“I thought you would know as a dungeon master.” The elemental said.

  “I am new to the position.” The goblin replied.

  “Most curious, the dungeon master is often with the dungeon since birth, but if the master were to die and the dungeon left derelict,” Terra stated. “Tell me, how did you come into ownership of this dungeon?”

  It was the first time anyone asked him for his backstory; it was not what he had expected. Yeah, he had told people but no one had truly inquired. “Well, it began several years ago…”

  Several hours passed and the elemental did not move an inch, carefully listening to the story of the goblin. Eventually the goblin got to the current moment in time.

  “Quite tragic, and fairly poetic.” The elemental lord replied, “I see why you have your desire to leave this place.”

  “Indeed,” the goblin confirmed.

  “In regard to mana, it is the most fundamental building block of reality.” Terra began to explain. “We elementals can absorb it into our being to create matter. But this matter transformation can only occur in outer planes; we assume it was a byproduct of when we were separated from the material world.”

  “So I can create matter here in the dungeon?” The goblin asked out of curiosity.

  “Indeed, but unlike the elemental plane, you have access to mana as well.” The elemental lord added on. “Now for our deal.” This caused the goblin to perk up even more.

  “So how do I escape this dungeon?” The goblin asked

  “You need to become a god…” The elemental began sharing their opinion on a method to escape the dungeon. The goblin nodded with every step and even took notes. From what he knew, the plan seemed feasible.

  “Thank you, I think this will be helpful but there will be a lot of work to do…” Armand stated, “Where would you like to stay here in the dungeon?” He asked the elemental.

  “Do you have anywhere with plentiful earth?” The elemental lord inquired in turn.

  “I have a wilderness section of the dungeon that you may enjoy.” The goblin explained, and the two began to walk through the halls. Armand barely saw as Thoth's and Uriel's faces dipped around a corner. He felt their presence there the whole time but it was still amusing seeing them spy upon their new guest.

  The goblin and metal figure quickly moved through the halls and stepped into the forested section. The earth lord knelt down and grabbed a fistful of the earth, rubbing it between its fingers. The elemental nodded in satisfaction and sank into the earth.

  Terra was absorbing about a tenth of the entire mana flooding the dungeon; in context, his construct took only about a quarter of the mana influx. He didn’t waste much of his brainpower on that; he would probably be left incapacitated as more contents were added to the dungeon.

  The goblin began moving to his room; he could feel the drain on his mana. He inevitably picked up the pace and barely made it to bed before passing out. He slept deeply; even if someone visited him, he probably would not have responded.

  Finally he woke and stretched. His mana supply was sufficiently restocked, so it was time to begin phase one of the plan to escape the dungeon.

  First, the dungeon had to become a lot more hospitable than it currently was. Thus began his largest renovation yet; instead of building tunnels and spaces, he instead focused on expanding the space into large rooms.

  He then filled those large rooms with bookcases. He then had the readers go about moving the books into these rooms, attempting to categorize them as best as possible.

  The books had expanded to include innumerable scrolls and even stone tablets. The watchers would look over each of the materials and then place it into the proper rooms.

  The grand organization took months and just as he was about to finish the grand project, part two of his plan came to fruition. The itch was back. Adventurers had come into the dungeon once again.

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  The Watchers began to move, scuttling through the shelves and towards the group of people. They soon came into vision; they were still in the entryway. They were apprehensively looking around; in total it was a party of five.

  Two halflings and three dwarves—they were not looking well. All of them were bruised and battered but there was a fighting spirit in their eyes. “This is pretty much certain death…’ Spoke one of the halflings; his expression clearly did not show much hope.

  “It’s better than freezing to death out there,” spoke the other halfling as she brushed the wet hair from her forehead.

  The dwarves were far more stoic in their expressions, and one of them spoke up, “Most dungeons are safe towards the start; it is only when you delve deep that you come into greater danger.” He was trying to reassure the halfling siblings, but he knew full well that this could go wrong very quickly.

