The last sip of stew warmed Thane's stomach, leaving a soft hum of contentment that he hadn't felt since the long-lost days of late-night instant noodles back on Earth. The two ate, and Thane could not help but thoroughly enjoy, with some TV!
Thane then turned on the TV, and surprisingly, his party member, Esau, could watch!
"Hmm... Since you could watch it, why don't we watch a few more Groundling episodes!" Thane decided.
Together, the pair watched the Celestial TV detailing the life and how a Groundling clan grew.
When the Dungeon Core acquires enough mana, it can evolve itself or the Groundlings around it.
Thane learned that the Dungeon Core desperately summoned a Goblin when it was about to be destroyed. And this thing could do the same thing.
Dungeon Cores were like living creatures. At first, it could not think or act freely, but only did according to its instinct. An infant Dungeon Core like Thane's would only create Groundlings who would hunt to kill and feed it to the core.
"Hmmm... In this case, it'll be up to me to feed this." Thane grew excited. If he grew this virtual world, he would be able to summon Groundlings soon!
Beside him, Esau the Groundling licked the make-shift stone bowl clean and let out a satisfied hiccup.
"Had your fill? You'd better start tilling the ground!" Thane said, chuckling at the little creature's enthusiasm.
He stood up, stretched, and cracked his shoulders before pulling open the Celestial TV Channel Item Storage. One by one, he retrieved the items he had scavenged earlier from the Groundling Dungeon. Daggers, crude clubs, mushroom stock, moss, sparkstones, and even the questionable Manapede hearts of large centipedes. He laid them neatly around the Dungeon Core's faint glow, bringing in the massive stone slabs the goblins once used as tables.
Thane arranged them like a general setting up camp supplies. It was strange, back home, arranging things meant endless spreadsheets, procurement lists, and vendor calls. Here, it was real. Tangible. And, in some ways, satisfying.
"Beautiful!" Thane praised his acts of creation.
When the last item thudded onto the stone, Thane stood and finally took a long look at his new "territory."
From an empty, formless, and void room, it now resembled a proper Groundling home. It was still a wide single room with dark, damp walls and only a pool of faint mana trickling under the Dungeon Core. Twenty paces long, maybe less.
"Hmmm... Now with the items, it looks like my first dungeon is smaller than my old apartment! This isn't a Dungeon Master's lair… this is a broom closet with bad lighting!" Thane complained, hands on his hips.
Still, he felt a strange sense of pride. Even a broom closet could be the start of a kingdom.
He grabbed a half-busted pickaxe from storage. "What if I make this room bigger?"
With a determined grunt, he swung the pickaxe against the wall.
CLANG!
The cave echoed. Shards of stone crumbled.
"It works!" Thane rejoiced. Sweat beaded on his brow as he swung again...
The ground kept on crumbling, but on his third strike...
DING!
A glowing prompt flashed across his vision.
[Warning: Expansion Attempt Detected]
[If you choose to break the wall, the dungeon will connect to the Channel World.]
[The Channel World is a simulated dimension generated by Celestial TV. It is dependent on the Monster Core energies that you absorb. Absorbing more creates life and creatures that breed in this world. Absorbing energy into the Celestial TV with magical fruits, pills, cores, and other artifacts will create more 'virtual spawns' according to the Celestial TV's level. Celestial TV level is 1 and will generate Level 1 ranked monsters.]
Thane blinked and leaned against the pickaxe.
"This channel is actually a miniature world?!"
The text scrolled further.
[Note: Virtual monsters disperse upon defeat and revert to energy and will be reborn. They do not grant energy that can be used to stimulate growth and character level up.]
[Note 2: These virtual spawns may not be transferred to the world. However, completing certain challenges and absorbing the monster cores of certain enemies in real life will allow a 'Boss' Spawn to appear in this world. Defeating the boss will unlock or grant TV Exclusive Items.]
"TV Exclusive Items, you say...?" Thane's eyes lit up. He didn't understand what that meant, but his gamer heart buzzed with excitement. A world to fight in without risk, without guilt. A perfect training ground.
