Cat Core 2, Chapter 4.

You can see how excited the real life Tater is for his return to duty in book 2. 

Chapter 4.

Florence set her rewards levels to average. She still felt that they were far too generous to be called average, but Doug had finally convinced her that it was the best level to keep adventurers happy. Happy adventurers were much less inclined to try and destroy her core. She had also forgotten how slow the income for her home accumulated without adventurers inside. At least the passive income would improve as she expanded, a task she wanted to start as soon as enough coins were gathered.

“Oh dear, given all our planning back on earth, I would have hoped that our hope would be much further along than this, Florence. You’ve been here nearly a week already,” an annoying, if welcome, voice said.

“Doug! What in tarnation took you so long. We had a plan and you’re supposed to be here advisin’ and helping me,” Florence said. She tried hard but didn’t quite manage to pull off being angry. Doug was here, and she wasn’t alone anymore.

“My delay was not due to any fault of my own. I was hung in an administrative dispute. You see, they wanted to reassign me and it took some time to sort things out,” Doug replied.

“Yeah, I suppose I had a bit of a problem with Chuck as well. Thankfully, he weren’t nearly as hard-headed as you were,” Florence replied.

“Ah, that was you, I wondered why such an accomplished core gem creator was sporting a human moniker. It appears your reputation has preceded this death, you have the staff terrified they would face the same humiliating fate that I have,” Doug replied with an indifferent air.

“Don’t you start acting up again, you know as well as I do, Doug, that you enjoy every minute of being in a real body,” Florence retorted.

“Granted, this form does lend itself to certain amusements, but there are so many drawbacks as well,” Doug said.

“Like what, getting attention and delicious food every day?” Florence asked, upset at the ingrateful little ball of fluff that was wandering around her core room like he owned the place.

“Well, though I continuously endeavor to have that memory removed from my mind, there was that one visit to the veterinarian,” Doug said.

“Bah, everybody knows you have to get a stray fixed, can’t have you galivanting around the neighborhood entertaining the ladies,” Florence replied.

“Fixed! What they did was far from ‘fixing’ me. It was an affront against my person, and one which I most certainly did not consent to,” Doug spat, his little fluffy kitten body had its fur all bristling out in anger. While he probably thought that he looked intimidating, Florence thought it just made him fluffier and more darling than normal.

“Arguing about it isn’t going to help either of us. You’re in a new body now, so no harm done,” Florence said, ready to change the subject back to their home.

“Very well, though I must protect your insistence that no harm was done. Let’s get on with things, and first off, where are we?” Doug asked.

“I guess they didn’t tell you about what happened to me after I was shoved back in my gem?” Florence asked. Doug shook his head and curled up next to the pedestal to hear what she had to say. She tried to include as much detail as she could, bringing Doug up to speed and letting him know about the hooligans that brought her here.

“Well, despite our inauspicious start, I suppose we should follow our plan. I have no more insight than yourself as far as our location, but thankfully, it doesn’t seem like we were dropped into the middle of a high population area. How do you want to proceed, Florence?” Doug asked.

“I was a thinking that we rebuild what we had, but with a second story and a basement. We’ll take things slow and steady, adding rooms and defenders as we go,” Florence said.

“Good enough, we’ll give that a whirl. You’ve only got the core room so far, so let’s make the champion room and work our way out from there. Build defenders after each room is complete, that way, we’ll have some protection if we get unwelcome guests like the last time,” Doug offered. He was right, the last time she had to fend off dire rats with only her cane, a cane that hadn’t been rebuilt yet.

Florence concentrated and began to expand her home, the construction went at a slow pace, she was out of practice. At least by taking it slow, she had enough money trickling in to keep pace with her efforts. The first room would be the master bedroom, and she was going to expand it a bit from the previous design. Zork and Chubbs, well, really just Chubbs, seemed to get bigger each time she leveled. They needed some fighting room inside there. Once the overall dimensions were complete, Doug interrupted her.

“Might I make a suggestion?” Doug said.

“What, you’re messing up my concentration,” Florence shot back.

“Why don’t you stop with just the basics of each room and then summon our defenders. Once we reach the surface, you can add all the decorations and frills your dubious taste desires,” Doug said.

“Well, despite the fact you’re a sarcastic and rude little kitten, that’s not a bad idea. We are a little exposed here,” Florence said.

“Wait, what do you mean?” Doug asked, concern etched on his little kitten face.

“Them good for nothing adventurers dropped me in here and we came in through some cave entrance, that means were open to the outside world already, doesn’t it?” Florence asked.

“Oh, dear me, I didn’t even think of that, I’m so used to new dungeons being dropped into inaccessible areas. That means your core could be calling hostile native inhabitants, well, at this very minute. I suggest we build defenders posthaste,” Doug said.

“As soon as we save up ten dollars, it’ll go right into our first kitty,” Florence said.

“Yes, that would be wise, though I fear our ambient mana, I mean cash, flow is much below normal for an area that is supposedly suitable for a dungeon or home,” Doug said, confirming that things were going slower than before.

“Not much we can do about our income, except to get our home open as soon as we are able,” Florence replied.

“Maybe we can spare enough resources to create that special item I requested?” Doug said. With a sigh, Florence made him a ball of yarn, the penny it took to create it wouldn’t delay them for too long. Keeping Doug out of her hair while they waited was more than worth the price. She was thinking about printing up a set of Dungeon Delve cards, but without hands, neither of them could play.

