<h1>Chapter Three</h1>
<h2>Jessie’s POV</h2>
“So. How much mana would it take to build a new room? Or a corridor to the surface?” I ask James. “How would I know?” he replied, obviously frustrated with the situation. “I don''t know… Maybe you should be trying to build us a home at the very least? You are the builder out of us aren''t you?” I reply trying to cheer him up. “I guess…” he says, “To dig a new room directly adjacent to this one, it will cost one hundred mana per ten square meters. Corridors have the same cost ratio.” “That''s the spirit!” I say, “Let''s get digging. You make the rooms over here by the core, and I''ll make the traps and a corridor out to the surface.” I point my consciousness towards a direction. South. And start digging. After 5 meters I stop. I have half my mana left, fifty points. I go check on what James is doing. He has dug out a room behind our original room and moved our core into it. The core is on a small decorative pillar, with a mirror of the pillar coming down from the roof. It looks cool. I comment on that and look back out to my corridor. I place a hole, a ‘pit trap.’ “Hmm. gonna need to build something better than just this” I think out loud. I add little stalagmite-like spikes at the bottom and start designing a breakable floor. I make a thin sheet of stone, and make sure not to reinforce it with magic. I put the sheet carefully on top, just as I run out of mana. A message appears in my view.
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td colspan="2">
Would you like to Save Schematic “Basic Pitfall Spike Trap”?
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Yes
</td>
<td>
No
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
“Uh… Yeah! I say, and it says“Schematic Saved” I smile inwardly, as I wait for my mana to regenerate.
<h2>James’ POV</h2>
I start by building a room opposite Jessie''s new corridor. I make it exactly ten meters squared, and because of my increased mana pool, I still had mana left over. I used the leftover mana to carve intricate pillars supporting the core in the center of the room. Once that was done, I made it so the core was embedded into the pillars, so if the core was moved the pillars would move with it. And at that point, I was out of mana. I open my stat screen to see what it looked like.
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
Core Name:
</td>
<td>
James
</td>
<td>
Level:
</td>
<td>
1 (50/100xp)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Core Type:
</td>
<td>
Dual Green Garnet
</td>
<td>
Core Partner:
</td>
<td>
Jessie
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Core Integrity:
</td>
<td>
100%
</td>
<td>
Mana:
</td>
<td>
0/175 (3MP/hour)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Intelligence:
</td>
<td>
15
</td>
<td>
Wisdom:
</td>
<td>
15If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Perception
</td>
<td>
20
</td>
<td>
Charisma:
</td>
<td>
10
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Strength:
</td>
<td>
LOCKED
</td>
<td>
Agility:
</td>
<td>
LOCKED
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Looks like all my work paid off. Time to rest for now then, I guess.
<h1>Chapter Four</h1>
~30 Hours Later
<h2>Jessie’s POV</h2>
My mana pool has finally filled up. Really got boring waiting. Looking at my experience it seems I am three-quarters of the way to level two. I mine out the next ten meters, and suddenly I get a message;
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
Level Up
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
You reached level two. Congratulations
Rewards:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400">Rope (Trap component version)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400">5 Stat points</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400">100MP</li>
</ul>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
“Woohoo!” I shout out. I immediately start making a new trap. I start by making a set of holes in the roof. In the holes, I place spikes and hold them up with ropes. I put a blade that will slide across cutting all those ropes, attached via ropes to a weight. The weight is held up by a platform, which falls if a pressure plate in the floor is hit. Pretty ingenious if I do say so myself. The system puts up a pop-up similar to when I made the ‘Basic Pitfall Spike Trap’ I confirm and go to look at my stat screen. I decide to put all five of my new points into Intelligence so that my mana would regen faster. When I''m done my stat screen looks like this;
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
Core Name:
</td>
<td>
Jessie
</td>
<td>
Level:
</td>
<td>
2 (25/200xp)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Core Type:
</td>
<td>
Dual Ruby
</td>
<td>
Core Partner:
</td>
<td>
James
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Core Integrity:
</td>
<td>
100%
</td>
<td>
Mana:
</td>
<td>
50/150 (6MP/hour)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Intelligence:
</td>
<td>
30
</td>
<td>
Wisdom:
</td>
<td>
10
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Perception:
</td>
<td>
10
</td>
<td>
Charisma:
</td>
<td>
15
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Strength:
</td>
<td>
LOCKED
</td>
<td>
Agility:
</td>
<td>
LOCKED
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
With my remaining fifty mana, I dig out another five meters, before starting to rest again. I really wish my mana could go up faster, but that is something for another time.
<h2>James’ POV</h2>
Thirty hours. Thirty hours and I have just over half my mana. I really need to up my mana recharge rate I mentally sigh as I start Digging out another room. I hear Jessie cheer, and I go look down her hall. There is a new trap that utilizes rope. We didn''t have rope before. She probably finished some form of a personalized quest or levelled up. Thinking of the quest, I bring up the ‘screen’ for it
<table>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>
New Quest!
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
Description:
Let''s get started. Build the dungeon basics
Objectives:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400">Build a path to the surface (Incomplete)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400">Gain two or more different types of creatures to defend your dungeon (0/2)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400">Build two or more rooms (2/2)</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400">Build a trap (2/1)</li>
</ul>
Rewards:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400">100xp each</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400">What you make/get</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400">Knowledge</li>
</ul>
Bonuses are Possible.
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
I smile inwardly, glad that at the very least we are making progress.