Matthias was contemplating his fungal forest when Chloe woke up.

  "Did I miss anything?" she asked with a yawn.

  "Matthias now has trolls via random evolution and he got his first passive," Lucy responded flippantly.

  "Please tell me he did not equip the passive right away," Chloe groaned.

  "No," Lucy responded curtly.

  "Then why are you so upset?" Chloe inquired as her brows raised.

  "Because I won't let her bring a bunny into the core room," Matthias responded.

  "But they look so fluffy!" Lucy whined.

  "I am sure they are, but this room is hardly conducive for a rabbit. They also get really territorial," he warned. "Not to mention your habit of naming things."

  "That actually leads into what I wanted to talk about nicely," Chloe purred. "I think it is time we actually did something with your core room."

  "But I have so much other stuff to..." Matthias began.

  "No excuses," Chloe abruptly interrupted him. "I have been lax because you are not a classic dungeon. No one has even really made it to your real entrance. But I am tired of the drab cave you surround yourself in."

  Matthias internally winced as he took in the surroundings of his core room. When he took an overall look at his dungeon, it would be generous to call it neglected. The ants were still carving pathways, but even their expertise left him feeling wanting. Sure, they had carved out the right shape he had laid out for them, but that just meant he had near endless empty corridors and flat walls. Even Antionette was more concerned with managing her kin than interior design. But he could not fault the ant queen; she was only a few weeks old after all. With a sigh and a firming of his will, he readied himself for the horrors that were interior design.

  Reading his emotions through the bond, Chloe gave an exasperated groan. "Now I know you were a man in your previous life. Look, interior design is not that bad. I am sure you will enjoy it. Just give it a try."

  With an internal groan, Matthias pulled his will through the room he was in. The once solid walls seemed to melt before the dimensions of the room shifted, and the rough cavern was suddenly an actual room with flat walls and floors. With another force of will, he changed the floor to alternating tiles of marble and basalt, black and white squares that would be familiar to his fairies. The walls were next, and he kept it simple by texturing them to look like stone bricks. But that made the room feel almost prison-like.

  "This is not right," he said aloud as he looked at his work.

  "It is looking basic but good so far," Chloe offered.

  "But this is something any dungeon could do. Probably has done," he rationalized. "It is uninspired. Compared to what the rest of my dungeon will be, it is... too little."

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  "Then what will you do?" Lucy asked, curiosity overtaking her mood.

  "I think," he began, pausing as a new idea blossomed within his mind. "I think I will do this."

  He pulsed his will again and not only wiped away his old work, but vastly expanded the room. It ended up being a massive domed area about a mile in diameter. In the middle, his core sat upon the only hill in the otherwise flat room. He next carved a moat around the hill before digging out channels that snaked throughout the space.

  His two fairies took to the air before settling down upon his core. It was about the size of a bowling ball these days, and both his fairies could comfortably sit upon him. The violet depths of his core swirled a bit faster as he lost himself to his work.

  He turned the ground in this room into soft, nutrient-rich soil. Then he added bridges in each cardinal direction around his hill to connect it to the other side of his moat. From the ends of the bridges, cobblestone paths snaked off into the distance, weaving ever more winding paths as they moved further from his core.

  Next he began to add a touch of color. He willed into existence a variety of glowing flowers along the cobblestone paths. Every color and shade he could imagine was planted in seemingly random places, but no clashing colors ever touched. It only took minutes to fill the room with a kaleidoscope of glowing flowers.

  His fairies gasped in delight, but Matthias was not done yet. From under him began to sprout a tree. It coiled under and supported his core. The branches at the top twisted to form a bowl-like shape to support his core in the upper branches. It was a massive willow tree so vast that its branches drooped out over the moat at the base of his hill. The willow had white bark and black leaves with glowing violet blooms scattered among its branches. And then the water began to flow. Manna-rich water flowed from Matthias' core to fill the bowl atop the willow until it overflowed. The water rushed into the moat and quickly filled it. It then continued to snake out and fill the streams he had carved earlier.

  His fairies stared out at his work in awe as he added the finishing touches of benches to rest along the myriad paths and under his willow.

  "Wow," was all Lucy could say as she gazed out at the vast expanse of vibrantly glowing flowers.

  That was when a new message appeared within Matthias' mind, ruining the moment in his opinion.

  [Achievement - Create your first room complete.]

  [Achievement - Accidentally build a complex room.]

  [Achievement - Build a secret garden complete.]

  Each achievement came with a passive, but at the moment he could not care any less about them. He just took in the view with his fairies.

  "I think the bunnies will be much happier here than in the mushroom forest," Matthias mused. "And Antionette will probably be happier not needing to share her fungal forest with the bunnies."

  Lucy's head snapped to his core so fast he was surprised she did not snap her own neck. "You're serious?"

  "Yes, go get your bunnies," he agreed in an exasperated tone.

  With a whooping cry, Lucy was off like a rocket, shooting off to get herself a bunny.

  "This is too much," Chloe finally responded.

  "I mean, it did take eighty percent of my savings," Matthias admitted. "I am a bit light-headed, if I am honest. Did not realize spending so much so fast would feel like this." Matthias felt like he was crashing off an energy drink, and a flash of desire for coffee ran through him. He silently vowed to never let his fairies have coffee.

  "Matthias, this is too much," Chloe repeated. "The achievement called this a Secret Garden. I have never heard of such a thing. Specialized rooms normally come much later."

  "Eh," Matthias responded. "You were right. You two deserved better. And it felt good to actually flex a bit rather than just guide goblins in the eternal skirmish against the turtles."

  Chloe looked like she was about to say more when a rumbling sound grabbed both of their attentions. Matthias looked for the source and groaned. Lucy had indeed gotten herself a bunny. She was riding it back into the core room while laughing without a care in the world. But she had also just so happened to bring every other bunny sprinting along behind her. That rumbling was the combined footsteps of possibly hundreds of massive rabbits about to flood into his recently finished garden. He simply sighed and resigned himself to the maintenance this would no doubt incur.