Valterra looked over the attic with a critical eye. It was reasonably large and perfect for a fourth floor. The only issue is that he already had a fourth floor, and any attempt to change that would necessitate changes to the other floors. If he didn’t do it correctly and in the proper sequence, then his floors might become unstable. What he could do, however, is make the attic into a hidden floor and then introduce it later as the proper fourth floor.

  He got to work by building a small city up in the rafters of the attic as a pit stop for any of his creatures that fit the design. Most likely, they would be his Mouse Guards or similarly small creatures. He used his father’s memories extensively in the crafting of it, but put his own twist on it. Like a pillar, it reached upward to meet his entrances that brought in Aether with each of his breaths. Stone spread outward along the rafters, forming houses above and below. The houses above hung from the rock in clumps with tunnel-like streets leading from them to the central pillar, where the path down began in spiraling patterns.

  The city below sprawled outward from the pillar with its own open streets and thoroughfares. Empty storefronts and government buildings were spread out along separate rafters, with housing still separated. His breath was carried through the center of the pillar until it exited the bottom, then dispersed through the walls and down to the fourth, before being carried upward into the fifth and sixth, respectively. Valterra hummed in displeasure at how circuitous it was.

  He instinctively knew that breathing should be straightforward. What he was doing now was wasteful. It wasn’t like he wasn’t getting enough Aether; it was just that the way he was going about it was terribly inefficient. But that will change soon, the Core swore to himself. Once I’m done here, I can move on to the seventh and eighth floors and finish them too. After that, hmm, I’ll get started on moving some things around, and we will see what sticks.

  Valterra finished the miniaturely massive city quickly after his little internal conversation and moved on. Below the town in the rafters, on the attic’s floor, he created a soft bed of earth and then made a carpet of moss and grass. He then made a stone road that led to one of the ways down to the fourth floor. He made sure to create stone outcroppings inside the wall that would allow his creatures to climb down. From there, it would be easy to direct creatures through the inner section of the walls to the Inbetween. They would remain there, relatively safe, until he could shift his floors around.

  Back up in the attic, he began sealing off a section behind a stone wall he made to look like wood. It was thin and only possible because he could create stone out of thin air with Aether. What it would do, though, is hide the other side from view. In the corner where the stone wall hit the side of the attic, he placed a small, unobtrusive opening that looked like a mouse tunnel. Within the sealed-off section, he summoned a new High Danian Ant queen in her own cubby etched into a rafter where she would be safe. He made sure to make her an Empress and gave her enough food to live on. Then he summoned some Feral Mice, beetles of various kinds, and some Aether-Dew Mold.

  It wasn’t a lot, and he knew that. The point was to create a pseudo-floor hidden from sight until it could become a proper floor where his creatures could live and grow before moving on to the fifth and sixth floors with their more powerful Frameworks. After all, most of the ones coming through would be Copper and Bronze ranks. The fourth floor would be a place of rest for the creatures who succeeded in making it this far. Oh, there would still be conflict, but he hoped that the space provided would be enough.

  The city he had made would be for any Mouse Guards who headed down. Although I suppose delvers could also use it during their dives as a sort of midway point. Valterra thought, surprising himself. Hah, he scoffed, one slightly favorable interaction and you’re already letting down your guard. Let’s not get too carried away.

  With his hidden floor created, he made sure to put a few Aether Pylons down so that his creatures wouldn’t suffer a lack, considering the floor was off his main breathing pattern. Then he finalized it and left, even as the System pinged him that he had succeeded in forming a hidden floor. He noted that he had reached 75% of the progress needed to reach the next stage of Core Ascension. Valterra hummed to himself in confusion.

  He hadn’t thought he had reached 70%, much less 75%. Querying the System, he discovered that the Inbetween had given five percent some time ago. With everything going on —what with the birds and preparing for Natalia’s arrival —he had simply missed it. That was a little concerning but not necessarily surprising. Still, he had reached his goal for Ascension, but it would be too risky to go through the process now while Natalia’s team delved his halls.

  While his interactions with her had been positive so far, it wasn’t enough for him to blindly trust her. She and her party were powerful enough that it would take the full might of his dungeon and, therefore, his full attention to defend against them. Valterra chafed at the delay. The next stage of Ascension promised to be instrumental. It would allow him to create Steel Rank Frameworks from scratch, while most likely giving him another one via the gods.

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  And there was the timeframe to consider. How long would he be in that semi-coherent awareness that came with Ascending? Would he be more aware rather than less? The last time he had Ascended, the process had taken around two weeks, as far as he remembered. Ascension had been hazy toward the end, and his memory of that time was one of pain. Still, if the pattern held true, then the next stage would take close to four weeks to complete.

