Arriving in the outside world, Thane rushed towards the many rooms that he now knew existed in this former Groundling Dungeon.
When he ran to the other exits of the cave, he indeed saw a food storage, a weapon shack, and a chamber near an underground river at the far end of this base.
Thane even found a small chamber with sheep in it.
"Huh? Groundlings know about animal husbandry?" Thane was amazed. But then recalled why he was in a hurry.
"Oh, Right! Dying Groundling! Must hurry!"
Thane quickly moved, carrying various fruits and vegetables that were in the cave. The Groundlings were surprisingly intelligent, as they had even crafted torches from harvesting the nearby coal. All of this, including the coal, was added to the Dungeon Channel. The groundlings were also cultivating several mushroom caps as food, and Thane took all of them.
Near the river, Thane saw several other fruits being made.
Thane experimented with trying to absorb the entire river directly into the Channel but realized that it was not possible.
As such, Thane decided to absorb as much water from the river as he could.
Soon, his inventory was full of River Water.
[Celestial TV Inventory: 2 GB (Grimoirebytes) / Used: 2 GB]
4 Poor Grade Grounding Cores – 10 MB each = 40 MB
2 Low Grade Grounding Cores – 10 MB each = 20 MB
1 Mid Grade Groundling Core – 10 MB = 10 MB
Rusty Groundling Dagger (x7) – 12 MB each = 84 MB
Crude Wooden Club (x4) – 15 MB each = 60 MB
Groundling Spear (x5) – 20 MB each = 100 MB
Ambrosia Peel (Celestial Origin) – 200 MB
Unidentified Magical Shroom (x1) – 3 MB
Unidentified Mana Moss (x1) – 5 MB
Unidentified Sparkstone Shard (x1) – 7 MB
Unidentified Mana Vine (x1) – 4 MB
Unidentified Golden Puffcap (x1) – 8 MB
Unidentified Ember Ore (x1) – 52 MB
Newly acquired items:
River Water (29,798 Liters) – 50 KB/ Liter = 1,455 MB
[Storage Summary]
Total Used:2,048 MB (2 GB)
Remaining Space:0 MB
With the large amount of water in his possession, Thane returned and opened the portal. As he had already rested for 13 hours, his mana had already reached full capacity, and he managed to open a portal back.
With his newfound knowledge from all the shows he watched, Thane knew that it would be beneficial if there was a water source near the Mana vein, as it would have a rich potency of mana.
"Water plus mana equals life... That's how the strongest Dungeons were made, since these mana veins were directly connected to the Dungeon Core and the Mana Vein!"
Thane also learned that the creation of a Dungeon Core usually happens above the Mana Vein as the mana spurs life.
"I wonder..." Thane thought. If this were his Channel, wouldn't he be able to terraform it? He was, after all, able to easily place the Mana vein beneath the Dungeon Core with ease.
At a thought, the ground was suddenly dug up! A trench appeared!
Thane was delighted!
"There! This is great!" Instantly, Thane went full Sims mode and began to terraform the area.
He created a trench around the Mana Vein and created a deep line that moved towards the other side of the dungeon, where Thane decided would be where the farm lands would be.
The moment he poured in all the river water, a notification appeared.
[Water Requirement has been met.]
[Dungeon Core Vitality Increased.]
[Dungeon Development Pathway Unlocked.]
Thane smirked as he knew this was the right path.
He added the Torches and placed the food.
Sadly, there was a limit to his terraforming abilities. He could only create a hole, or trench, and place items, but creating a properly cultivated ground for farming was not possible.
"I guess I have to make that Groundling do that. Luckily, there were tools that the Groundlings made that I had brought directly inside this channel."
Thane observed his list of items, which included numerous mushrooms that Thane could grow, various other underground plants that thrived through mana, various farming tools, different kinds of dishes and spices that Groundlings used to eat, fire-starting ores and other cooking related instruments, several vines of trees from the forest, and other sets of strangely crafted items that appeared to be primitive tools.
"Now what was I doing?" Thane asked himself as the screen vanished.
Thane then turned and saw the dying Groundling.
"...Raaaaa." It crawled towards Thane.
Thane bolted like it was the Rapture and went to aid the Groundling.
"Jumping Jehoshaphat! I forgot about you!" Thane exclaimed.
He then brought the weak Groundling to sip with some of the makeshift buckets and tools he had brought in from the Groundling chambers outside.
The Groundling drank the water and finally showed some signs of life.
Thane grabbed various mushrooms that Groundlings loved and stuffed them in the Groundling's mouth like it was a Thanksgiving Turkey.
The Groundling began to munch and drink the meal that Thane offered.
Seeing that the Groundling was starting to show signs of life and vitality, Thane relaxed.
He saw that a small budding appeared near the ground. Thane knew this was the attempt of the Dungeon Core to create a new Groundling.
Thane sat in satisfaction as he also took in some of the mushrooms and kept them for himself.
"Hmmm... This one is edible..." Thane recalled from one of the episodes he saw. This was also a dish that Groundlings favored as their dungeons are usually born on dark, earthen, underground regions where mushrooms like these are common.
"Mana Memory... The mystery that bestows knowledge to all humanoid creatures... To think that they would even learn how to cook upon being born... I think there was an episode on Groundling and Goblin cuisines! Let's watch that!" Thane decided to cook a groundling meal. He turned on the channel and decided he needed to focus!
"Alright! What am I doing? Cooking? What else will I be watching? NOTHING ELSE BUT COOKING RELATED SHOWS!" Thane vowed. He would not get distracted. He was, after all, quite hungry!
He must not be swayed and focus on cooking since he is hungry!
Upon turning on the television, a strange suggested show was revealed.
[Monster Crunch- Episode 1: Goblin Ground Strikes]
"Goblin Ground strikes? Wouldn't this help my Groundlings get stronger? Hmm.... Let's watch the introduction... And JUST the introduction."
...
...
...
As expected, what originally was 'I'm just curious what the intro is' turned into a four-episode binge regarding Goblin fitness training, and how it was adopted by various human civilizations. It showed that there was even a Dungeon Broken Goblin that became a coach in Sanctus Luminara! Curious as to how a goblin lived in civilized human society, Thane eventually watched two episodes of the History of the Kingdom of Sanctus Luminara.
GROWWWWLLL
"Fragment! I did it again! I was supposed to be looking for a cooking show to cook a meal!" Thane complained and hated himself.