"Suppose I should start with getting those kitties properly settled, of course." With that idea in mind, I relocate to the room I sent the Cat-sìth siblings to. The four cat like fae are too large to call kittens, but clearly smaller than adult cats. The first one I met has white fur with toasted marshmallow tips, so Siamese pattern, with orange and brown monarch butterfly wings. The black cat has gray, moth like wings. The remaining two are identical in appearance, save for their wing coloration. Both are solid grays, but they have brightly colored wings that don't seem like any natural butterfly I know of. One has bright green butterfly wings, and the other has bright pink butterfly wings. Without further ado, I attempt to get their attention. "Pspsps."

The twins perk up and look around, the Siamese rolls her eyes, and the black furred one groans and covers, by the sound of the groan, his face.

Tria, the Siamese, sits up straight and wraps her tail around her front legs. "Yes, hello Dan. No need to act like we are normal cats. I take it your other business is done?"

Her denial of cat status while in such an iconic cat pose draws a chuckle out of me. "For the time being, yes. At least enough that I feel free to get you four situated. Turns out I should have a lot of options to set you up with, if you're not in a hurry. Though if you are, magic cores are already workable. Can make them fairly easily. Mostly element themed, but some seem outside that. Though the only magic core I've made so far that doesn't already have a bond is the plant magic core."

The green winged gray jumps up and speaks in a youthful androgynous voice. "I like plants!"

The pink winged one pounces on the green winged one, and speaks in a near identical tone. "No! I like plants. You like catnip." That point of contention leads to some playful wrestling that leaves me concerned about their wings, but their siblings don't interfere, so, must be okay?

"Oookay. Little soon to be doubling up, but I guess if they're both that insistent, I can make a second one? Uhh, how bout some introductions first?"

Tria huffs at what I'll assume are her younger siblings. "Of course. As before, I am Tria, a Cat-sìth. The twins are Rib and Reb, the pink one and the green one, respectively, they're both Cath Chwareus. The youngest is Vronne, he's a Cath Palug. As for the twins, definitely pair Rib with the plant core, Reb is much more of a fire-starter than a plant tender. I am, unsure of what would suit Vronne. Any input on that, bud?"

The black cat tilts his head and takes a few seconds to respond. "I like, the moon, and stars. Bones, cool air, the calmness and quiet, and sometimes soup." Having said his piece, he nods, then turns to stare wordlessly at the still scuffling twins.

"Mmmhm. Pretty sure soup isn't an element. Think I could do bones though? Miss Ahnya did mention it as a magic type. Moon is even a mana type, apparently, and we already have star mana, so figuring out star magic should be simple enough. Anyway, take your time, I guess. How about you Tria?"

Her vertically split pupils narrow. "I crave the greatest power you can offer me. I do not care if it takes time to get to that point."

"Riiight, I'll just put you down for a life force core with a question mark. Though I'll try to experiment with it a bit to be sure it qualifies. Some of the other energy combinations I learned about recently might actually be more suitable? Guess we'll see once I get around to filling out the roster." I scratch that into the wall of one of my hidden note rooms in bold, then turn my attention back to them. "Rib, plant core, for sure. I suspect that giving fae the attributes they're interested in will give the best results, so yeah. Reb, is there anything else you're willing to go for? Tria mentioned fire?"

"Well, yeah I like fire. But gotta have plants to burn, right?" Reb is currently pinned by Rib, but doesn't seem to mind. Rib just looks triumphant.

"Magic should fuel the flame just fine, but, maybe?" I mix up a batch of plant magic, intending to make a new core from it, but it slips from my control and flies away. "Hm?!" I follow the stream of rogue magic, to the existing plant magic core. "Ahhh. I see. I guess I can't make a second plant magic core. So there are some limitations on how many I can make. Wonder if that only applies to magic cores, or all combinations? Could I have, a plant magic core, a plant spirit magic core, and a true plant magic core? Or? . . Ack. I bet with how the plant magic flew off, a true plant magic core would just, absorb the others. Okay, sorry, only one plant magic core. And it goes to Rib. Sometime later, once you've gotten used to it, I'll try upgrading it to a true plant magic core. Reb, if you don't want to just use fire, then get to know the place and your potential options and get back to me later. Though, maybe I could make oil magic using plant magic as a starting point? Hmmm."

