"Giving gifts to others is a fundamental activity, as old as humanity itself. Yet in the modern, complex world, the particulars of gift-giving can be extraordinarily challenging." -- Andrew Weil

Finally, it was time for the extending of new blueprints, and I was excited to see what was on offer.

Norfoth smiled in the general direction of my core. "Having some sense of your preferences from the first inspector, we've tried to bring you some things we thought you might find useful or of interest. Let's start with the books, since we are told those were your first choice last time. Are those still your preference?"

***GREEN*** ***GREEN***

"Very well then. I did some searching around, seeking volumes that might best suit your situation, and I hope you find them interesting, at least!"

He laid out a selection of three volumes, and it was immediately clear that he'd done well by me. I couldn't wait to read them but needed to focus – directly absorbing "A Survey of Major and Minor Divinities Among the Modern Pantheons of Charax". I couldn't resist checking to see what territory Charax covered; it appeared to be the dwarves' name for the current continent – the largest on Relnis. There was no telling how complete the listings were, but the index listed over 500 named beings.

Next up was a copy of "Divine Dungeons of Relnis: Their Distribution and Functions". Between those two volumes, I had hopes of identifying at least some reasonable possibilities for my own intended purpose.

The final volume offered was a bit more prosaic and felt a bit more pointed. "Dungeon Development: The Impact of Dungeons on Society". I supposed that would help me determine which way to go as I proceeded to grow and attract more traditional visitors.

Quest Completed: Expand Your Collection; Reward: Spectral Librarian

Quest Reissued: Expand Your Collection – Add 10 more volumes to your collection; Reward: Scholar Magic Item

Between the new volumes and the ones I'd found in the Aubesan ruins, I'd completed another scholar quest. Transparently, transcribing books I already possessed in my eidetic memory didn't count for this line. That seemed fair – the goal for any scholar was to add to their existing body of knowledge on the one hand and to provide knowledge to everyone else on the other hand. The two scholar quest lines I'd advanced seemed to fit that pattern well. I still needed to register contact with an actual scholar, though, to fill an appropriately scholarly role and that was the third quest line

I was curious about the spectral librarian but didn't have time to toy with it just now. I'd just have to add it to the ever-growing list of things that needed doing. If I was lucky enough, it wouldn't just be a monster to guard my library, but something that could provide some actual service. That said, with the limited number of texts I currently possessed and my eidetic memory and speedreading skills, I wasn't sure what kinds of service would even be useful. That said, I could already tell that the spectral librarian was my first tier three creature, and I was looking forward to seeing what that meant.

In any event, the books all had some obvious utility for me, given what little they'd determined about me.

Norfoth gave me a moment to collect my prizes before asking if they seemed suitable.

***GREEN*** ***GREEN***

"Well, excellent. I'd imagine that eventually we'll get a better sense of what you're building towards. If nothing else, we can likely arrange for some histories of the Aubesan empire and examples of their more collectible items, if you're trying to make the second floor an accurate representation."

***GREEN***

"In fact, now that I think about it, I believe I have at least one artifact from the old empire to share with you in the next set of goods. You ready to move on to small, enchanted items?"

***GREEN***

"To be clear, I didn't pick these for any historical reason, these are simply appropriately leveled items that would either make good loot for adventurers or would help you in developing your experience. The one I was talking about, though, was this one." Norfoth held up a small, rather nondescript iron ring with a dark stone inset. He passed it over, and I absorbed it, curious to see what it was.

Blueprint Acquired: Lesser Ring of Shadows (Aubesan Empire)

"It's not very powerful, but in lower light settings it will help the wearer go unnoticed by deepening the shadows around them. It's a perennial favorite among lower-level rogues. I also thought that given the colors of your core, you might find the shadow magic of interest."

That certainly seemed fair, and I was interested, though at this stage all magic was of deep interest to me. I am hoping that eventually I'll learn enough that I can begin developing my own magical effects, but that was clearly going to need to wait. For the time being, I'll just have to settle for materializing things from raw matter – poor me!

Norfoth continued with his presentation, oblivious to my internal digression. "Next up, to work with your presumed Air/Sky affinity, I've brought this enchanted air purifier." He held up a small, clear mask, clearly designed to cover the nose, mouth, and eyes of a standard humanoid. "It's intended to clear airborne toxins – mostly poison gases and smoke, but it reportedly works well on some disease spells and in areas with rotting materials. It won't make air out of nothing, though, so it can't be used to function under water." Hakdrilda perked up a bit at the air magic, but I got the impression it was fairly standard from her perspective, and she went back to observing patiently.

