Well, when he found out that the minion would be a laborer, he had expected something a bit… bigger. Instead of the cute little fairy turning into some big hulking thing, she had instead lost her wings and was now wearing a construction worker outfit. She had it all, from safety glasses perched on a green hardhat to a high visibility vest that sat nicely on her button-up work shirt. She still had the same emerald skin with verdant freckles, but now had that pretty hair in a modest bun that would fit snugly under the hardhat. “Well… you look ready for another day at the construction site.” Red muttered as he looked at her, the small fairy still looking at herself.

“Yeah, ah really do! So ya got some work for me, Bossman?” She asked with a slight accent, causing Red to purse his lips in contemplation. It wasn’t actually an accent he would relate to any place back home, but more the idea of what a construction worker’s accent would be. He wondered if he should be worried about any jobs he had for his minions in the future, especially if there was a row of cat-calling construction fairies running around. He shook off the thought as he turned his head towards the construction fairy that had produced a toolbox from somewhere.

“Yeah, I need a new room, and probably a hallway to that room if you don’t mind. Do I have to get a quote?” He asked with a chuckle as he sat down in the seat of the desk. She gave a small chuckle as she got out a tiny saw, measuring tape, as well as a few other random tools that Red had seen around some hardware stores. He had never built anything bigger than a bird-house, but he supposed that was why he needed labor minions. The title appeared above the fairy, sitting neatly above her head no matter where she went. Though he noticed that she still had no name despite the job change.

“Eh, nothing more than a bit of mana. But hey, not like you don’t have it to spare. Ya big spender you!” She said with a chuckle as she gave him some finger guns, walking over to the edge of the table as she looked at the four walls of the building. “Also I will need ya to tell me which way it's gonna be. Ain’t exactly a mind reada over here.” She smiled a cocky smirk as she got out some cut-resistant gloves to start chopping at the wood.

“Before I decide which direction to go… why don’t I give you a name?” He asked with a smile, receiving a noncommittal shrug from the fairy in return. He rolled his eyes, wondering if all dungeons had trouble with aloof or mischievous minions. He took a deep breath before looking at her seriously. “Alright, so your name is going to be Ivy, and you’re going to be the foreman of this operation.” He gave a thumbs up, hoping that the name would stick. Though he blinked as he realized that he had also given her a title, wondering if that mattered at all.

It apparently did, as the fairy was covered in gold dust that poured off of her in a wave before she grew from half a foot tall to a full foot. She had also gained a much thicker frame, as if she had been working in construction for years before she had arrived at his dungeon. He imagined a life where she had worked in bogs, swamps, and marshes making all kinds of homes for magical beings and woodland critters alike. It was interesting to think how she could have been amazing in the outer world with her dungeon powers.

“Ahem, if yer done gazin at my beauty, why don’t we get to buildin?” She asked with a grin as she grabbed a hammer and put on a pair of safety goggles. Red blinked a bit, getting the thought out of his head and pointing to the eastern wall. He wasn’t sure, but it felt like that was going to be the easiest direction to build the next room with. His back window would mean that the room would lose its window, and the western wall didn’t feel right. He wondered if that was the feelings of a dungeon knowing the best route forward.

“Alright, since the little lady is sleepin, I’ll be starting work from the outside in. Sound good, Boss?” She asked as she packed up her tools, having only brought them out for show. Though Red couldn’t help but notice that the tools had grown with her. She was certainly unique now, before giving the command and activating the construction, he also opened her character sheet.

“Sounds good.” He nodded before pressing confirm on the expansion, and watched the spot where an ethereal doorframe appeared. It had the same translucent color as when he had been moving the pillow around. It was easy for him to reason that the build menu and the move menu must have been the same thing. He was sure that there would eventually be some hacks he could come up with in that vein.

He watched as Ivy phased through the wall within the doorframe, and the sound of sawing, hammering, and other construction noises came from outside. It was especially confusing, considering the fact that there was no way she should be able to do all three at once. Instead of focusing on that, he turned his attention to the character sheet window. He was glad to see that even if she left his dungeon, he was still connected to her.

Minion Character Sheet

Name: Ivy

Title: Foreman

Age: Under an Hour

Species: Fairy - Carpenter Life Fairy

Special: Life magic, Built Defense, Tools of the Trade

Height: 1’0”

Weight: 20 lbs

Mood: Happy

Personality: Construction Worker

Bonuses: -50% construction cost for any project. -50% time for each additional worker.

Description: Ivy is a minion of the Red dungeon, created as the second minion in the dungeon's first few hours of life. After aiding in the fight of the Ghoul, Ivy found a distinct distaste for violence. When the opportunity arose to become a non-combative labor class, she snapped up the option before it could be given to a crawdad. With her new job, she earned the title of Foreman with years of experience granted to her. A decade's worth of memories involving construction and building swamp, bog, and marsh homes for magical beings/critters was implanted in her mind. She has dreams of one day finding a cute fairy boy and settling down in the dungeon.

Red gaped at the sheer amount of information that he had before him, more astounded by what information he had given to Ivy. He couldn’t imagine living a whole decade in a matter of moments as she had done. Though it didn’t seem to affect her negatively, and she even seemed happier in her new persona. He just hoped that he hadn’t caused an ego death of the original Ivy when he had made the upgrade happen. This was why he was always hesitant to make minions, because the moral implications were staggering.

