The rats were happily nomming away at their cheeses while sitting by the cool, artificial river where we found chest #17. Some of the rats also bathed in the river or helped groom each other. I left a video feed open to look at them on occasion since the sight was soothing.

I sectioned off a room with a brambled door - fitting the green valley-like environment - with a wall made from rough stone, then added snaking vines across to make it look old and overgrown. Beyond the door was the Dungeon Core. I of course instinctively knew if the core died, so would I - as it was really the true me - and everyone else, but this new drive to keep it protected and hidden was new. Not unwelcome though. Self-preservation just makes sense after all.

I added a lot of trees with the DP we had - I should note that environment changes on an existing floor are very cheap, but not free - to make it look more like a forest and to hide the actual door. A fake trampled-down path snaked through the woods and branched off at various points.

"[Menu]. [Traps]."

I checked if I could make pitfalls that would open below unsuspecting invaders. Each pitfall cost 25DP, which was not a lot but it added up if I want to add enough to reasonably trap the entire forest. I turned my head to Mimissa.

"What do you think? Should we go through our spoils of battle first and convert useless things into DP, or should we trap the forest first for safety?"

Mimissa cheekily pushed a bar of chocolate into my mouth. Nom nom. Oh yes, I had bought a pillow in the meantime so I could sit on the floor while leaning against Mimissa's chest.

"I think security is more important, but those traps are expensive. I really thought they were cheaper considering how many are on Floor 1."

Floor 2 was apparently conceived as more of a rest stop after a labyrinth. That was oddly nice of the ex-core. Moving traps from Floor 1 to Floor 2 didn't work since they stopped functioning anywhere but where they were placed first. Could I make a boss that uses traps as weapons? Food for thought.

"Want to dig some pitfalls then? Mr. Imp looks bored, so I could provide a shovel. You can collect foliage to disguise the pitfalls as regular ground."

"Sure! Mr. Imp, we're going!"

It seemed like he was fiddling with something metallic - perhaps a piece of something he'd taken from the corpses to alleviate his boredom - but snapped to attention when Mimissa called his name. I gave him a sling pouch to stuff his things into and placed the both of them on Floor 2, next to the new forest.

The unconscious commander woman was already heaved away by Anastelle, so I decided to start working on the prison... only to find out I couldn't.

"Anastelle?" I changed her tag. "Please bring the commander or whatever back up the stairs. It turns out I can't edit floors while invaders are on them."

Based on the movement, she actually chucked her right back. This lifted the building restriction.

(I'm gonna need to make a prison floor or something later, but defining new floors is expensiiiiive...)

I erased a shaved cube of earth about 5x5x3 metres roughly 1 metre below ground, then added a staircase and a door made from stone, reinforced with metal bars - basically old-school concrete plates you'd find in any ex-So- my old world - and set the hinges to open inward. Due to the position of the door relative to the 3 metres tall cube wall, it wasn't really possible to hide behind it.

The staircase was covered with a trap door opening sideways which I'd ask Mimissa later to also disguise. Since the whole thing was close to a particularly loud part of the river, even if someone would hear the prisoner shouting through the air holes, they shouldn't be able to make out their voice in all the noise of the scenery.

I ordered Anastelle to drop the prisoner into the cell. Since I was nice I'd given her a wooden board chained to the wall as a make-shift bed and a bunch of cloth to cover herself with as she pleased. Her belongings were of course all stripped off her body, and Anastelle checked if she was hiding a small knife or something in her hair bun. Go figure, there really was one.

Since I decided to take a break, and I was sure Mimissa would want to go through the spoils with me together, I decided to check my status.

"[Status: Czara]!"

Name: Constanze Czarina
True Name: Dungeon Core Czara
Species: Aesir, Dungeon Core, ???
Class: New Core Lv.1
Affiliation: Dungeon 'NULL'
Health Points: 50/50
Mana Points: 100/100
More...

I didn't realise at first, but the 'More' part was actually clickable. The fact I had gained a 'True Name' which was my nickname prefixed by 'Dungeon Core' was a little ominous, but I guess it made sense. 'True Names' always held power, so I'd need to ensure it stayed secret, but as long as nobody would find out my identity as a Dungeon Core, they were unlikely to figure the full name out, either. Probably. My health points had doubled and my mana had shot through the roof.

I clicked on the 'More' to see what else was hidden.