"Well I don't wanna fall behind Rib! Oil is okay, it burns good too."

"Note to self, install a lot of negative smoke mana crystals. But oil, worth a shot. It's even thematic to pair it with fire. Though there should be plenty of other uses. Just a sec."

Using the plant magic core, I call up the excess magic I accidentally poured into it. In a distant chamber, to be safe. "Mmm, earth? Makes sense to me." I crush the plant magic under a mass of earth mana, layer after layer, with a bit of ki thrown in to account for the extra mana in the mix. When nothing happens, I add a touch of fire, to represent heat along with the pressure, still nothing. When I throw a little nether in to represent decay, the mass of mixed energies collapse into a crystalline brown amphora-like core.

"Alright. Plant and oil cores are, this way." I flicker a light in a nearby passage. "We'll move the plant core into a new room for you to start building up the plant section as you like, but try to restore the currently public plant room as needed. Oil isn't started yet, so we'll find it a space you can get started in." After getting Rib and Reb bonded to their own cores, I double check that Tria and Vronne haven't chosen yet, and leave them to socialize with the other fae as they like.

"Now, do I poke at the spirit core, or try to figure out ki refinement? Hmmm. Oh, Sol, are you done feeding all our current monsters into the gauntlet core?"

"Yes. It didn't end up counting as many as we hoped. A lot of the elemental variants ended up counting as one entry to it. But I managed to get it to level six, or two hundred monster types. Here, look at the battle conditions."

"Wow, couple of those I actively don't want to use. Definitely need to start running fusion tourneys though. And seeing what each pairing of other conditions do. Also there was ahh, a certain, personality to those descriptions? A tiny bit of laziness to the treat conditions, with mostly copied text too." I take a peek at the gauntlet core's monster list. "Huh, already got monsters from Rath and Loamar? Names like spider automaton, and gem sentinel seem to imply it. But I was hoping we could bolster the numbers with their experiments. Guess further progress there will be, slow. Specially since the next threshold is five hundred. Oh well, fusion tourney of metal magic and gem magic based monsters? Hopefully combining the two instead of just like, fusing two metal monsters. Though, that has value too, I suppose."

"Sure, I'll start running tournaments. None of our current monsters cost much of its DP anyway. You can test the Double Jeopardy effects later though. Cause I know you'll want to see how they change for yourself. But, you were just talking about testing ki or spirit, so don't get more distracted." Sol shoos me away.

"Alright, fine. I'll try a few ideas for ki refinement first, I guess." After a quick confirmation that there are other ki cores around, I move over to the first one. The room is full of cats now. Like twenty of the lil' buggers easy. They seem fine, but I take a minute to expand the room again anyway. "We should add mana monster powers to these and separate them or, something. Till we have someone to help manage them, at least."

I focus on the core. "Refinement? Haa, hope it isn't going full cultivation. I don't wanna spend a thousand years just vaguely figuring it out." With a laugh, I shove all the ki in the core into its field, then spin it around as quickly as I can before feeding it back into the core. "Anything? Nothing in the menu. Though it might not even show up there? Tsk." A regular ki crystal formed after spinning looks the same, as does the bovidic beast I spawn from it. Which is quickly swarmed and devoured by the feliformic beasts in the room. Yikes.

I flood the field with ki again, then quickly yank it back into the core, bit by bit. The core starts to bubble and shift? Then I pull the mana it had somehow drawn in out of it. "Well, clearly not that. Maybe it was the spinning, but I need to form a new core while doing it?"

Rapidly spun ki crystalized into a core, does produce a weird spiky cotton candy web core. But it doesn't say anything different in the menu, so I rip all the ki back out of it and to the original ki core. Then wince in expected pain a moment later when I realize what I just did. But, no pain comes of it, somehow? "Maybe because it was so new?"

I shake it off and move to try another idea. I very carefully mold the ki into the shape of a hollow sphere of hexagon tiles. Then slowly crystalize it while maintaining the shape and open spaces. The idea of a core you can look right through is amusing. But I don't expect much at this point.