“All right Doug, here we go,” Florence said after her balance finally hit ten dollars.

It was just like riding a bike, Florence pushed money into the glowing ball of light on the floor that would become her defender, deciding on recreating the first cat she had made. Just as she had hoped, the glowing ball coalesced into a fur baby. The shorthair grey cat with a white bib and paws was standing there looking up at her. It was her precious Tater.

“Welcome home little guy, keep an eye on things while momma works,” Florence told the kitty. Tater walked up to Doug, giving him a curious sniff before walking about the room, exploring his new surroundings.

Turning her attention back to their home, Florence suspiciously watched the small opening to the tunnel that was inside what would become the master bedroom that housed their champions. Of course, she could close things off to see what would happen. It didn’t take much effort, or money to push a layer of stone over the entryway. Just as she suspected, a system prompt appeared once she had done so.

Your dungeon has been cut off from the outside world. Reopen the entrance to adventurers within the next twenty-four hours or face a permanent reduction in mana generation.

“Hey, Doug, why am I getting hassled over closing off our home? We did that all the time when adventurers were inside, in fact, it was closed down for quite a while when we were upgrading things,” Florence asked.

“I believe it has to do with the lack of adventurers. Cores undergoing leveling activities, hosting a steady stream of adventurers, or that have taken core damage for some reason often have an extended time that they can remain cut off from the surface. We never abused that feature, and subsequently, were never given a warning prompt. Since we haven’t really done much yet, the system is a bit stricter on us. In this case, I say we exploit whatever time we can, they’ve given us twenty-four hours, let’s remain closed until the time is nearly expired. That should give us some safety as we start to develop our home,” Doug suggested.

“Sounds good to me, the more kitties we have when some critter shows up, the better,” Florence said. The system gave her an update announcement every hour, it was annoying, but since she didn’t have a clock, it was necessary.

With her home cut off from attack, Florence had time to build two new rooms, the living room, and the front porch. She would put off decorations until there were more defenders. It seemed that old Tater had retained his previous knowledge and parked himself in the living room. Florence couldn’t decorate the way she wanted just yet, but she could make sure her kitties had every advantage she could give them, opting to recreate the ceiling-mounted walkways to allow her babies to leap down on their victims.

After making the kitty-sized passages between each room, Florence held off on any construction until she had more defenders. Time was nearly up when she gathered enough funds to create her second cat. A new ball of light pulled money into it, eventually revealing precious little Midnight. The cat mewed with joy as it greeted Florence with a kitty hug, the sleek black brawler kitty rubbing against the pedestal, and the other cats as she made the rounds.

“Well, it does appear that our previous denizens are being recalled accurately,” Doug said. He tried to sound all proper, but it was hard to take him seriously when he was wrestling with the other kitties. The defenders seemed to enjoy playing with Doug and were surprisingly gentle with the little guy. Her kitties were both brawlers and could shred apart an armored man but left nary a scratch on old Doug.

“I guess it's time to open for business, even if I am a bit embarrassed over the state of things in here,” Florence said, dissolving the stone that covered the tunnel opening. Thankfully, there wasn’t some horde of bloodthirsty, or would it be gemthirsty, creatures waiting to charge inside. Only a few bugs and the like, which her cats took the opportunity to chase.

“I find it rather enjoyable, to have prey that is just right for my size,” Doug said, his little kitty jaws closing on a beetle that he had cornered.

“All of you better make sure to catch them bugs. Some of them there beetles look a little too much like cockroaches. I won’t have anybody say that Florence Valentine’s home if infested with creepy crawlies,” Florence said. She didn’t like bugs, didn’t like them one bit.

“We shall endeavor to keep the premises safe,” Doug said, moving after his next victim. It was too bad that killing the bugs didn’t give them any cash, that would have made them almost welcome.

Florence finally reached her limit. As much as she wanted to save up for another kitty defender, there was no way she could stand looking at plain stone walls and dirt floor any longer. She took what funds had already accumulated and went to work on the living room, recreating it exactly the way it had been previously. As soon as the sofa was created, her kitties left their bug-catching duties and curled up for a little nap.

“No, this is not what we have agreed upon. Defenders before decorations!” Doug insisted.

“Oh, shush up, mister grumpy pants. I won’t have to deal with the tunnel bugs if the rooms are built out. Just look at Tater and Midnight, they’re enjoying the sofa, and my babies deserve to be comfortable,” Florence insisted. She knew it was a risk, but gall durn it, she was going to do things her way, and her way was a clean and proper home.

“Insects are unable to do anything to you, but things more dangerous than tiny bugs will be drawn to your core, things that can hurt us both,” Doug argued.

“I’m a going to finish decorating the three rooms we have, then we’ll build up our defender count,” Florence said. It took her a while to get the room just the way she wanted it, and while she made some small tweaks, the funds built up enough for her to get a good start on the front yard. The porch was built up next, but the money ran out before she could put the plants and rocking chairs in place. Her lawn was also just an open patch of dirt and rocks, not at all the clean and tidy look she was going for.

“And just as I predicted, our doom approaches. We should have been better prepared,” Doug said, the little guy crouching behind Florence’s pedestal as something horrible skittered across the barren lawn, heading toward her front door.