It was two days later that something once again interrupted Matthias' train of thought.

  "I think I reached the surface," he noted in passing.

  "I would not open your front door yet," Chloe casually replied. She was currently lounging on the bench Matthias had conjured while snacking on a grape—red, of course. Why a bench, you ask? Well, it needed to have no back so her wings had room. It seemed fairies slept either on their sides or bellies.

  "I was not going to," Matthias agreed. "It is just that I stumbled upon something I was not expecting."

  "Oh?" Lucy asked with interest, setting aside her own grape—green, of course.

  "We are under a swamp," he responded.

  Both fairies groaned. He could feel their misery through the bond.

  "I think you are both missing the point," he interrupted their pity party. "The water is absorbing my mana. So are the trees and other plants. It is expanding my influence without my intervention. I am currently keeping up with the draw, but I could see this getting out of hand."

  "I see," Chloe noted as she sat up and fell into deeper thought.

  "Are you letting that happen? That is not normal," Lucy asked in concern.

  "Yeah, I am letting it do that," he reassured them. "I just thought it would be a waste not to take advantage of the water cycle. Oh, I just got a burst of mana. I think a turtle just ate a leech."

  The two fairies shared a look.

  "You got mana for that?" Chloe asked.

  "Yeah?" he asked suspiciously.

  "Normally you only get mana from a kill if it happens in your dungeon, as in fully within your influence," Lucy stated.

  "Oh, I have a whole pond bit," he assured them. "Once I willed my mana to be water-soluble, it happened really fast. My influence is slowly thickening, and both creatures were fully in my influence. There seems to be a small war between these leeches and the turtle."

  The fairies shared a look before going over to his core. They both placed their hands on him and closed their eyes. His core had doubled in size, so it was more like they each placed a hand on either side of it.

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  "Matthias, why is your influence so vast?" Lucy asked. "Your core is tiny compared to your area of influence. I had no idea we were so deep. We are technically a deep dungeon—a dungeon that would normally never see the surface."

  "Otherworldly," Chloe reminded Lucy softly. "Remember, those from beyond earn more mana any time they gain mana. The act of getting mana stirs something in them and gives them more."

  "Then why is his core not bigger?" Lucy asked.

  "Because I am spending nearly as fast as I am getting it," Matthias answered. "I have been making nodes and plans in the background. All that is left is to start building up and let the ants go wild while I start on new projects."

  "What projects?" Lucy asked suspiciously. "And what nodes did you make?"

  "Oh, just more fungus nodes to encourage the ants to spread in certain directions. I have this one cave that is just a massive fungal forest. Must have been untouched for a very long time."

  "Why would there be such a vibrant fungal forest under a swamp?" Lucy asked, her face scrunched up in disgust.

  "Because the nutrients of the swamp filter down," Matthias noted. "Swamps are normally really good sources of nitrogen for fungus. Our core room being below the water table is a blessing. Not only that, but there is just a sheet of granite between us and the swamp. There is more rock than dirt around here. It is only really leaking right above the mushroom forest."

  "You had best make contingencies, as your presence might open up areas for the swamp to begin draining," Chloe offered. "I don't cherish the idea of suddenly becoming an underwater dungeon. But I would also like to know what projects you intend to begin working on next."

  "Well, I was going to start breeding rabbits," Matthias confessed.

  "Why rabbits?" Lucy asked suspiciously.

  "Beast goblins from rabbits?" Chloe caught on first.

  "Indeed. Rabbits are surprisingly territorial," Matthias began. "And goblins with floppy ears just sounds too cute."

  "Goblins are anything but cute," Lucy countered. "I still can't believe you want goblins."

  "Well, it's not like I won't also fill the swamp with various insects and other animals. From what I can tell, the biggest thing in this swamp is a snake," Matthias noted. "I mean, it is a big swamp, but there is so little life in it. Barely enough to stop it from just falling apart."

  "As is most of the world," Chloe noted. "Again, all life in this world came from dungeons. And life takes time to spread. You must be on the edge of the known world if everything is that sparse. That is a double-edged blessing, but I am thankful if it is true."

  "I thought you two knew where we were," Matthias countered.

  "Our sides actually just opened portals to your approximate location," Lucy informed him as she returned to her bench. "So if you had refused one of us, the other side would have known exactly where you are."

  As she explained things, Matthias began spawning life in the swamp above. Everything from insects to small mammals and birds. Then he began adding various moss, algae, fungus, and other regulators. After looking around, he could not help but scoff.

  "We got turtles up there but not gators? What the heck?" he fumed.

  "Like we said..." Lucy began.

  "I know what you said, but this ecosystem is so bare-bones that it is pretty much just leeches and turtles. There are a few other things, but they are just being eaten by the turtles and leeches," Matthias continued. "I am surprised that things were even somewhat stable." He then ordered his ants to start making their way up to the surface, weaving a web of rooms and tunnels between his core room and the swamp.

  "I guess the actual dungeon building starts now," Chloe added as she finally took her seat once again.