"It is about the shape? Wait. Second Refinement?! How'd I skip one? Uhhh, maybe just a simpler shape? Like a, cube?" Attempting to shape ki into a cube from the hex pattern refined core, does not work. Turns out the ki wants to stay in that pattern. With an imagined roll of the eyes, I refocus to the basic ki core, then make a cube shaped core. Which also turned out as an unrefined core. "Fiiine then. Keep you secrets, first refinement. Pfft. I'll just be over here seeing what second refinement does for me, monster wise."

A moment later I have a ki crystal that looks like a simplified version of the core. Far fewer sides, and less depth to the color. Huh, yeah. The core is in several faintly distinct shades of red. Is that important? "I have the attention span of a caffeine poisoned butterfly." I decide to spawn a cat with the refined ki, since I don't wanna drop another cow into that meat grinder.

The liquid light even seems to flow in hex patterned swirls as it coalesces into a new form. The feliform that rises from the ground is a bit bigger, maybe close to bobcat size instead of housecat. They are also a dapper little tuxedo cat! Mostly black fur with white mitts, and a few small white hexagons trailing down the sides. The cat stretches slowly, seemingly getting used to the new body. When the paws spread wide, my gaze is drawn to the longer and more articulated digits.

"Dear goddess, I beg your forgiveness. For I have given a cat, HANDS! Oh the crimes this little one shall surely commit. Hmm, wonder if they can stand on their hind legs, wear boots, and wield a little sword?"

Most of the pre-existing felines turn away once they realize the flashy lights weren't another meal, but one of them, a fluffy, tan, main coon looking cat, takes an aggressive stance with the newcomer. But it is summarily swatted away by one dismissive paw swipe from the new bigshot in the room. The blow wasn't fatal, but it sure seems to have established the new pecking order.

"Heh, interesting to see the differences in their personalities. But, that'll do for now. Gotta check out spiritual energy before morning. Starting with, its spectral entities, I suppose."

"Well. At least Poltergeist makes sense." I create five spirit crystals in an empty room deep underground. I select the dying gasp option, more spiritual energy pours into the crystal, but nothing seems to change.

Just when I'm beginning to wonder if I need to do something else, a pained scream echoes throughout the tiny chamber.

"Fffffffuck. If I had a heart, it'd be running a hundred miles a minute. I can see how that happening unexpectedly might shift the course of a battle though. But, the only thing visible is the crystal? Interesting. Would Aradain with her special eye see something though?" I shrug, and flick the ventriloquist rock into the corner before trying the next one.

Already having a slight suspicion, I look around the small room, until I find a shadow without a source. Cast upon the wall in a way that defies the only light in the room, is a figure that could almost be said to be the shadow of a human. Though it is certainly not right. Far too thin, and somehow, expressive. Even as I watch, the shadow moves behind the positive light mana crystal, grinning as if mocking its glow.

"A few of those in a dark forest and anybody would scream like a five year old when the nightlight burns out. He he hee." The first manifestation screams again, the sound seeming to come from right next to me. I jump out of the small room and into the surrounding rock. "Dammit. Phew."

The third option, chill of the grave, finally seems to create an actual creature. Though it is practically invisible. It gives the impression of a gaunt zombie with near perfect camouflage. The floor under its feet slowly frosts over as it stands in place unresponsively. Until I tell it to move, and it slowly shuffles forward. I drop a rock on it, which passes through without trouble. "Mmhmm. I imagine that bugger breathing down the neck would be disturbing."

The call from beyond is exactly like the dying gasp, in that its first act is to scream in pain. But then, it starts talking. "Please god, just let me die!" . . . Which it said in my voice, I may point out. Yeesh. "The worms! THE WORMS! They won't stop gnawwwwwwwwwwwwwwww-GRUAGH."

"Okay, yeah, just gonna reabsorb that spiritual energy, thanks." My reclamation pulls apart the manifestation and the crystal. I wasn't trying to absorb the crystal. "Hmmm?"

I shrug it off and turn to the last option. "Now, the big boy ghost." I imagine rubbing my hands evilly, the select the option.

