screens just to see if anything shook loose and inspired me.

  "Air…."

  I muttered to myself. Then I remembered I had Air Mana now. Could I infuse it into the wings? Will that, in turn, give the larger bat the ability to fly? Now, this was a line of thinking that was getting me excited.

  It was the day after the goat invasion. And it was once again dark outside. Winter was fast approaching, and I knew that the number of adventurers would drop off not from lack of willingness but from lack of daylight.

  "Hell, I've got the time. Let's try it."

  I opened up the necessary screens and got to work.