He saddled those anxious thoughts for a moment, checking to confirm that the new room had only costed him ten instead of twenty mana. “Wait… how did I check that?” He muttered as he realized he had checked something on instinct, rather than the menu system. A new window appeared to his question, showing the purchase history of his dungeon. It seemed that the title had also cost him about five mana. All together he still had about seventy points left to use as he pleased. On one hand, he could upgrade for the awareness expansion, on the other he could improve his interior. The choices weighed on him, the upgrade menu and the expansion box appearing at his thoughts.

Just when he believed a decision could be made, he paused as he heard the sounds of sniffling. He turned to look at Addison, the girl having slept through his conversation with Ivy. She would have only heard ivy’s side of things, but that wasn’t the point. He gently walked over, looking down at her and seeing tears streaming from her closed eyes. The frown that formed on Red’s face was deep, and without a word the awareness expansion box disappeared. He turned towards the upgrade menu and scoffed at what he found.

Bed trap: Turn the bed into a giant bear-trap that snaps shut when someone lays on it.

Sinking mud: Random points in the floor are more liquid than solid. Adventurers will become trapped up to the knee and savagely attacked by monsters.

Door Stopper: The door can only be opened to a certain degree, making heroes funnel in at a more manageable place.

“Really? I can’t have nice wooden floors? A fluffy mattress? It has to make things that already exist into traps?! Fuck! Get your act together!” He snarled as he smacked the menu hard with his hand. The screen glitched for a long moment before showing a new message.

Second tier upgrades unlocked.

Third tier upgrades unlocked.

With a wave of static, the upgrade menu changed from the apparent ‘tier one’ upgrades, and instead showed a long list of upgrades. Each item in his dungeon now had its own drop-down list of upgrades. A smile finally came across his crystalline lips as he began to look over the room. He started with the floor, making it clean and varnished wood. Though the system wouldn’t let him remove the pools of stagnant water, so he instead just arranged them in a pattern on the west and east walls.

Once the foundation was improved, he then worked on the items that would be most important to Addison’s comfort. The pillow his core still rested under became a fluffy white thing full of cotton. The sheets turned to silk as she laid on top of them. He made sure to adjust the bed frame as well, the old rusted metal turning fresh and new while the short leg was fixed.

Red was panting, having gone through over half his mana now that he had made Addison’s bed more comfortable. He had no physical body to be exhausted, but it felt like he wasn’t supposed to be burning through so much on his first day. His body felt heavy, and he thought about that for a long moment. He looked down at his form, finding that it was less defined, though he was still fully there because of the mana that remained. He blinked, his higher mana than his starting amount actually allowed him to see he was wearing something. It looked somewhat like he was wearing a t-shirt and shorts, though beyond that he couldn't tell. He hoped that he hadn’t managed to die while wearing a super embarrassing shirt. It would cause problems at both his funeral and this life if that was the case.

He needed to stop getting off track like that… It was like he was. Oh. He wasn’t even a day old yet, which would explain why his mind kept wandering so easily! He slapped his cheeks and looked at all of his options, thinking about it for a long moment. He had thirty-two mana left, it seeming that the constant flow from Addison had increased his production to a few points every ten minutes He turned towards the chair, and decided that it would be his last upgrade before investing in some more defenses.

With a click of an illusory button, the chair became a cushy seat that wouldn’t wobble or quake as the girl got into it. Upon its completion, Red acknowledged he still had a few things to make the place cozier for Addison, but couldn’t ignore the fact that he needed to defend himself more.

He looked at his summonable creatures and frowned as he realized the limitation that he was under between fairies and crawdads. “How the hell do I get stronger monsters?” He muttered with a frown as he tapped idly on the empty part of the screen. He seemed to be contemplating ways of making monsters, his eyes wandering to the sounds of Ivy’s construction slowing down. It took him a full minute to notice that he was closing and opening the same window.

Monster Progression: A dungeon is able to receive more monsters in a series of ways. The following are the most common ways of achieving this task.

1. Increasing the size of the dungeon. Many dungeons receive new monsters based on their growth. The first room expansion of a dungeon is not an uncommon place for a new monster to unlock.
2. By absorbing a creature, the dungeon is able to purchase similar, weaker, or stronger versions from the Purchase menu.
3. When a spawner is actively producing units, there is a chance for [Uncommon], [Rare], [Super Rare], [Epic], and [Ultimate] monsters to randomly spawn.
4. Taming a creature in a manner similar to how [Ranger] classes are able to do.
5. Absorbing enough mana from a creature regularly existing in dungeon space.

“Spawners? I have spawners? I can purchase things? What kind of currency do dungeons use? Do undead dungeons use Crypto?” He asked, chuckling a bit to himself, setting aside the answers to those questions for the moment. Instead he activated the build menu, checking over the options that lied therein. He found that many of the objects and items were similar to the upgrade menu. It wasn’t until he began to minimize the item drop-downs did he finally manage to discover what had been hiding from him. He had an entire tab for spawners in his dungeon!

Before he could continue his manic ramblings, the sound of wood moving caught his attention. He turned quickly to look before his head swam, as if he had low iron and stood up too fast. The dizziness filled his mind before he collapsed onto the ground. The fairies and mud bugs looked on, shocked as the ethereal form of their creator faded. The wisps of magic flowed outward towards Addison’s pillow, coalescing around the crystal sphere. The darling half angel didn’t even notice as the object beneath her head began to change.