Argak

It took a while to do this because all my homework.

Corvis found that eating away at the stone was a monotonous task. He would absorb a hole about two feet tall for Starlid, spread his influence, and then eat away at stone once more. The task was slow, monotonous, but necessary.

The tunnel Corvis excavated was slightly sloped, heading gently to the surface. Every few hours, Corvis took a well-deserved break, planning the layout of his dungeon. As Corvis' next break began, he found himself curious about other dungeons. His curiosity getting the better of him, he decided to ask his elemental companion.

"Starlid, do you mind telling me if other dungeons have a sense of beauty, do they decorate?"

The elemental crossed its arms and tapped its chin "Older dungeons do. They need to gain an ego before they can determine what beauty looks like to them. Of course, what they see as beautiful may not be beautiful to those that delve into them. Although non-sentient dungeons still decorate, it's like an instinct, a compulsion to make decorations that reflect the mana type they are born from."

How should I make my dungeon? Reflect my element, hmm. "What should I do then?" questioned Corvis, wondering about star mana.

"If you can get your core on some crystals, you could turn them into Nightstar crystals, which shine with starlight. Other than that, changing all the stone Starstone? As I said, you're the first star mana dungeon, so there really isn't any precedent. Maybe a statue of some celestial bodies? Moons that change with the phases? There are many possibilities; don't be compelled to do any of those if you don't want to. Just do what's natural."

The dungeon core thought for several minutes. "I like your ideas, but I think I'll go for a natural feel at first. It's easier that way, and I was never really interested in decorating or architecture, so it would be the easiest", said Corvis, chuckling at the last part.

With his mind set, Corvis set about digging his way to the surface.

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"Finally! How far was that? About 60 feet, would you say?" asked the exited dungeon core.

"Hmm," the elemental taped its face, "I would tell you, but I don't know much about measurements that don't pertain to time".

Air burst into the tunnel, saturating it with the previously absent air.

"I guess there wasn't much air in here." said the dungeon with a smile in his mind

"Only enough to fill the small room you started in," Starlid responded dryly.

Corvis swiftly looked over his dungeon. The walls of his tunnel looked almost natural, being rough and un-uniform in shape. The floor of the tunnel was more even but still jagged in some places. The walls were rough, dark stone. Stalagmites hanging down from the now ten-foot-tall ceiling. The dungeon had two layers, his layer, which amounted to his room, about 20 feet wide and long. The upper layer was 60 feet from the entrance to the slight slope down to the core layer. There were two large chambers, with small tunnels running between them, going deeper to the heart of his man-made cavern. All of the stalagmites were made of Starstone, shimmering a faint white light. Other than that, the cave seemed to be rather ordinary.

As he looked over his dungeon one last time, sunlight filtered in through the one-foot wide hole Corvis had made.

"That's the last of my mana. It took a whole week, but we have a way in."

"Correct. You're lucky you were absorbing mana for 4 years while you were unconscious. It would have been a few months before you finished otherwise", responded Starlid

"So that's why I had so much. It's a shame I'll have to wait for it to regenerate from now on", said the dungeon core, a light bit of disappointment in his voice.

"It is a shame, but not much you can do about it. Best to think of something else. For example, this: why did you make the hole so small?" asked Starlid.

"I would prefer to remain hidden for now. We can just hope some small animals see the hole and come in."

"Staying hidden is a good idea. You can't exactly create any creatures after all." The elemental paced around. "So, what's your next step Corvis? You have the floor, you have an entrance; are you going to wait for something to come in? or are you going to dig deeper once your mana recovers? Oh, or maybe something else entertaining to watch!?" asked the elemental with excitement creeping into his voice.

"I would like to look outside and see if I can tell where we are. There aren't many Starfalls in the world that I'm aware of. Maybe we're in The Star Spring."

"What's that?"

"Well, first off, the only Starfall I know anything about. It's a massive crater, miles upon miles in size, filled with hot springs. The water is very useful in alchemy, and on its own, has a mild healing effect. I experimented with a small amount when I was human, but it cost an arm and a leg to get. The Star Springs is filled with hazards preventing people from easily acquiring the water."

"What kind of hazards?" asked Starlid, in a more serious tone than before.

"Well, for one, poisonous gases sometimes come from the pools, the water could be hot enough to boil you alive, there are dangerous monsters that roam the springs, the farther you go in, the hotter it gets. That's about all the ones I know of."

"What kinds of dangerous animals," the elemental stared into Corvis's core, it's star-like eyes brightening and increasing in size.

"I only know a few, but most seem to be poisonous and have some form of toxins. A lot of them have yellow crystals growing on their bodies as a sort of shell. The crystal stinks too, so being around them isn't too pleasant. From what I know, very far into the spring lay a forest filled with even more dangerous monsters. The trees have the same crystal on their trunk and have yellow and red leaves. I don't know much about the other plants, but I know the monsters get bigger and deadlier the deeper you go. Also, they all seem to have a minor regenerative ability."

"So no one knows what's in the middle of the forest?" asked Starlid, curiosity exuding from its frame.

"I didn't say that. Many people go deep into the spring, but few come back."

"Why do they go in if they'll just die?"

"Greed. The deeper you go, the better the water, the more it's worth. It's healing qualities go up, and it becomes more effective in potions."

"So they go in to get the water?"

"Yes, among other rare ingredients."

"But what's in the middle of the forest then?" the elemental asked with curiosity in its voice.

"The fallen star, most probably. The few folks who made it that far said they saw a large mountain sticking from a deep hole in the ground."

"You mean like the ground got blown out by the meteorite, so it's lower in the ground? And it sticks out like a mountain?"

"What's a meteorite again?" Corvis questioned when thinking back to their past conversations.

"What you call a fallen star." answered the elemental simply. "But I have another question. Why do you know so much about The Star Spring? You were a biomancer." asked the elemental with curiosity in its voice. Starlid didn't quite understand why a biomancer would know anything about some mystical spring.

"I lived near it in my later years. I wished to study the creatures that lived there. As I said before, they were quite unique. It was quite a good time, and although I didn't learn much, I did learn that the animals in the spring were astoundingly similar to the beasts in the surrounding area, except much more deadly and with the strange rocky appearance." The biomancer chuckled. His research into the beasts of The Star Spring let him learn some interesting things about how adaptable animals were. "I always thought the element of a creature, if it had any, dictated every trait of the creatures, but I learned the environment they live in can change them just as much."

Starlid nodded its head and sat down on the ground.

"Hopefully, we're in that place then, so you can continue studying them."

"Indeed," Corvis said with hope in his voice.