The purifier was interesting, too, and while I had no immediate need of it, I could see the incorporated magics being useful for adjusting the atmosphere if I could figure out its functionality at some later date.

Blueprint Acquired: Mask of Air Purification

The final magic item that Norfoth offered was the most immediately useful for me. In appearance, it was confusingly simple – a silvery metal tube about 30 cm long with a runed cubic element attached at one end. The dwarven inspector gave me a quick overview of its function.

"This is a low-level arcane boltcaster. When triggered, it'll cast an arcane bolt strong enough to kill most Tier 1 creatures and injure creatures of Tier 2 or Tier 3 (including most adventurers). It does take some time to recharge, depending on the local mana levels. On this floor, I'd guess probably a minute or so; fast enough to be helpful, but only in an extended fight. Of course, there's no rule you can only have one!"

That was going to radically improve my trap selection. At the moment, I was mostly limited to falls or crushing damage. This would allow me to finally do some magical damage to the sturdier physical types. I could see myself embedding them in the walls with a variety of potential triggers.

Blueprint Acquired: Minor Arcane Boltcaster

"Alchemic Ingredients were next, if I'm recalling correctly?"

***GREEN***

That sounded correct to me, and I was curious as to what was on offer.

"Well, you'll recall that I told you that the air purifier wouldn't let you breathe underwater, right?" He held up an indistinct, slimy brownish plant in a small bottle. "My first offering will help with that, should you ever want a more extensive aquatic region. This bubble bladderwort both offers a quick breath of air in its raw form and is the primary component in most potions of waterbreathing. As you'd no doubt have established, it is an aquatic plant itself, and it'll grow well in most shallow bodies of water that aren't moving too rapidly."

Blueprint Acquired: Bubble Bladderwort

"After that, we have some crimson flame moss" Norfoth said, while carefully prying the lid off a small metallic vial. "I'd warn you against direct skin contact, if that weren't silly. It'll provide a nasty alchemical burn when brushed against bare skin; it's also a useful ingredient in various weaponized potions – or so I'm told." He shook out a small clump of distinctly red moss onto the floor.

Blueprint Acquired: Crimson Flame Moss

"And finally in this category, we have the somewhat misleadingly named Cureall Trumpet. This particular mushroom has a distinctive color and shape, " he said, holding out a vaguely orange fluted mushroom. "It is a bit rare, but it is generally prized by adventurers for its ability to counteract most other fungal effects. Mostly it's used as an antidote for cases of poisoning by other Tier 1 and 2 mushrooms and can be turned into a general antidote by soaking the dried mushroom in an alcoholic solution. It's not really a cureall, though, as it has minimal benefits against higher tier toxins or ones not derived from mushrooms,"

Blueprint Acquired: Cureall Trumpet

"Next up, we have religious symbols. I'd feel amiss if I didn't start you out with a token of my own patron – Skavruli Deepguard, God of Wisdom." He reverently placed an iron medallion with crossed axes on the plinth supporting my core. "I'm informed that the inspector from Zaipruniel gave you a token for Voldrat Axelord – they're closely allied within the pantheon."

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Blueprint Acquired: Token of Skavruli Deepguard

"I'll return the favor and pass along a symbol of one of the more popular elven deities as well". Joining the token on the plinth, he laid out a carved wooden amulet on a dark leather cord depicting a set of wolf tracks (to my largely untrained eye). "Gendras is a patron deity of rangers, mostly elven ones, and a popular patron among elven adventurers."

Blueprint Acquired: Amulet of Gendras

Blueprint Acquired: Giant Silver-Beech

Blueprint Acquired: Deer Leather

Oh, very interesting. I'd gotten bonus blueprints for both the material in the cord and the tree the amulet was carved from. I wasn't sure if they held any special relevance, but free loot is always a bonus!

Norfoth reached back into his belt pouch and pulled out a rough effigy carved from the bone of some large animal. "Your next inspector is likely to come from the orclands of the wandering grasslands to the west – likely the chiefdom of Glasha the Hawk, if I had to guess. I think the path you're on will take you over her territory next. You should be fine; the orcs have a lot of respect for both dungeons and for scholarly sorts, even if they mostly don't lean that way themselves. This is a representation of her chief goddess - Drogma, goddess of the stars. As I understand it, her primary purview is guidance, both in navigating the wandering grasslands and in navigating intergroup conflicts."

