Chapter 230: Starting Over

Nethren did not accept Hizon’s explanation immediately.

The fungal Dungeon Master examined the holding chamber as if a hidden passage might return him to his former core room. His creatures shifted with him, but their movements lacked the shared timing they had possessed inside Fungal Hollow. Without a living network beneath them, every guard reacted as a separate body.

"The system recognized Fungal Hollow as my dungeon. Its growth belonged to the core. If the core survived, the territory should have survived with it." Nethren said.

"The core did not survive in the form you knew. It became part of this dungeon when the dungeon master accepted you as a subordinate. The system transferred what you purchased directly. It did not uproot caverns from another dungeon and attach them to Crag Mountain." Hizon said.

Hizon opened the map of Nethren’s new territory between them.

The basic space contained a central core chamber and several rough branches. Max had paid for all of it. Its boundaries could be expanded through the dungeon system, but every additional section had a price.

Nethren studied the dimensions.

"This is smaller than my first developed region." Nethren said.

"It is larger than anything you own outside it. Max gave you enough space to begin. If it is insufficient, earn the points and expand it." Hizon said.

The answer ended any expectation that Max would recreate Fungal Hollow for him.

Hizon released the seal around the temporary chamber but ordered the fungal creatures to remain inside. Nethren followed him into the Undercity with two guards. Brannik walked behind them while Hizon showed Nethren the territory he would now have to live beside.

The Undercity was not organized like Fungal Hollow. Goblin homes, markets, workshops, and training spaces occupied separate districts. Bullet ants carried riders and cargo through larger tunnels. Lamps burned above streets that remained crowded even when no adventurers were present.

Nethren watched goblins pass within reach of his guards without raising weapons.

"Your creatures live as though this is a settlement." Nethren said.

"It is a settlement. The Goblin Depths include defensive territory, businesses, homes, and an instances. The creatures here do more than wait for something to invade." Hizon said.

They reached a quiet chamber overlooking one of the lower markets. Hizon had chosen it because Nethren could observe the Undercity without disrupting its work.

Hizon explained the hierarchy first. Max owned the greater dungeon and possessed final authority over every connected territory. Hizon governed the Goblin Depths and supervised Nethren. Nethren would control his own purchased space and creatures within those limits.

"You will follow Max’s laws and the laws of Sanctuary. That includes every restriction protecting the people and creatures who live here. You will not infect them, absorb them, transform them, or use their bodies to strengthen your dungeon. You will not take creatures from another territory because your network requires material. You will not begin a dungeon battle, open an outside connection, or expand toward another region without approval." Hizon said.

Nethren listened without interruption.

"What authority remains mine?" Nethren asked.

"You decide what to build inside the territory Max purchased for you. You choose your defenses, creatures, and sources of income. You can create instances when you can afford them. You can improve your creatures and organize them as you choose, provided your decisions do not violate the laws above you. Subordination limits where your decisions can reach. It does not require me to make all of them for you." Hizon said.

That answer held Nethren’s attention longer than the restrictions had.

Hizon next explained the revival system.

Max’s dungeon could preserve creatures through eternal souls. Once converted, a dungeon creature destroyed while serving inside Max’s territory could return instead of being permanently lost.

Nethren looked toward the two fungal guards accompanying him.

"The battle restored mine as well." Nethren said.

"The dungeon battle restored creatures defeated under its rules. That protection ended with the battle. Your purchased creatures are alive now, but they are not eternal souls. If one dies tomorrow, it will not return merely because your dungeon serves Max." Hizon said.

Nethren checked his creature list. None carried the eternal-soul designation.

The cost of converting all of them exceeded the DP remaining to him.

Hizon had expected that reaction. Nethren’s former strategy had depended on recovering dead creatures through his network, repairing them with new tissue, or consuming them to strengthen something else. Permanent revival altered the value of every creature but demanded an investment Nethren had never planned to make.

"You do not have to convert them all immediately. Choose the ones you cannot replace easily. Keep the others out of unnecessary danger until your income improves." Hizon said.

Nethren selected one rooted guardian, two fungal guards, and a breeding cluster responsible for producing several lesser organisms. Converting even that limited group would consume most of what he possessed.

He closed the list without confirming the purchases.

"An empty territory produces nothing. If I spend the remainder protecting creatures, I cannot build the conditions they require." Nethren said.

Hizon opened the entrance to his existing Ant Hill instance on the district map. Adventurers entered renewable copies of it, fought through its challenges, and generated income without damaging the actual Goblin Depths. Hizon’s defensive creatures remained separate from the instance population, allowing the attraction to operate without weakening his army.

Nethren studied the recorded traffic and earnings.

"You created copies of creatures that already serve you." Nethren said.

