Something better than a dragon nest? The guide asked, surprised. Right now, even it had trouble picturing what that might be.

“These Core Points, would they allow me to modify objects?”

Transfiguration is possible, of course. A lot of ancient dungeons use it to hide a few cracks and present a younger appearance to the world. It’s mostly a vanity thing.

“And do they allow me to change location?”

Change location?

If the guide had the physical ability to blink, it would have. As far as it was aware, no dungeon had made such a request before.

The option exists, the spirit guide said hesitantly. However, it would require nine-hundred million Core Points to obtain. Furthermore, to use it, you’ll need vast amounts of energy, potentially disabling you for... to be honest, I don’t know for how long. No dungeon has ever done this before.

“Perfect!” Theo said, full of enthusiasm. “Teach me.”

Spatial Displacement

Convert 1000 energy to change location. Depending on the destination, you would be readjusted so as to avoid any harm or damages.

“Alright, now teach me… actually teach me everything!”

That might prove a bit difficult now that you’re used up ninety percent of your Core Points. There are still a lot of abilities for seventy-eight million points, but not enough for everything.

“In that case, teach me to shapeshift.”

Transfiguration

Convert 1000 points to change your appearance into something of your choice.

I’ll probably regret asking this, but what exactly do you plan on doing?

“You said that heroes will keep coming at me until one of them destroys me, right?” There was a grin to be heard in Theo’s voice. “Well, where’s the last place they’d look?”

At the bottom of the ocean?

“In the middle of a city!” Theo said proudly.

The spirit found itself speechless. Even Cmyk woke up from his snooze and tilted his head in outright concern of his master’s thought process. Dungeons never wanted to be anywhere near a city. Having a hamlet three hills away was considered bad enough. To be near a city—or worse, be in the city itself—was the least dungeony thing that a dungeon could do. At this point, the guide wanted to cry. It had been a few months since its creation and already it regretted its job. There were reasons why non-dungeons weren’t supposed to be reincarnated as dungeons. They messed up everything with the ease of a drunken goblin.

“Just think about it!” Theo continued with just as much enthusiasm. “Where better to hide a tree than in the forest? In my case, where better to hide than as a house in a city? No hero would ever think of searching for me there!”

Having witnessed the absurdity of the argument, Cmyk went back to dozing. The spirit guide, though, didn’t have that luxury. Despite everything, its duty remained to try and preserve the dungeon as much as possible, and that included pointing out the obvious.

I suspect that someone might notice a whole building suddenly appearing.

“Magic,” Theo said dismissively. “Don’t buildings pop up just like that?”

Not usually, no…

“Then I’ll transform into a magic building. Those exist, right?”

Well, yes, there are buildings owned by mages and those sometimes have unusual properties…

“There you go. All I need to do is move to a city and change into a nice small magic house and the problem will be solved.”

Maybe, but the cities are noisy places. There are lots of people and—

“Teach me a silence spell! Now that I have the Core Points for it, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

The guide knew he was defeated. All reasonable objections were parried with reasonable solutions. It was perfectly possible for Theo to surround himself in a shroud of silence, just as he could make himself fire proof, rot proof, and rodent repellent. If he wanted, he could even cast a spell that would ensure that his surface never got dirty.

Aware of all this, the spirit guide announced his surrender. The only small concession he managed to win was to convince Theo to move to a medium-sized town, rather than a kingdom capital. The discussion over, the plan was quickly put to action.

Combining both spells, Theo disappeared from the small isolated valley in which he had been reincarnated… and reappeared in the bustling town of Rosewind. The town was by no means remarkable. Located in a fertile area within a minor kingdom, it had pretty much what one would expect a medieval fantasy town to have: buildings, taverns, marketplaces, workshops, a palace, a temple, and a few rivaling adventure guilds. As far as the spirit guide was aware, the last dungeon in the general area of the city had been destroyed two generations ago, officially making it dungeon free.

The change was sudden and confusing. The closest thing Theo could compare it to jumping in a pool with a new, tightly fitting set of clothes.

The first sensation he felt was utter and complete numbness and exhaustion. Combining two powerful spells had left him too weak to even open a window or move a piece of furniture. Things were so bad that Theo was faced with the prospect of asking Cmyk for assistance. Knowing how disinclined the skeletal minion was to work, the dungeon preferred to quietly wait until part of his energy was restored. The following two hours of outside noise were almost intolerable. The first thing that Theo did, upon regaining a bit of energy, was to cast a silence spell around himself so he could hear himself think. Then, and only then, did the dungeon get back to the basic activity of exploring himself and his surroundings.

Despite its disapproval, the spirit guide had done quite a good job of assisting Theo in transforming into something more than adequate. The dungeon’s new appearance was that of a quaint, but stylish three-story house—attic separate—with one basement level. In his previous life, Theo would have called it a dream mansion that he could never afford… that is, if he had bothered with details such as interior decoration. As things stood, he had no more furniture than in his original form. All effort was on the outside, creating a fake face of three empty floors. Even the staircase was skipped altogether. Theo didn’t seem to particularly mind. After all, it wasn’t like he would be having any guests.

The neighborhood seemed rather fine. Judging by nearby houses, the people were comfortable, if not well off, the streets were maintained, and there didn’t appear to be too many animals. The single annoying aspect was that Theo was tightly fitted between a tavern on one side, and a barber shop on the other. On the bright side, since none of the buildings were residential, he wouldn’t have to come up with excuses why the house was empty.

Is everything to your satisfaction? the spirit guide asked. As far as it was concerned, moving here successfully was a miracle in itself.

“As long as I get away from those pesky heroes,” Theo replied. “You’re sure that there’s no way of tracking me down?”