That seemed to cut against my outworlder expectations for orcs, but I'd happily adjust to the real thing if it worked in my favor. If orcs weren't savage barbarian stereotypes all the better; frankly, anyone with modern anthropological training should know better than to buy into "savage barbarian" tropes – those labels were invariably applied by the literate, hierarchical, agricultural societies that found themselves in conflict with less settled groups, typically by encroaching on their traditional lands.

The effigy itself was roughly carved but depicted a hyperfeminine goddess with a raised hand pointing toward the skies. The material was clearly bone, but I had no guess as to what kind of animal provided it until I'd absorbed it, other than it seemed to be fairly big.

Blueprint Acquired: Effigy of Drogma, Goddess of the Stars

Blueprint Acquired: Grassland hunting cat

I'd likely want to create one of those for surface explorations, though I could already tell it was going to be a substantial beast and an ambush predator.

Norfoth seemed generally pleased with my rapid acceptance of his offerings, but did pause to verify that I wanted weapons and armor next. With that observation, he brought out a heavy steel double-bitted axe with a wistful smile. "This is my old battleaxe; I used it for nearly a decade early in my career, so it's got some sentimental value for me. Still, better to see it put to use than to have it languishing in my office."

Blueprint Acquired: Daekar Battleaxe

Blueprint Acquired: Dwarven Steel

Nice! This seemed to be my lucky day when it came to bonus blueprints. The dwarven steel seemed like an excellent alloy, heated to a higher temperature than the elven weapons, and thus somewhat harder, if potentially more brittle.

His other offerings didn't yield any new materials, but did help to diversify the kinds of weapons available.

Blueprint Acquired: Daekar Mace

Blueprint Acquired: Daekar Cestus

I was getting the sense that the dwarves of Daekar favored close quarters combat, which I supposed made sense for a civilization dwelling in subterranean spaces. Still, I'd never actually seen a cestus before, and the mix of leather gauntlets and steel studs seemed rather brutal.

The armor on offer supported that general perception, comprising a squat, steel helm – nearly a skull cap, but padded on the interior; an unadorned circular steel buckler; and what turned out to be a steel gorget – wider than a collar, but not so wide as to prevent free movement of the head and neck.

Blueprint Acquired: Low Steel Helm

Blueprint Acquired: Circular Steel Buckler

Blueprint Acquired: Steel Gorget

That left some of the less traditional and more practical categories to address, and we went through the adventurer gear, fabrics, and food categories in fairly short order. I could see the appeal of each, though, gaining first a leather waterskin/wineskin, a basic set of lockpicks, and a minimal set of fishing tackle. After that, I received some coarse oiled sailcloth, a rough spun wool cloth, and a fire-resistant cloth made from some fungal fibers. Sadly, I didn't get a blueprint for the fungus itself. Those all seemed more practical, if less comfortable, than the elven equivalent offerings.

The food was the reverse – less practical and with greater appeal. I wasn't sure if the dwarven stereotypes held true, or if it was just Norfoth, but his offerings were a small cask of a dark lager, a bottle of some amber spirit, and a briny jar of pickled mushrooms. That last apparently contained enough seeds to provide me with a blueprint for the spicy peppers included in the brine. Oddly enough, the mushrooms didn't provide a double blueprint, and all I could do was copy the pickled ones.

Blueprint Acquired: Voldrat's Dark Reserve Lager

Blueprint Acquired: Hargrod's Hammer Rye Whiskey

Blueprint Acquired: Gran Wanchal's Spicy Pickled Shrooms

Blueprint Acquired: Dwarven Hot Pepper

Norfoth glanced over at my core with a sober look on his face. I wasn't sure if he had some doubts about the final category, or if he just had a resting serious face.

"I note that you've been putting skeletons to good use, but we generally want to discourage too much focus on the undead. Don't get me wrong – skeletons are fine in the first few levels, but as you go deeper the undead become much more concerning and occasionally truly problematic. With that in mind, I did still want to offer you some creatures with a bit more flexibility than simple beasts. I'm not sure how they'll fit into whatever theme you come up with, but I thought you might like some air-aligned creatures."

With that, he withdrew what looked like pieces of three very different wings. The first was insectile – looking much like an overgrown wing from a bumblebee.

Blueprint Acquired: Giant Paper Wasp

"These are fairly simple creatures, but their venom has significant paralytic effects, as well as being quite painful – so they can be helpful in steering people away from certain places. They are about the size of my hand, and typical hives may have 20-30 of them. Of course, one good fireball will generally take out the whole hive. That won't leave anything to harvest, though, so most adventurers wouldn't bother."

The second wing was more of a winged membrane stretched between two long phalanges. I was hoping it wasn't anything too draconic, since I didn't want to rile up my neighbor/feudal landlord.

