"There can be no acceptable future without an honest analysis of the past." - Alexander Solzhenitsyn

  It was only a few hours later when Aven returned with a pop, materializing in my core room. I’d turned on a few mana lights, setting them to a diffuse blue-white shade that toned well with Aven’s pale skin and yellow eyes. It seemed less grumpy this time, than on its first appearance, and bestowed a sharp-toothed grin on me.

  *Well, someone’s been busy, I see! Looks like you’re about to hit level 2 soon. Had some excitement, did you? *

  *Ha! You could say that. The big event was a visit from a mama grizzly and her cubs, but there was second one with three shadow ripper hounds chasing a night cat. It was a bit scary there for a while, but I managed to get the bear with a trap and assimilate the cubs. I felt a bit bad for them, but I wasn’t really sure I could let her do whatever she wanted. As for the second round, I sent two of the hounds off the cliff edge, and wounded the third, but it and the night cat both fled before I could take further action.*

  *Hmm. While the hounds and cat would make for nice additions, it still sounds like a successful couple of days to me. A grassland grizzly, huh? Well, she shouldn’t have been able to really damage you, but she certainly could have wrecked things for you and set you back. Probably she wanted to make you spit out some edible rewards and likely would have tried to farm you on the regular. What kind of trap did you create that can take out a bear of that size? *

  I’d reset the trap, pretty much first thing, since it seemed the most effective option I had currently. Interestingly enough, the stalagmites were counted as a part of the trap and had regenerated at the same time the boulder had been resorbed and regenerated. There was a mana cost to resetting the trap, but nothing nearly as bad as its original creation and less than I’d gotten from the death of the bear by a factor of three.

  *Let me give you the tour, and I’ll show you everything. No new rooms and no real expansion since your last visit. Spent what mana I had on traps and creatures in pursuit of completing quests*

  *Fair enough, though you’ll want to expand sooner, rather than later, or the mana restrictions will start to be a real problem, as I’m guessing you’ve noticed*

  *I did intend to ask you about that. How do I expand my mana capacity and improve my regen rate? Do I need to level up? Add territory? Build more rooms or another floor? *

  *Yes, yes, and yes. It’s all connected, really. Your level is more a measure of your experience and growth, than a goal all on its own; that said, it does come with some rewards from the system, mostly as an incentive and a recognition of your continuing efforts. You can level from growing on the surface, underground, or simply from experience with invaders, or even from time spent in grade manipulating mana on the regular. Any of that will be reflected in gradual growth in your mana capacity, and to a lesser extent your regeneration.

  Mana regeneration has more to do with the density of ambient mana, and depends on the physical environment, the presence of living, non-created organisms, and the actual flow of mana currents past your core. Your best bets for improving those are to expand to incorporate higher mana regions, encourage visitors to stay and expend mana, or to open rooms that improve the overall flow of mana through the dungeon. Mana tends to move like a thick liquid, pooling in lower regions and moving more readily through open space than solid stone.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Now, how about that tour? *

  *Sure. Thanks for the information; that’s a big help and definitely food for thought. Let me start by showing you the base layout and pointing out my minor improvements. We can start with the surface, and I’ll walk you through my initial defense.

  I picked up some basic blueprints and added blackberry bushes around the entrance, partly for concealment, partly as a means of slowing intruders, and partly to attract birds for my naturalist quests. That worked well, but it had the unintended effect of attracting bears; call it a wash, I guess. I’ve got the ground squirrels and hawk-eagle serving as an early warning system and that mostly works, but only in the short term. I’ve also got a jewel viper hiding by the entrance, or well, I did; that one poisoned and enraged the bear, but it didn’t survive the experience. *

  *That’s a reasonable plan at this stage, though soon you’ll want something on the surface capable of a stronger defense and more openly discouraging than some thorns. The viper was a nice touch but isn’t an obvious deterrent. *

  *Moving on. The relatively small entrance is something I’ll want to change eventually, but it worked to slow down the bear. It had to dig out the entry to get in and the tunnel restricted its movements well enough for the badger in the entrance to bite its nose and claw its face. That angered it enough that it didn’t spot the entrance to the core room and pursued the badger into my most immediately damaging trap. Probably wouldn’t work on an intelligent being, or even a calmer bear – you'll see the system labeled it a “Poorly disguised deadfall trap” - but a 600 kg stone dropped from 3 meters totally one-shot the bear. Even spared the badger. *

  *Nicely executed, then, if lucky. *

  *Agreed. She almost dodged it, though it likely would have done at least some damage. If we head west, the first room has a second trap that’s intended more to slow intruders than dispatch them entirely. System calls this one an “Anklebreaker Trap”; figured I’d want some non-lethal options, though obviously this won’t be effective against any normal party, especially one with a healer. It did seem to damage the shadow ripper hound that fell in, at least. I paired it with some blinding lights to make them less wary.

  The last room has my favorite trap, though I don’t know that I’d get much mana from it. This one got labeled a “comical chute trap”; it’s greased up with grass slime and drops the victim off the island edge. I’d imagine that would either kill them or prompt them to flight, depending on the options they’ve got available. I get the impression it’s a long drop, so kind of mean, really. Give you a chance to really regret your life choices. *

  Aven snickered, and I could witness its shoulders twitching as it smothered a full-on laugh.

  *I like your sense of humor. This should be a good time. I can only imagine a bear suddenly introduced to flight. Not sure she’d have fit, though. You need to both expand so that your core is farther from the entrance and diversify your defenses to fit a broader array of threats. I’d say expanding would be a good next step for you – build more on the first floor and start your second. That should boost your mana flow and then maybe spawn in a bear to help with the cubs and bolster your physical defense*.

  Here, I’ll make it official.

  New Quest: Complete three other quests and begin a second floor; Reward: 1 Tier 2 Creature blueprint and 1 Magic Tool Blueprint