Going up the stairs, we arrive on the floor above where I started, which Pim told me was the first floor of the dungeon. As we moved through the floor to our destination, I got a quick understanding of the layout of this floor. The tunnels were less windy, allowing for greater vision up and down them. There were also fewer traps, both in number and lethality. There were also fewer rooms with fewer, weaker monsters overall. Most monsters were roaming the dungeon alone or in pairs, with a few groups of three scattered around. Compared to the second floor, the first was a walk in the park, perfect for training rookie dungeon delvers. I could see why that trio would want to get to the more challenging floors below, but that kind of pride and arrogance would lead me to the same fate if I wasn’t careful. I need to only tackle what I know I can manage; anything more is likely to end in failure or death. That’s why I need to expand my power, even if it’s through recruiting other monsters to finish my fights. And I believe I’m about to meet this mystery monster that’ll pad out our group.

  ?

  “Alright, we’ve just about made it to the spawning ground for stone golems. They ain’t the smartest, but they can take a good number of hits from the weaker humans. Plus, they’re perfect for keeping attention on themselves while we sneak around. They’re not very stealthy either when moving around, but when set up in an ambush, they blend in perfectly with the wall. So whatdya think?”

  ?

  “ Yeah, sounds good. I can easily float in front of anybody fighting and blind them. You can then swoop in from behind to take them down or pick off anybody weak, like a mage or healer. But should we add any other monsters to our group? And how long is it gonna take for a stone golem to appear?”

  ?

  “Well, ideally, we would add some more muscle, but there are a few problems with it. There’s a limit on the number of monsters on the floor, so we can’t just get a bunch of golems. I mean, we could, but then we’d have the dungeon managers breathing down our- my neck. For the other solo monsters, they ain’t smart like me, so they won’t take an interest in working together with me. They are smart enough to tell if they’re stronger than another monster, so they won’t listen to regular monsters they think are as strong as them or weaker. For monsters in packs, they’re pretty much bonded together until they die together. I’m an odd monster, too, I guess. As for a stone golem, there should be one somewhere nearby; they respawn pretty often.”

  ?

  “They respawn? Does that mean they come back to life with their memories and experience?”

  ?

  “Oh, no, I wish it would make life a hell of a lot easier for me. Usually, monsters come from spawners, but there are some that can be specially born by the dungeon master. The managers are supposed to be personally created by him. Us regular monsters come from these spawners, and if we’re lucky, we level up enough to evolve and get stronger. Otherwise, we die, and an entirely new monster is spawned. It’s some real tough shit for us.”

  ?

  “Oh, okay, so don’t die, no matter what. I’ll try to look for a stone golem. I can sense pretty far if I focus.”

  ?

  “That’s pretty neat, beats wandering the floor, at least.”

  ?

  My ‘Manipulate Mana’ skill has gotten stronger since the last time I tried this, but I’m going to focus all of my mana threads in front of me. We’ve already gone through the rooms behind us, so I won’t worry about spreading any threads in that direction. Focusing the threads into a tight chord of mana, I run it through the rest of the rooms and tunnels, about four-hundred feet in total. My mana didn’t run through any stone golems standing in the middle of the path, so I’ll have to spread my mana throughout the floor. Imagining branches stemming off the trunk of a tree, my mana threads manage to touch the walls of the rooms, but don’t cover the entire space. Next, I have the threads spin around the base, sweeping through the entire room and letting me see a monster hiding in the shadows of the dungeon. There, two rooms down, is a solitary stone golem standing in the corner of a room.

  ?

  “Alright, I found one, just follow me.”

  “Lead the way, then.”

  ?

  Retracting my mana back, we begin to make our way towards the stone golem I found. It takes about ten minutes to get to the room, me floating and Pim gliding through the air. When we finally get there, we casually move over to the golem. Its surface is covered in the rough, rocky texture of the dungeon walls, allowing it to blend right in, especially when cloaked in shadow. It’s about seven feet tall, with long, thick arms that could easily crush an unsuspecting adventurer. Whenever it moves, the sound of grinding stone echoes through the room, even when it simply looks around, even though it doesn’t have eyes. It must be able to sense through other means, like vibration or mana. I wonder what its stats look like, compared to me and to Pim. Pim then starts talking about how this will work out.

  ?

  “Okay, we’ve found a stone golem. That was the hard part. The easy part is convincing him to join us.”

  ?

  “And how do we do that?”

  ?

  “It’s pretty simple. We just have to tell him he’ll be working with us now. He’s as dumb as a bag of rocks, but he’ll follow simple directions without complaint. Killin’ intruders is as instinctual as any other monster, so we won’t have any problems on that front either. So, go ahead, Willow, tell that big rock he’ll be joining us from now on, and give him a name, too, makes things easier.”

  ?

  “Wait, why do I have to do it? I’ve never done anything like this before.”

  “Whatchya talking about? You convinced me to join you, so this should be pretty easy. Plus, I gave you a name, so pass it on and do your part.”

  ?

  “Alright, you have a point.” Accepting that I won’t be able to convince Pim otherwise, I prepare myself to talk to the stone golem and connect to him with my mana. “Hello, can you understand me?”

  ?

  The stone golem pointed its head towards me, and in a slow, gravely voice like rocks grinding against each other, spoke to me through my mana.

  ?

  “Yeesss”

  ?

  “Okay, I want you to join me and the imp, Pim, in getting rid of the dungeon’s intruders. You’ll be out front, and the Imp and I will attack from the shadows. Got it?”

  “Okay”

  ?

  “Oh, that was easier than I thought. Well, my name is Willow, and we’ll be working with Pim. From now on, I think you can go by the name … Vulcan. Yeah, that sounds good, right?”

  ?

  “Mmm. Vulcan, good.”

  ?

  “Okay, you can follow us for now.”

  ?

  With that, I returned to Pim. I had left him connected via my mana, so he was able to hear everything.

  ?

  “Good going, Willow, and welcome to the team, Vulcan. I look forward to working with ya and killing as many intruders as we can. Together, we should all be able to evolve in no time and get even stronger. Maybe one day, you’ll have monsters working under you, too.”

  ?

  Vulcan nodded his head slowly with that grinding sound, showing his affirmation. I thought I also felt some excitement come over through the mana connection, but I think I just imagined it from myself. He shouldn’t be able to express complex emotions. Hopefully, his mental and emotional state will grow with his level of evolution. I know his composition will change into stronger metals in his next few evolutions, but I wonder what lies at the end of his evolution chain. Hopefully, I’ll get to see it one day, and maybe soon, as I pick up the sensation of human mana forming from a few rooms in front of us. Our newly formed team will soon be tested in live combat.