"The instance generates a new copy of the creature each time a new version of the same instance is opened. But it can only do this with eternal souls. The important part is that adventurers can enter as often as demand allows. Each party receives its own version, and the instance resets after the attempt. A creature defeated inside it returns with the next reset because it belongs to the instance design." Hizon said.

The renewable creatures offered a solution to Nethren’s immediate problem, but creating an entire instance required more DP than he possessed.

Instance creatures would not solve the vulnerability of his permanent population. They existed only inside the renewable attraction and reset with it. Nethren could not remove them to guard his core chamber or use them to expand his ordinary network. Income from the instance would have to finance both sides of his recovery: eternal souls for the creatures he already owned and construction inside his new territory.

Hizon advised him to protect the breeding cluster first once revenue began. The lesser fungal creatures it produced were individually replaceable, but losing the cluster would remove the source of that replacement population. The rooted guardian could wait until Nethren had enough DP to convert it without halting construction.

Nethren reordered the future conversions. The change preserved the creature responsible for rebuilding his numbers before the stronger defenders that consumed them.

Hizon placed a second proposal beside the Ant Hill records.

"Use all the DP you have left to build half of a joint instance with me. I will contribute the same amount. We will divide its income equally. You can use your share to convert your permanent creatures and later build an instance inside the territory Max gave you." Hizon said.

Nethren examined the offer for hidden control. The joint instance would belong to both of them. Neither Dungeon Master could alter its design or redirect its earnings without the other being notified by the system. Max’s normal ten-percent share and Hizon’s five-percent oversight share applied to Nethren’s dungeon income, but the joint venture itself divided the distributable earnings according to their agreement.

"You would earn your oversight payment and half the instance income." Nethren said.

"I would also spend the same amount you do, provide access through the Goblin Depths, and attach my reputation to whatever we build. If adventurers decide the instance is unrewarding or dishonest, they will avoid my other businesses as well. I am accepting more risk than the system requires me to. Besides I also pay a tax to Max." Hizon said.

Nethren reviewed the proposal again.

The alternative was to spend his remaining DP on a few rough chambers and wait for passive production that might take months to finance meaningful growth. The joint instance could begin operating far sooner. It would also expose his creatures and designs to adventurers without risking the limited population transferred from Fungal Hollow.

"The earnings are divided before either of us spends them. Neither side can claim construction expenses after opening and reduce the other’s share." Nethren said.

"Agreed. Changes after opening require equal contributions unless we approve another arrangement first." Hizon said.

Nethren accepted the partnership.

The system bound their contributions to a shared construction pool. Nethren transferred every uncommitted Dungeon Point he retained. Hizon matched the amount exactly.

Their available budget was still modest.

Hizon recorded the precise contribution from each side before allowing construction to begin. The shared interface divided ownership evenly and directed half of the instance’s distributable income to each Dungeon Master. Nethren’s personal taxes would be taken from his income according to the subordinate arrangement, but Hizon could not increase his half of the joint venture by treating his oversight share as another construction contribution.

The agreement left Nethren with no reserve. Until adventurers entered the finished instance, he could not purchase growth for his new territory or convert even the breeding cluster. Hizon accepted the same construction risk with the points he matched. If their design failed to attract adventurers, neither of them would recover the investment quickly.

They could not afford a massive living cavern, a complicated mechanical fortress, or a large boss creature. Every room would need to perform more than one purpose. The same hazards would have to change depending on how the two sets of creatures used them.

Hizon assigned a new construction space near the Ant Hill entrance. Placing the joint instance there would draw adventurers past his existing businesses while allowing Nethren to observe how parties prepared before entering.

Nethren objected to one feature of the location.

"They will see the fungal growth before they enter. Surprise has value." Nethren said.

"So does advertising. A sealed stone door tells them nothing. A controlled section of unfamiliar growth tells them this is not another version of the Ant Hill. We need them curious enough to enter." Hizon said.

Nethren accepted a narrow display around the entrance, provided it did not reveal the hazards used inside.

They crossed into the basic territory Max had purchased for Nethren before beginning the instance design. The space was exactly as the map had shown: bare stone, broad enough for future growth, and empty except for the core embedded inside a protected wall.

Nethren placed one hand against the stone.

The surface did not respond. No buried network carried his intent into distant chambers. If he wanted living walls again, he would have to purchase the first growth and allow it to spread over time.

Hizon indicated the available boundaries. "This belongs to you. I will inspect the connections and enforce the laws, but I will not decide what it becomes. The joint instance is how you earn enough to begin."

Nethren left his permanent creatures in the first chamber. He purchased no construction and made no eternal-soul conversions yet. Every remaining point had already gone into the shared pool.

He retained only the territory, the creatures, and a plan for earning what came next.

Hizon opened the joint construction interface.

An empty instance chamber formed beside the Undercity. Half of its stone floor belonged to the Goblin Depths. The other half darkened as the first threads of renewable fungal growth appeared across it.