Like the chill of the grave, the poltergeist does have a form. But instead of being at all human like, it looks more like an invisible squid in a blender. Which is to say, spinning and writhing, with bits flying off and slowly pulling back into it. Weird. Before I can tell it to do anything, it starts throwing the two remaining spirit crystals around, causing the dying gasp to scream all the louder, and causing the shadow of the fallen to flicker across the walls wildly. Then one of the poltergeist's near invisible tendrils wraps around the chill of the grave's invisible neck, lifting it up and thrashing it around just as wildly as the small crystals.

"Violent." One of the tendrils swipes at me, but passes through without causing me to feel anything. "Psychotically so, even." I strip all of the spiritual energy from the room, though the poltergeist seems to tear itself apart even faster than I can absorb it. As if it were spiting me by killing itself before I could.

When I chose to construct a spiritual frame for fifty points of spirit, it seems to pull at me a bit. Before I can give the curious sensation much thought, it disappears. Then a gray box thing appears on the floor. It seems to be made of wires, though they are tightly woven, with odd patterns. After staring for too long at what I swear is a question mark, I shake it off and turn to the clear main feature of the box, a hole in the top that looks just large enough for a spirit crystal. "Well. Nothing ventured nothing exploded."

I drop a crystal into the box. It falls out of sight. Curious that I cannot see into the box, er frame. "Hmm, nothing? Guess I need to summon an entity? I like the shadow best, I think."

This shadow of the fallen is far more, vague than the first. It is round and lacking any sign of limbs. It somehow seems to look around itself from its current position on the ceiling. Then it flows down the wall to surround the spiritual frame still occupying the floor. It swirls around the box, then rises up slightly on one side, causing the box to slide towards my current point of view.

"Is this, some kind of attempt to play? HAVE I MADE A GHOST CHILD?!!" After a brief bit of cackling, though I'd hesitate to call it as such to anyone else, I take a moment to refocus. "Phew, or more likely, you're asking to be, completed? You already have a 'soul' so you still need mana for a 'mind', and ki for a 'body', yes?"

Aside from the shadow continuing to swirl around, nothing happens. So I shrug it off and drop crystals for the other two energies into the box. "Feliformic, since that's my mood, and goes well with a shadow, obviously. Mmm, but. What for mana? Element and form? Could double down on shadows? Nah. Tsk. Oh! Holy, stealth shadow cat with healing powers. Fu~n. But which monster form? Wisp would be the safe choice. Minimal impact on its appearance, basic spellcasting added. Little boring though. Elemental for extra physical resistance? No. Blest bug? Still don't actually know what the bug form adds. Didn't turn the ki beasts into slugs like the original glow bug or most of the elemental swapped versions. Of course! The winged treasure! My og holy critter. Should be interesting to see what the mimic trait adds to this too."

The cat that appears when the spiritual frame containing all three base energies disappears, is spotted like a mao or bengal cat, though with a dark brown color for most of its fur and black spots. The shadow on the floor flows to connect to the cat's paws, then shifts to a cat shaped shadow, the shadow stretches out like a cat, while the body looks around the room. Then I add the winged treasure monster form. The black spots grow until the cat is mostly black, with very irregular gold stripes. And of course, a pair of lustrous black wings with faint gold highlights pop out of its back.

The cat bristles at the unexpected change, then realization seems to dawn and he looks right at me with that patented cat judgmental stare.

"Yeah, sorry bout that. But on the bright side, you're probably the strongest monster in my dungeon now. Weird, given you're like, the size of a shallows behemoth's head. Anyway, can you hide?"

The cat turns away dismissively, then dives into the shadow. The shadow ripples like disturbed water, then flows into the one natural shadow cast in the room, that of the stone fixture holding the positive light mana crystal.

"Interesting. But not what I meant. Uhh, come back out and disguise yourself as loot?"

A cat face pokes up out of the small shadow, then he struts out into the middle of the room before sitting down and curling his tail around his front legs and turns into an obsidian statue with gold veins threaded across the surface.