Equipment: Pasties Bikini of the Succubus, Suit of the Lady Seafarer, Samson Robot phone

Right, I figured the band aids would stay in place. Whoever that succubus was that tricked me into putting this so-called bikini on would suffer once I got her to show her face again. Anastelle's input meanwhile was helpful, so I'd do something nice for her later. We did kinda owe her for gifting us Mr. Imp as well. But then I realised.

(Wait, my phone? I was totally sure I'd lost it. Uh, let's see...)

"[Equip 'Samson Robot phone']."

*Ding* [Error. 'Samson Robot phone' is already equipped.]

"...But where IS IT!?"

*Ding* [Locating object 'Samson Robot phone'... ... ... Object found 17.4 kilometres south-west-west.]

(Oh, huh. So as long as something is properly equipped, I can- but wait, I didn't equip the phone in the first place! Does it count since I had it on me when I got here? Does it show on the map? What if someone else finds and equips it? Are objects forcefully unequipped if the owners die? Is that what decides if Dungeons can collect them?)

I had a whole slew of questions pop into my mind that I'd need to go through later. I first opened the map screen to look outside our area, but it didn't let me scroll very far. All I could see was the border of a huge mountain range, a giant lake nearby - guess that would explain the marine-themed dress I got - and a whole lot of nothing but sparse needle trees here and there. The quintessential 'bumblefuck nowhere'.

(There ought to be a village in the vicinity, at least.)

I got back to my status, wondering why Health Points and Mana Points had to be full words. In games you'd just shorten them. The menu did exactly that, also showing more stats.

HP: 50, MP: 100, STR: 13, AGI: 37

That was better. I realised that the short-form got rid of the maximum value, but that was acceptable. My values for strength and agility were... Well, I had no real comparison, but I guess they made sense for the body of a loli.

(Still feels low, though.)

Skills: Spear Proficiency 1, Charm Tolerance 4, Sense Trap 1, Dungeon Menu◇, ???

My skills hadn't changed, aside from gaining the [Dungeon Menu] or just [Menu] skill. [Sense Trap] was listed since I'd 'uncovered' it earlier, while [Charm Tolerance] had upgraded a little, possibly because I'd spent more time with Mimissa and also Anastelle. The fact the * was gone likely meant the skill was now properly mine.

Status Effects: Vengeful
Allies: Mimissa the Chocolate Mimic, Anastelle the Dracubus, Mr. Imp the impertinent Imp of Impington

I read the last one three times, it didn't change.

(Very funny, menu.)

I wondered if more things would be added later. Titles were usually a thing in games, and they would represent achievements and sometimes even have actual effects.

*Ding* [Dungeon Core Czara has gained title 'The Curious'.]

(Well speak of the-)

*Ding* [Title 'The Curious' has raised MMP by 5.]

(Coooool.)

So all in all, my stat sheet looked like this, reformatted to make more sense to me:

Name: Constanze Czarina
True Name: Dungeon Core Czara
Species: Aesir, Dungeon Core, ???
Class: New Core Lv.1
HP: 50; MP: 100/105; STR: 13; AGI: 37
Status Effects: Vengeful
Equipment: Pasties Bikini of the Succubus, Suit of the Lady Seafarer, Samson Robot phone
Skills: Spear Proficiency Rk.1; Charm Tolerance Rk.4; Sense Trap Rk.1; Dungeon Menu◇; ???
Titles: The Curious; ???
Affiliation: Dungeon 'NULL'
Allies: Mimissa the Chocolate Mimic; Anastelle the Dracubus; Mr. Imp the impertinent Imp of Impington

Important stats and notes came first. Things that wouldn't change all the time, or were otherwise pretty inconsequential should come later - my species changing of course having major potential for concern since it was kinda like a whole status on its own. Gameplay first, then lore!

(Mental notes: Punish the succubus who lolified me. Gift Anastelle something nice for her help. Gift Mr. Imp something too. Cuddle more with Mimissa. Finish prison. Check on the prisoner once a day, figure out what to ultimately do with her. Check on traps on Floor 2. Test idea of boss equipped with traps as weapons; flamethrowers maybe? Check outside dungeon for signs of civilisation and/or stuff to kill and turn into DP. Prepare for inevitable attack from Smirnov. Anything else?)

I typed those things into a memo on a separate screen like a quest list, then let my thoughts drift for a while.

*Ding* [Dungeon Core Czara has been affected by Sleep Deprivation.]

"Yes, yes, I know. Are you going to do this every time now!?"

*Ding* [Dungeon Core Czara is being a brat.]

"Ha ha haaah... Well then, good night."