Brick took multiple trips outside of the dungeon, carrying back seeds, grass, the stems of flowers, and a big frog that croaked in distress until my wisps shut it up...permanently. eventually, though, Fanny told me that someone might see him coming in and out of the dungeon, so I made him just stay inside.

he was disappointed at first but he perked up when I told him to play with Pixie's linked wisp. I wanted to watch him splat globs of mud mana at the poor unnamed creature but Fanny reminded me that we'd soon probably have company. so I went back to decorating the lobby.

it's really tiring being a dungeon core, you know? always expected to work, work, work. it's really not fair. I should get a raise. wait, I'm my own boss. how can I give myself a raise? I don't have any employees to screw over by docking their pay...

oh, I'm getting distracted.

hmm. let's suck up the stuff Brick gave me...

[You have absorbed Cane Grass! +3 mana for the new discovery!
You have absorbed Soft Rainbow Vines! +3 mana for the new discovery!
You have absorbed a Nutty Bonsai seed! +5 mana for the new discovery!
You have absorbed a Shy Poinsetta! +3 mana for the new discovery!
You have absorbed a Whispering Huckleberry! +3 mana for the new discovery!
You have absorbed a Warty Croaker! +6 mana for the new discovery!

Warning! Core is experiencing mana overflow due to exceeding its mana cap!]

uh-oh. I did feel overly full.

 'Brick, you stuffed me so well, I'm gonna burst,' I told the wisp. it twirled and went into a spitting frenzy.

while it did that, I needed to figure out how to avoid exploding. how the heck am I supposed to get rid of all this mana?

[Creating objects to furnish your rooms!]

ugggh it felt like I was trying and failing to pass a massive dump. or pregnant. whatever was worse.

how do I create objects?

[Select an object template and place it where you wish!]

templates??? tutorial, hurry up and tell me this in one piece!

[You can either absorb a recipe for an object or create one with [Create Object Template]!]

the freaking thing said that slower than normal. no matter! [Create Object Template]!

a transparent blueprint unfolded in front of me. there was an empty blue grid in the center with the blinking words [Save] and [Scrap] on opposite corners at the bottom. smart design; no accidentally destroying something beautiful.

quickly, uhhh, what did I need to build for the lobby? uh, a waiting area? yeah that sounded good. somewhere to sit...

I constructed four thin stone chair legs and slapped a slab on top of them. it looked wobbly, even on the blueprint. I imagined the slab melding together with the bench legs, mushing the stone together. bench done!

ah wait, it still looked kind of uncomfy...

I sculpted two butt indents in the slab. summoning some soft rainbow vines, I weaved them on top and mentally took a step back. perfect! bench done.

[Save] button slammed-

[Please name the template!]

call it 'Stone Bench' and let me place the darn thing!

['Stone Bench' Template created! It costs 4 mana to summon!]

I quickly slapped down 2 benches on either side of the room. 8 mana gone, need to bleed 5 more. uhhh reception desk?

I threw open another template and created another template. this time, I made a large stone desk about 4 feet across. I added one of those divider things on top you always see receptionists have with some shelves underneath for easy storage. naming it 'Receptionist Desk'-it thankfully cost 5 mana-I placed it in the middle of the room¹.

finally, that awful, bloated feeling faded.

Schwab

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