"Oooh. Kintsugi. Fascinating. Explains the weird stripes too. Hmm, could I make actual statues that look the same? Glass plus metal, then soak the metal in holy mana to turn it to a gold color. Might be a little much effort? But, rare spawn or wandering boss for a lower floor in the holy section, only sometimes pair him with an actual statue?"

"Dan! The wolf beastkin is back. Oh, well hello. That's a rather nice statue. Trying to improve your loot craft?"

"I'll need to if I want to match this lil guy. But, this one is a monster. Feliformic beast, plus shadow of the fallen, plus winged treasure. Oh, and the spirit frame thing. Which, I vaguely think is like a personality matrix? So even if he dies, his mind will pop back into the spirit core? Just what seems right based on context so far. Not so sure on testing it. Ah well, you play with the sphinx-kitty? I'll see if we can get classes yet."

"As if. I'm keeping my eyes on your shenanigans. Not to mention, being second in line to grab a class." Despite that, Sol does take a moment to whisper to the statue. "Don't worry, Glitter, I'll play with you later."

"Did you just name our strongest monster, Glitter?" I laugh, then zip away to the dungeon chapel, pursued by Sol who utters a warning growl.

Branheil is already praying before the brazier, he straightens up slightly when I appear in the room, though he doesn't look at me. "Ah, there you are. Ready to try again?"

"Straight to business? Fair enough. Yessir."

He places a piece of wood and a mana crystal on the edge of the brazier and starts chanting without delay.

I drop the wood in the flame, then look to the screens. Pleasingly, they have far fewer errors, though not none. Apparently, my lack of strength, dexterity, and constitution hasn't been debugged yet. Before I completely dismiss the first two screens I notice something, odd? I now have a race entry. "Apparently Vestria decided to classify me as a 'Dungeon Network Spirit'? . . . She really took some liberties diggin' around in my mind. Hmm. Does kind of, make sense though?"

"Lady Vestria has not brushed against the material plane this time? Well, I suppose she must be busy."

"Ha, no. Given her personality, she's watching with bated breath to see what class I chose before making herself known."

Branheil pinches the bridge of his nose. "I, cannot deny that possibility."

I snicker, then turn to the final screen.

"I can see the use in any of those, sorcerer even matches one of my ideas going into this. Buuut. I can see no other choice. Dungeon scientist is the clear winner for me. I can make my own monster bestiary! Or, dex if you prefer."

The screen changes to, repeat the description of dungeon scientist? With a query at the bottom asking if I accept the class soul. Which I go ahead and confirm. I wait a moment, then try to bring up a status for the new class. Which happens as easily as wanting it, much simpler than figuring out my first core.

"Is this, the power of a god?" I cackle aloud and gleefully pour ninety points of mana into unlocking measurement and calculation assist. Not that ten points of ki or spirit would have broken the bank, but mana is by far my most abundant resource. Possibly discounting time. "Now my floors can finally be level! Or, angled as needed. Ohooo, just a slight angle in the water or ice sections could pretty much be a trap in its own right~"

"Ha! Knew you'd pick dungeon scientist. You're every bit as predictable as you assume me to be." The goddess' voice echoes throughout the small chapel well before the weight of her presence descends. "Though, I admit I thought you'd be most interested in catalyzation."

"So, less predictable than you thought?"

"Nah, we both still have one correct guess, so it's even." Vestria giggles for five full seconds, before suddenly taking a deep breath. "Right, anyway. Business. I didn't quite make it to ten dungeon classes like I'd hoped, but I'll add more later. Same for advanced classes, though even if you max out your level, you'll just be stuck at fifty until you can get an advanced class. I also need to finish fixing the menu's accounting of you."

"Ah, right. You gain 'EXP' in a few ways. For example, when an adventurer levels up in part of your dungeon that you're responsible for, you'll gain one point. You'll need a dungeon manager to designate that kind of thing, that's my guess for what class little Sol will want, by the by. No pressure though. If adventurers die, you'll gain points equal to their level. If they are revived in your dungeon, you'll gain twenty points. Or, if you have a dungeon theologian, and they revive an adventurer, the exp goes to them by default. Oh! Another reason to get a theologian, you'll be able to use the brazier of blessings without needing Brannie to help. Nnm. Oh, there are some other class specific ways to earn exp. But I'm thinking of putting a full list in a dropdown of the status menu. So those details are probably enough for now."

