Doyle focused on the lone triangle of who he was in the middle of an ocean of instincts that not even a normal dungeon would connect with. Each dungeon core was like an island within this ocean, only taking on a small part of the ocean’s bounty. And the reason for this was obvious enough.

  Even two dungeons that both started with the common dungeon snake could end up with wildly different options. Though that example was a little bit cheating. What with the fact snakes diverge quite early between those that are venomous and the constrictors.

  However, the point stands. Within this ocean of instincts, is uncountable records of serpents in all their forms. Not only that though, but also the records for all things that use parts of a serpent, including just the simple things like using snake leather instead of generic leather. All of that would be similar to the problem Doyle had with goats way back when, but worse.

  That was just goats as a creature. This would be snakes as creatures, concepts, materials, and more. Plus connections to other beings such as sea serpents, hydras, and dragons. So, even if it didn’t go too deep on the extras, it would far outweigh his experience with goats.

  The question was, why wasn’t Doyle gaining more from this sea of possibility? He didn’t have the answer, that would be too easy. However, he also didn’t want to have to dive into here every time he wanted to improve something that wasn’t straightforward. Because that could be seen as a solution.

  Want to work on the axebeaks? Dive into the waters like a spear fisher or a pearl diver and search out stuff on flightless birds. That, however, was stupid as far as Doyle was concerned. Even without any experience, he could tell that the way this was supposed to work was similar to a volcanic island.

  When the core first sets up a dungeon, it is like a volcano exploding in the middle of the ocean. In practically no time at all, a small island will form. Then once the first burst of growth is finished, the volcano will slowly push out more lava, growing the island over time. Maybe it erupts again, maybe it goes dormant for a while. In the end, though, the island will grow as long as the volcano is still “alive”.

  For dungeons, the core was the volcano and the rest of the island was all of the patterns and of course the dungeon itself. So Doyle should be able to naturally grow instead of being like some oil-rich nation spending their money to build an island of sand. He just needed to figure out how to connect to the sea, because no matter what island metaphor he was using, in the end there is his core mind and a bunch of instincts. His core should be able to pull from those instincts without his interference. After all, it isn’t like a volcano pulls the lava up from its magma chamber.

  So, Doyle took his time, pausing on occasion to keep track of the town, though it seems Ace and friends were still hard stuck on floor thirteen. Not that any one fight or monster was all that hard. Doyle had just managed to perfect a floor that worked on attrition.

  It wouldn’t hold them forever, though. They simply packed the tools to handle the spike in difficulty that the golems represented. Though it certainly didn’t help that the Hexcu, being birds, could fly. More interesting on the town side was the appearance of more proper delvers who weren’t a part of the inner circle.

  Those who took up the task for trying to delve deeper were so close to catching up to where Ace and the others had gotten to. And Ace felt no end of satisfaction to see them stumble in the exact same way he had. Yes, they were stuck on floor twelve, unable to figure out how to progress. Not that they were as strong as Ace and his team.

  Rather, they specialized in using fire, which made the tenth floor boss a bit easier than not. If Doyle hadn’t been in the middle of something, he would have been tempted to make everything damper. Of course, against a regular fire of the temp most magic fire managed, such a precaution wouldn’t amount too much. It is an unfortunate fact though, that despite high heats, most battle magic is more of a flash in the pan. Not sticking around long enough to catch a damp towel on fire, let alone a myconid.

  Despite all that, Doyle eventually figures out what he needs to do or not do as the case may be. His analogy about a volcano actually ended up being the correct path. This wasn’t about new land rising up out of the sea, but rather the center growing and expanding into said sea. As for why it took Doyle so long to figure?

  In a twist, he had known too much. In particular, Doyle knew too much about how the soul grows and had expected the mind to follow a similar pattern. That of stuff accruing on the outer layer with skills and paths forming more solid structures to fill in.

  The mind instead grows like a tree or as Doyle had been thinking about it, a volcanic island. More layers are added on from the center with outer layers generally becoming tougher. Of course, just as there are many different kinds of trees, no one mind is quite like another. Beyond that, it isn’t like the analogy to either a tree or a volcanic island is truly accurate.

  However, the underlying themes are broadly applicable and allowed Doyle to feel out certain truths. While you can throw sand on a beach to extend it, that sort of improvement is temporary, like cramming for a test the night before only to forget everything the day after. In fact, the mind constantly goes through cycles of build up and dispersion.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Like flotsam washing up on the shore, only to be washed away at the next high tide. To truly become a part of the mind requires those materials to be brought up off the beach and added to the center. However, there is a deeper level. That which goes beyond whether you remember someone’s name or not.

  The volcano and the magma below. To become part of the foundation of a person’s mind, things need to be taken in deep and smelted. Only then can it flow out into view before hardening. This isn’t for simple things like names which you can pick up off the beach or leave them. Rather, it was exactly the sort of things Doyle was having problems with.