  That was a long time to be unconscious. Coupled with the fact that now that he had been discovered, more people would likely come to delve his halls. The odds that all of them would be content to leave him unclaimed were laughable. He would not leave himself so helpless again, even if it meant more pain and strain in the process. Regardless, his success at reaching 75% meant that he would need to be extra careful. He didn’t want to add any more progress by accident. The problem was that the percentage was just a number that denoted his achievements, and it wasn’t like he could stop building his dungeon.

  He could give up on his mission of a mostly unassisted Ascension, but it wasn’t a choice he wanted to make. The process sounded fascinating. Still, perhaps some concessions were needed. Valterra sighed and mentally increased his tally to 85%. That was the highest he was willing to go. Any more and he wouldn’t get a proper feel for the Ascension process. Luckily, a sudden spike in Aether gave Valterra the excuse to shift his attention.

  The Embermaw Mink had awoken, and she was pretty cranky about it. With her affinity transformed into fire, she was as beautiful as she was dangerous. Her eyes had turned into amber-red pools of shifting color, sparks leaking from the edges. Her fur had changed color from brown to an ashy black, the tips of which stuttered with spurts of flame. Savage teeth ridged a mouth that dripped fire.

  The creatures of the fifth floor all fled from her presence as she stalked the stone halls of the Hungering Caverns. No amount of hunger would force them to treat the Embermaw as prey. Steam hissed as she breathed out, her snout sending plumes outward to scour the ground. Even her breath was dangerous. Her paws sank into the stone just slightly, heat glowing with every step.

  All in all, Valterra was immensely pleased. Now he just had to get her to his seventh floor without burning the house down. Nothing for it but to do it, I suppose, Valterra thought. He opened a hole in the wall of the fifth floor rather than have her climb all the way up to the sixth and then back down. As soon as it opened, the Embermaw scampered through, following his leading trail of Aether. His Awareness trailed her progress after closing the opening, actively extinguishing the fires that sprouted in her wake.

  Upon reaching the seventh floor, he opened the small stone doors he had set in place, and the Embermaw entered immediately. She shivered in pleasure at the heat of it, her gleaming eyes flitting from place to place before she sprinted in, and Valterra shut the doors behind her before shifting his awareness inside. He looked over the seventh floor with a critical eye. He found, to his surprise, that the Pinewillow Emberseed had finished its Ascension into a Flamewillow Sapling.

  It was a tall, slim thing, about three feet tall, with long, drooping limbs that reached back toward the ground. Those limbs were covered in red-hot needles that ignited into sputtering flames drifting with the heat waves present on the seventh. At various points along the trunk, molten sap spilled forth, trailing burning lines down the sapling until they fell in sizzling drops to the ground, where they hardened. Valterra gazed in wonder at the little tree that defied the natural world surrounding his Dungeon.

  Calling forth his Aether, Valterra summoned several more saplings in various spots, watching as they took hold of the ground around them and shot up to around the same height as the first one. He watched as their needles ignited and began to draw in the ambient heat that sustained them. More sap began to drip down to the floor below, and Valterra was satisfied that his moles would soon have a new kind of deposit to explore. He hoped that it would affect their future Ascensions.

  Finished, he pulled back his awareness and surveyed the seventh floor. There was prey and predator alike, and plenty of places for the prey to hide. Stone trees abounded for the squirrels to climb and escape to. The mantises present were still running around in a little pack, hunting moles or climbing to grasp at larger prey with the squirrels. The moles were doing a little better, their Aether conduits getting used to the extreme heat. The salamanders were thriving, having embraced the molten rivers of metal as both protection and hunting strategy in one.

  The Embermaw Mink was already making herself at home. A true terror, and most of the denizens fled when she began to prowl around. She quickly found a mole tunnel near the back of the room and began to dig it out further to create a den for herself. She seemed pretty content to be fled from, but he knew that wouldn’t last. He made a note to check back in later just to make sure there wasn’t a sudden lack of moles.

  Regardless, Valterra hadn’t forgotten that it was in the creation of the seventh floor that he had the idea for Guardians, and so he felt it was fitting that the seventh should have a Guardian of its own that fit its unique nature. To achieve that goal, he had only two options. He could choose his unique tree, the one that had Ascended, or he could select the Embermaw Mink. His Core flashed in blues and greens as he did the Dungeon Core equivalent of a shrug. He chose both.

  Embermaw Mink (Guardian, Rank C - Steel)

  Born a beast of water and now baptised in fire, this mink has been raised into the position of Guardian. Her hunger is a roaring inferno within her, a blaze that constantly seeks fuel. She is less a protector and more a scourge, the terrible consequence of trespassing.

  Flamewillow Sapling (Guardian, Rank D - Iron)

  A result of forced growth, this tree is a proof of concept now given Guardianship by Valterra Unok’Davaas. Aesukose seeps from its trunk to run in golden rivers to bathe the surrounding area. Unable to move, it instead protects those who shelter under its branches. Its foliage creates a veil of flame that is difficult to pass through without the proper affinity.