"Kaay, simple enough. From the discussions I've overheard, I take it, there'll be a few new skills every fifth level? Feels a little off, given the skill points part has been dropped, but fair enough. Imagine the higher level skills cost a lot more energy, though. Sorry, if this has all been a hassle."

"No trouble at all dearie. This ol' gal loves system building. Plus as a little bonus, I can reuse some of the work I put into dungeon classes to update some of the normal classes, maybe even make a couple new classes."

". . . OH! Dungeon warlock! I know I'd have fun with a few warlocks of my own."

"What's a warlock? You know, I'll just pluck that ratiocination out of your mind real quick. . . Oh, okay yeah. That is an interesting idea. Put most of the spell crafting on the dungeons, maybe let them just slot the dungeon sorcerer spells in for a standard warlock loadout if the dungeon isn't able to make abilities for their warlocks. And of course the warlock can make a deal with a dungeon for, energy, items, captured monsters, or whatever suits the dungeon."

Branheil groans. "I am, beginning to suspect that being involved with this dungeon will go badly somehow. Or at least impact your reputation."

"Oh, don't be like that Bran-bran. Danny boy isn't a bad guy, just a little, eccentric. Plus, do you know how many people treat me like just another person? Not enough, I'll say that. Far as I'm concerned, I should just be someone's little old aunty. Well, really I should be dead a hundred and twenty years. Instead of that, I became a goddess. And for some reason that made me look sixteen again? Like, did all the people who literally worshiped me back then just, view me as a helpful younger sister type? I worked haaaard for those smile lines dammit, now I barely have dimples!"

The pressure of Vestria's presence shifts from pressing down to holding in place, then it lessens somewhat, as if she were retracting her power from the area. "My apologies, I did not mean to, fly off the handle on that old gripe of mine."

"Riiiight. That is some interesting info. Buuut, if you'd be willing to forgive a silly dungeon for a bit of impertinence?"

"Don't you start mister." I can practically feel the finger wag in Vestria's speech. "I know full well that you'll say or ask whatever's on your mind regardless."

The goddess and I share a chuckle while the priest stares blankly into the middle distance, ignoring us, to the best of his ability.

"Yes ma'am. I was just wondering if you have an update on the unique skill situation while you're here."

"Ahh, that. Well, one of the other gods picked that up and ran with it. Ehem. Luxala, the god of ardent law, devised a unique skill called 'Edict of the Fairy King', just for you. Ha, I do appreciate the name. Should you accept it, you will gain a set of abilities that should help with your previous concerns."

"From how it was described. You'll receive a notification anytime someone with a unique skill enters your dungeon. Secondly, you can attempt to interfere with any skill, unique or otherwise, making it harder to use, limiting the area of effect, and rarely causing it to fail entirely. Then, there are two other anti-skill options. By effectively forcing a magical contract, you lock away some of your own monster creation options in order to seal a specific skill. Or, a more interesting option as far as I can tell, you can set penalties upon the use of certain skills, from something as simple as inflicting damage if they use a disallowed skill, to something more complex like randomized teleportation to a different location if they dare to use it. Essentially; detection, suppression, sealing, and banning. Though if you ban skills, anyone the ban applies to will be notified. Oh, and both seals and bans upon common skills can be targeted to specific areas. For instance, you could just say that no one can use the firebolt spell in your ice section. Such a thing would certainly keep people on their toes."

"That all sounds, very interesting. I'm, not even sure that classifying that as a defensive unique skill is accurate. But it will certainly serve the purpose. Thank you. And, could you convey my thanks to Luxala?"

"I am uncertain that he understands the idea of thanks, but I shall indeed convey them on your behalf. Anyway, have fun with your new toys dearie. This ol' gal is going back to work." The weight of her presence fades further.

"Oh, sudden but okay. Goodbye." Once it seems like Vestria is gone, I sigh. "Okay, so Sol, you wanna go next?"

"Of course. That dungeon manager class seems, perfect." We all do our best to ignore the phantom laughter echoing from beyond.