  However, they were reassured with the entryway, with its seating, hearths, and even side rooms filled with beds, lavatories, and kitchen spaces. It was almost too good to be true.

  “Could it be a mimic?” Another dwarf asked, and Armand, who was listening in on the conversation, could not help but remember the reading he had done on those terrifying creatures.

  They mimicked day-to-day devices, from storage crafts to beds and even whole damn houses. They were the bane of any intelligent creature; in the wild they often mimic natural structures like caves or trees.

  He was brought back to the conversation at hand. “I already told you, brother, there is no life present in this room. At least according to my lifeform scanner.” The third dwarf was holding a circular device that was glowing green.

  "Most curious," thought the goblin. He resisted the urge to barge into the room and tear the device apart in search of its secrets. “We will set up camp here.” Spoke the dwarf that initially calmed the party; he was probably the eldest brother, hence why the other two dwarves obeyed right away.

  The halfling siblings were more hesitant but inevitably joined in the setup of a camp. Armand surveyed the group while flipping through one of the newest acquisitions; apparently the elementals also enjoyed tales of romances, since amongst the accidental donations of the elemental lord was one such novel, A Frosty Heart and A Fiery Soul.

  Over the next couple of hours, the ragtag adventurers set up camp. Here I learned of their origins; apparently a group of greenskins had been raiding settlements. Armand had a feeling that he knew who was responsible; the forest of death was the only place to escape, ironically.

  Why was it called the forest of death? Well, that was one of the topics of research. The goblin had gone down; basically, it was a dead zone. The whole forest was bitter cold; the trees, plants, and animals had long died and rotted to hard bones and spines. Every night the forest flooded with a fog that would kill on contact.

  It took a lot of guts for the group to choose between almost certain death at the hands of the environment or guaranteed death at the hands of the invaders. The whole situation also explained why he did not get many guests, especially those of a dangerous nature.

  However for the plan to work, he would need guests that not only make it but survive to tell the tale. That is why he made the entry so hospitable; he had even put dried rations and fresh water for them to use. He contemplated greeting them with a whole spread but that would most likely raise their guard rather than lower it.

  This was all a careful game of chess and so far he was succeeding. The company had become relaxed and had even pulled some jars from their packs—wine, real stuff, not like the horrendousness that Thoth had him create. They had begun to rest, of course having two people staying watch between rests. A smart move in a foreign place.

  The goblin had picked his mark, the young female halfling. She was the most optimistic and trusting of the group. She and her brother had taken the third shift; the dwarven brothers were long asleep. Time to begin.

  He activated one of the watchers to approach the girl; she stared in interest at the little metallic beetle. She felt like she should be panicking, but the little thing was just so cute.

  It twirled around a little before scuttling away through the doorway deeper into the dungeon. The halfling turned and looked to her brother; he had fallen asleep sitting upright. “I’m sure it couldn’t hurt,” thought the girl as she stood up and began to walk towards the arch.

  She rounded the corner and was awestruck at the sight. It was an absolutely massive room, with wooden shelves as high as the eye could see. In the center of a room was a box with a slot above it. Written in the most common language was the following: “Knowledge is the greatest gift; give knowledge and request, and you will be rewarded in turn.”

  The halfling began to approach the box but jumped as a hand grabbed her shoulder. She whirled around and caught the worried, panic gaze of her brother, “Gloria! What are you doing?” He almost half shouted.

  “I saw a beetle…” She said innocently, “Glenn, don’t stress out; this place is obviously safe.” He in turn slapped the back of her head, gently but firmly enough to make a point.

  “You can’t disappear on me like that…” He whispered, his tears glittering at the corners of his eyes.

  “I’m sorry,” Their whole family was scattered during the attack and their well-being was unknown; of course he would be sensitive. She rubbed the top of his head. “Look at this!” She redirected her brother’s attention to the box.

  He squinted suspiciously at it. “This is obviously a trap.”

  “But what if it is not?” She countered.

  “What counts as knowledge?” The brother asked.

  “Let’s find out!” The sister replied as she stepped forward to the box.