Ty reached over and glanced at the lectern, prepared to increase his dungeon. As always, he first glanced at his current set-up.

  Ty stared. Five rooms, almost entirely built to capatilize on Zadrid’s Heart—one of the two dead progenitor parts I’ve gained so far. The Heart of the Grove to be able to utilize the heart, and the Dark Heart, Beast Woods, and Entropy Spark to capitalize on it. Now I can add the Claws, and see what they make—as well as see what is provided by the current room combinations I have.

  “Can you absorb the claws?” Ty asked.

  Saelenia reached down and easily picked the claws up, a complicated expression passing across her face. She took them back toward her throne. Behind the throne was a mass of vines, and inside those vines was the dark heart of Zadrid. It still pulsed, as if alive, and bled black… its ventricles were attached to vines that led into the wall.

  Saelenia went to the other side of the throne and held the claws out. Vines sprouted from the stone walls and raced toward the claws, sticking into them almost like bones and tendons, then taking them up toward the ceiling. A cage of vines formed around them, and pulled them into position so that you could only see them from one side. But now, the claws occasionally stretched or clenched as if alive.

  Creepy.

  Ty glanced down at the readout, where the ‘Heart of the Grove’ ability had an extra object increasing its power.

  “That’s really good—an extra level for monsters is a huge addition to the room, better than a magic effect in my opinion,” Ty said.

  “So you’re an expert now?” Saelenia asked with a raised eyebrow before settling back into her throne, the dark heart in a cage of vines to her right, the claws in a similar cage of vines to the left.

  Ty flushed. Dungeon cores were so rare on the continent of Beldin that no one was an expert, but he had studied what he could find on the subject. “Well, no… I just thought that if you compare rooms, but nevermind. Still, glad I got it—the level needs to be increased again.”

  Ty glanced down at his page. There were three additional tabs, “Additional Rooms,” “Legacy of the Forest” and “Expansion of the Grove.” Legacy of the Forest had given him the options to gather the ancient parts of Saelenia’s long life—dead allied and enemy progenitor parts, temple stones to gods she was associated with, and the regalia and gear of heroes she was associated with. He didn’t know what “Expansion of the Grove” did yet, or how it worked. He already felt as if he was hurting for building picks—did he need or even have room for another route of power at the moment?

  What he needed most, however, was the available rooms tab. He wasn’t sure if new options had propagated yet, but he checked.

  Ty stared for a bit. “Well, I can see where this might be… epic, frankly. I take back anything I once said about the legacy of the forest rooms not being that much greater. This will make my dungeon amazing.”

  Saelenia chuckled. “Of course, youngster. Three improved Beast Woods on this floor will be worth about nine rooms in terms of normal benefits—so you’ll be about six rooms up. You won’t need monster levels, monsters, or recovery for your dungeon for ages. You can focus on treasure levels and more unusual things.”

  Ty rubbed his chin. “Yeah… that’s the obvious ploy. Put in the Primeval heart and Two more Beast Woods. But I could also go for the Shrine to Lost Glory and add the gear of the ancient one hero. A dark horse play.”

  Saelenia crossed her legs and leaned back in the throne. “Don’t be silly, youngling. Keep the deer in camp, don’t run off to try and find a herd elsewhere. The obvious ploy you’;ve worked toward is the double progenitor-beast eldritch room floor—"

  “That’s a mouthful.”

  “Do I need to get me a wooden spoon, youngling?” Saelenia asked with an arched eyebrow, and Ty laughed.

  “As I was saying before I was interrupted by rude youth: you’ve got five picks left before this floor is finished, and no more. The Heart and two Beast Woods leaves only two rooms—Which should probably be the Endless Undead and your boss room. It’ll be a fairly low treasure build, but between everything you’ll have almost an entire second floor worth of rooms for total monsters and monster level and monster recovery. So you can play with your other toys then on your new floor.”

  Ty nodded. It was the obvious, and good, choice, he knew.

  He picked the Primeval Heart of the Forest. It immediately gave his existing Beast Woods an additional monster level and recovery, which then doubled, taking him to a max of Level Seven monsters and a recovery of five-point-six. It was a solid improvement—he’d gone from Level four monsters to Level Seven. His dungeon, only Level Five, would likely grow very fast for a while.

  “So, what about your build?” Saelenia asked. “Are you using it to improve the dungeon further?”

  “Well, I’ve actually been sitting on a level for most of the last three days, thinking about it…”