Norfoth seemed to anticipate my hesitation. He chuckled. "No, nothing dragon-like. First, I don't want to annoy the resident dragon, and secondly, I couldn't afford it if I wanted to. Our budget doesn't stretch to draconic materials. 'Tis just a flying lizard, of sorts."

I absorbed the piece, and I could tell that it was closer to what I'd have considered a small pterosaur, really.

Blueprint Acquired: Fishing Flying-Lizard

"These are colony nesters as well, favoring cliff faces by the sea. They aren't natively aggressive, unless you get near their nests. They've got nasty claws and teeth, but the real risk is being knocked off a high place."

The last creature was represented by a single, night black feather.

Norfoth now grinned broadly. "I literally saved the best for last. This feather is from what most would call a flying cat; your more well-read adventurers, such as myself", he stroked his long grey beard with a mock self- satisfied expression, "We know them as Wizard's Cats. They're rather smarter than the average housecat, if not exactly sapient, even to the level of goblins. They're clever, have some stealth abilities linked to shadows, and the ability to see through most forms of invisibility. They're popular as familiars for some types of spellcasters – hence the name."

Blueprint Acquired: Wizard's Cat (Flying)

I figured they must be fairly impressive creatures, as it became only my second third tier blueprint – after the spectral librarian. I wasn't actually sure if I had enough mana capacity to support both at the same time; my general sense was that I was close, but it might have to wait until I started the third floor or significantly expanded one of the first two.

And just as with Orn, Norfoth heaved a sigh and pulled out a massive ledger and ornate mechanical pencil from some dimensional storage and got ready to complete his preliminary paperwork. Before he got settled, or even said his formal farewells, Hakdrilda cleared her throat to draw his attention.

He snorted, ruefully. "Ah, yes. Before I get busy filling out my paperwork, my impetuous young friend here was hoping I could provide you with some general background into her request for you. Hakdrilda here is an airmage, and like most airmages among the Dwarves, one specializing in the air flow within enclosed spaces, with a further specialty in maintaining breathable air in the subterranean deeps. You'll understand that's a critical concern for any civilization living below ground – it's important to establish and maintain early, and the air moving devices are a common target in uglier forms of underground warfare. Well, all a bit off topic really, but as you might guess, there's no better place to explore experimental ideas than in a dungeon with an air affinity; Hakdrilda's apparently been waiting to find one within striking distance for some years, and a reasonably friendly, sapient dungeon of your sort's something of a dream come true for her. She'd like to set up a small laboratory space within your area, if you're willing to host her; I dare say it would be a benefit to each of you, as she'll be regularly releasing mana within your walls, adding some defense to your core, and quite possibly offering you ideas on how to take advantage of your air affinity. But perhaps the young lady would like to speak for herself, here..."

With that, he cocked his head at her and offered up an encouraging grin. "C'mon, not the time to start being shy now!"

Hakdrilda gave him a less than serious scowl, while flushing. "You old badger! You and your humor... Aah, but he's right; I should be having this discussion with you myself. Well, he's given you the basic glimmerings already. I was hoping - planning really - to set up shop here and run some experiments on flow control, turbulent drag reduction, and the effects of temperature and pressure on breathable atmosphere. I'm also hoping to explore some specific aspects of how dungeons interact with air magic."

Quest Completed: Contact Another Scholar; Reward: Log Book Skill

Quest Reissued: Establish Communications with 3 Scholars; Reward: Upgraded Communication Skill

Finally, the quest had triggered! I'd have to experiment with the new skill later, but it seemed likely to be of limited utility in its base form. I'd be able to generate a purely magical log book and could expend mana to write and answer questions; sadly, the cost was high enough that for the moment I'd only be able to fill about one short page a day, so I'd have to be judicious.

Norfoth cut in, amusedly, apparently unaware of my being sidetracked by the new skill - "Before you get all abstruse on the poor dungeon, perhaps you should start by asking if it's willing to have a long-term guest? Or maybe this is a solid warning for it about what it's getting itself into?"

Well, I was certainly willing. That said, while aerodynamics really wasn't my area of expertise, I did have some basic knowledge pertaining to physics and chemistry as well as some practical experience with the importance of a breathable atmosphere below ground – ironically enough. I didn't think she'd really expect me to offer much insight, but I might be able to assist with practical experimentation if she could provide me with relevant samples. As near as I could tell, the matter I produced was perfectly normal, once it had been generated – susceptible to all the same forces and processes as normal matter.

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