"It's like the best Virtual Reality MMORPG on a TV! This is amazing!" he cheered.
But then, at the height of his joy, he paused and reflected.
"Hmmm... I get it... To Him who is able to grant us exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask and think... That's the verse."
His voice softened.
"This gift isn't just TV. It's life, growth, adventure. God knows my heart—and my weakness. If this were just Netflix in heaven, I'd waste eternity on the couch. But this? This makes me fight. This makes me build."
Another line of text scrolled.
[Note: The current Dungeon Channel has only a Power level of 3. A power level of 280 is suggested to open this dungeon.]
The warning pulsed in deep crimson.
Thane lowered the pickaxe slowly.
"So… if I keep digging now, the creatures in this Channel would be too strong for the dungeon? Then I'll have to focus on making this dungeon stronger first..."
He let the pickaxe drop and turned back to the Dungeon Core. Esau was already toiling the ground, scratching and pawing at the soil as though it knew instinctively what to do.
"Then if we can't expand outward yet, we'll improve inward. Esau, I'm making you head of Agriculture. Esau, you may have been a man of the field in the Bible, but in this world, you're Chief Cultivator of the Groundling Soil Restoration Project."
The Groundling tilted its head, blinking.
Thane pointed at the patch of dirt he had earlier flooded with water.
"Cultivate that. Mushrooms, tubers, whatever grows. Later, I'll bring seeds, moss, maybe livestock. You guys tame sheep, right? I wonder if I can bring in sheep here. Anyway, you'll till it, water it, and I give you authority to command all the newborn Groundlings."
Esau squeaked and nodded.
Thane smiled, oddly proud.
"Good. First steps. A dungeon's not just monsters and traps, it's a home! And I'll make this broom closet a fortress. One step at a time. Now... I recall there were some weapons and armor that must have been from a set of adventurers that the Groundlings killed..."
Thane recalled that as he scavenged the Dungeon rooms, there was a set of armor that the groundlings could not wear as it was too big for the impish size of Groundlings.
Thane brought it out from the Channel Storage and tried it on.
"Hey! This is the armor I wore when I was fighting those orcs in the Episode Prelude!" Thane recalled.
"So it seems, I will be facing orcs soon.
With his orders given to Esau, who was now tilling the ground, and the high sprouting heads of the Thane turned back to the Celestial TV.
"Time to fight monsters and harvest their cores!"
He stepped through the portal, excited to fight and slay and gather monster cores!
The collapsed dungeon greeted him with silence and dust. The deep hole remained, a scar from when the Dungeon Core and Mana Vein were absorbed. But the reason he hadn't portaled out directly here was simple: it was full of orcs!
And now, as the portal rippled open, Thane stepped straight into their midst.
Dozens of heads turned at once. The air was filled with guttural growls, the stench of sweat, iron, and rotting meat.
The orcs were massive compared to men, with green to grayish skin stretched over muscles like knotted rope. Their tusks jutted from bestial mouths, their eyes glowed faintly amber in the gloom. Each wore mismatched armor, scavenged iron, bones of beasts, hardened leather, and carried crude but heavy weapons. Clubs spiked with nails, axes chipped and blackened with old blood, and spears decorated with grisly trophies.
Thane froze. "Orcs?!" he whispered.
The circle of warriors snarled, their guttural language echoing off the cavern walls. Some beat their weapons against shields; others stamped their feet, a savage rhythm of intimidation.
Then the ground shook.
A shadow leapt from the deep pit.
BOOM!
A giant landed in their midst, sending a tremor through the cavern.
It stood nearly twice the height of the orcs around it, with skin dark like scorched bronze and tattoos glowing faintly with mana etched into its arms. Its tusks curved upward like ivory daggers, and its eyes burned with cruel intelligence.
This was no ordinary orc. This was an Orgrath.
Thane's breath caught. He remembered from his binge-watch: Orgraths were High Orcs, the warlords of tribes, monsters of level 21 or higher. Triple cores. Hardened skin. Nearly unkillable without overwhelming force. At his current level, his strikes wouldn't leave a wound!