  Yes, it did cover deeply held beliefs. However, the original eruption that raises the mind out of nothingness would be instincts. Most beings stop at that, their minds accruing sand and dirt over time, but never really growing. Dungeons, despite most never awakening, are ever growing lands. Where others are like island chains, the generations passing like the tectonic plates slowly moving the hot zones around to form new land as the old eventually sinks back into the ocean. Dungeons are capable of growing their minds beyond mortal means, being connected to a deep akashic pool of instincts that can provide seemingly never ending growth.

  Doyle, upon realizing this, stopped his meditation and rested. He had been getting excited at the possibilities, but realized that at the same time, his mind was becoming unstable and overly excited. So, for an entire day, he relaxed and dithered around in his dungeon.

  It was only then that he began to consider things again and it was at this point that he realized the trap. A mind isn’t judged by how big it was. Rather, a mind was judged by what it contained. A barren rock in the ocean was meaningless, but a spit of land half the size would be prized if it contained a diverse ecosystem.

  So yes, Doyle could use the instincts willy nilly to expand his mental real estate. However, if he isn’t careful, there will come a point where things tip over from being him and turn towards being just another dungeon. In fact, the more Doyle considers this aspect, the more obvious it becomes to him on why despite having souls, dungeons rarely awaken.

  Their mind is constantly expanding like that of a newborn child. However, in expanding so quickly they never manage to turn enough of that mental real estate into someone uniquely them. Most dungeons are vast expanses of pure instincts with any personality being drowned out.

  There is just one last piece of the puzzle. Once awakened, a dungeon doesn’t ever “go back to sleep”, as it were. That means that there is something guarding against that outcome and this was exactly the source of Doyle’s problems.

  The mental triangle, while conforming with Doyle’s path, was not his doing. It represented a limitation baked into his mind. Each of the three sides is like a massive wall, holding in everything and making it so that anything that spilled out was easily swept away by the turbulent waters below. His mind was like one of those islands where instead of a beach, it was all cliffs.

  Now, the easy solution to this was to bring down those walls. And in fact, for most in this situation, that was not only the correct solution, but also inevitable. The pounding of waves against the wall will inevitably make it fall.

  Doyle was instead going to take advantage of it. All these mental models, island and tree comparisons, and so on might restrict others. Doyle however had over ten experiences with shoving more inside a space than could literally fit there. Each floor after the first an exercise in warping the very definition of “Space” to his will and so his mind could bloody well conform to that as well.

  Of course, the mindscape that Doyle could perceive wasn’t literally a space. All of his experience with warping space and time could not and moreover, would not transfer. For now, though, he was more than capable of allowing the walls to expand outward without breaking.

  This all was his mind and Doyle would not limit himself to human or even dungeon sensibility. As a child, he had dreamed of immortality, not to live forever, but to experience as many stories as possible. Now, relieved of human limitations on what can be remembered and worried about his lifespan, how can he turn away? Upon the Trinity of his Mind, Body, and Soul; Doyle would expand all three so that he can experience everything he can and not any one of those three elements or even his birth dimension would stop him.

  And so Doyle concentrated, meditated, and struggled until there was a metaphysical pop. The three walls of his mental self stayed still, but at the same time grew in length. With that, Doyle barely managed to get a quick message off to Ally before he sank into a deep introspection as his mind forced a period of meditation and near sleep as things connected and sorted themselves out.

  For Ace and his town, at first, nothing seemed to change. It took them a month before they managed to break through floor 13. Once that was achieved, the 14th floor held them back about just as long, if not longer. The big problem there being once again a misunderstanding of how the floor’s mechanics worked.

  While Ace’s team was the first to beat 13, it was Jim’s that first made a real effort to explore the 14th. The strange two-sided nature of the floor caused a pause as they decided to wait until they could make it through 13 with more in the tank. Then, as Jim’s team made their first tentative steps out into the strange area, they were noticed by the kobolds on the opposite side.

  And that was when they made their biggest mistake. They ignored them, focusing purely on the myconids of their current side. And so unnoticed, the kobolds below them gathered under them, though spread out to hide themselves. With this first trip, Jim didn’t even make it to the exit area as those kobolds took advantage of a fungus webbed connection to launch a surprise attack on the group.

  Luck was in their favor though, and Jim’s party managed to all make it out, with only two of them sustaining serious injuries. Though the definition of serious was a bit warped at this point, meaning more along the lines of needing actual bed rest after seeing a healer. And to be honest, this was even warped compared to most other places in the universe as very few healers end up also learning to be a science-based healer as well and so Doctor’s many years as an actual doctor allows him to more perfectly heal what ails you.

  Thank you for reading the chapter, I hope you enjoyed it! Please rate, review, follow, favorite, and share the novel. And if you want more? My has two extra chapters available to read for free right now ( & ) as well as over a hundred more chapters for my patrons!

  Also, there is a and my other stories: , ,