My consciousness plunged into a dark sea, falling as deep asleep as I would if some sort of no-sleep-curse was finally over. The same black void was still there, but smack in the middle of it sat a glowing grey and white building, low and flat. It's second floor was even worse to look at, a boring grey replaced with a garish yellow. And just out of reach, a pleasant shade of cyan. I floated closer, saw more words enter my view. "Iron tier EXP mall"

  Of course it was a shopping mall. I rarely went as a teen, but I was kind of happy it was stereotyping me like this? I couldn't set foot inside, but I floated in, willing myself forward to see dozens of shops, each stocking dozens of products. Coins floated beside me, visible with my classic dungeon senses- 6 silver, 36 copper, and of course, 0 gold.

  Skill: Observation has risen to level 6

  ...So I could level up in here. I didn't know how much mana I had or the consequences of running out, but nothing registered as a threat. The closer I drew, the more I could intuitively understand what I was being offered. EXP was always raw power in games that I played, and getting enough of it got you new stuff, but this was more direct. More literal.

  Somewhat unwisely, I spent my free level.

  Skill: Observation has risen to level 6+1. Gained action: Create sight crystal (30 MP)

  I almost jumped for joy. Between slipping out of my core and casting spells from that range, I could double my vision radius and prepare-. A thought jolted through me. If these sight crystals could move, I could send one with Mazrar to get a view of his home. Or simply view the same sights from angles I was used to, instead of dungeonsense and it's weird "every angle at once" view.

  Thoughts of summoning a slime, or weapon, around one floated through my mind as I floated inwards, distracted by the literal sale of power. The largest booth sat, no loomed over, images of varying locales placed like tourist destinations. Forested dungeons full of vines, submerged beach dungeons lined with crabs, mineshafts bearing the ghost of miners past...

  Looking closer, I could see the effects on all of these. They would not stand up to my selective eye!

  This was a fair amount to take in, but the format was familiar. If i climbed up to iron as a normal dungeon, I'd probably see this as my selection. Nothing fancy existed here, but I did like the idea of tides interfering with invaders while my imps flew above them. The whole system to resist numbering, but I could feel the weight of each new block, trait, or action; and going up by a tier seemed to multiply the cost by three. I did some mental math, and it seemed to add up. Basic perks were the lightest, tripling it to wood, then stone, then iron gave it a cost of around 30. I didn't know how far up or down a plus or minus meant, but assumed it was around equal. two or three iron perks and some stone ones to fill in the gaps made it make sense cost-wise

  I floated past the stall, not ready to commit to anything as simplistic and cheap as what I observed. I had almost four times the threshold, 636 out of 135. If i was a normal dungeon, I'd be paying almost all of my hoarded EXP for one of these options, plus a ten points worth of party favor.

  I floated around it and scanned the stalls on this iron tier. Perks of old and new popped up in stalls conforming to each category; generic, monster room, zombie, slime, trap, magic, evil, slime, itemcraft, mana, and several others i hadn't yet seen. It was all enough to make a head spin, but I didn't need a head anymore. New selections of monster, block, action, and spell sat between the perk shops, pulling my mind in all sorts of new directions.

  "The big question is, what do I want?" I asked no one. I was quite frankly crap at longterm goals, but I was good at optimizing builds. The challenge came from the freeform nature of the 'game' I was playing, gathering options as I floated through the halls...

  Until I saw stairs up to the gold tier. Garish sure, but stronger. You could flat-out buy free levels, starting at 100 EXP

  The gold tier was opulent. Yellow windows with white text were hard to read, but their effects were jaw-dropping. Stronger monsters, rarer blocks, and more interesting perks made themselves available to display, even the stock choices being interesting. All hovered around 325 EXP, capable of knocking out half my stock.

  (Author's note: image darkened for readability. Imagine this as a garish gold colour)

  I saw potential in all of this. And went to work picking and choosing. I zipped around the gold and iron floors, picking up traits of my choice left and right. EXP: 636

  The very first thing I grabbed was a perk. Fire Affinity I [Iron+, 50]. If cost-efficiency worked how I thought it did, this would make my remaining EXP count for more than it should. EXP: 586

  When Fire affinity burned it's way onto my status window, i felt energized. Celebrated. Alive. The desire to let out an evil laugh filled me, brimming over the top and echoing through the garish halls. Dark Affinity I [Iron+, 50] joined soon after, leaving me feeling the opposite- cloaked, mysterious, and the rewarding kind of hungry. EXP: 536

  Of course, I still needed itemcraft. Hoping it wasn't a bad idea, I promised myself this would be the last affinity perk...

  Metal Affinity I [Iron+, 50]. EXP: 486

  When I grabbed it, I felt a sense of endurance. stability. Eternality, as no amount of time would truly end me. The metal affinity perk slotted right in with the other two, bringing up a new dialog.

  Compatible perks Detected. Combine Fire, Dark, and Metal affinity into Hellblade affinity I [Gold+]?

  I accepted fast, feeling the three perks together. Emotions of ambition, stealth, and stability fused together, as their perks

  Hellblade affinity I [Gold+] Increases effect and cost-efficiency of all blocks, actions, and features attuned to fire, dark, or metal by 10% each. Effect increased to 25% for two categories, or 40% for all three.

  This would be huge in my coming adventures. I roamed, seeking perks that would line up with my new brand. Well-armed counted as a metal perk, and an unusually cheap one at that

  "Guess that explains how early i got it, and the penalties for being unarmed."

  With Well-armed being literally my first perk as I entered wood-tier, it made sense to buff up to where I was. I focused on the perk, and a wall of tier levels unfolded like a map

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  I noted the uptick per tier. The chance to spawn with equipment was straightforward, doubling with every step. The chance to keep still increased, albeit not as hard as the chance, and the cost... almost-tripled? 0 -> 6 was an infinite increase, so how could...

  I mentally slapped myself. It cost me nothing because I already had Well-armed I. Following my math from earlier smoothed it out- tripling the cost of a perk doubled the effects. I chose the iron version, two steps up and unlikely to break the bank. EXP: 461

  I spent more and more. Assorted fire spells, glowstone as a block, The basic set of perks from dwarven forge, and screw it, a fire elemental. My core didn't need to change as it still functioned, life force transmuted to mana, but a good 50 EXP went to improving the conversion ratio.

  With just over a hundred left, I floated past a more hidden shop on the gold floor. "Monster creation" it read, sporting many bins of tiny blocks reminding me of my childhood filled with lego.

  And I was going to cash in.

  I pulled up to the workbench, material choices arranging themselves with ease. I let my mind get to work, starting with a fire elemental cage to act as the core. This wasn't going to be biological at all, as the size I was going for required way too much food. Stone was too weak, Iron was too heavy, Diamond was too expensive, so I looked in the hellish box.

  I began with eight legs, four to a side and neither overly long nor short. Nether brick served the balance of my desires, cored by blazing bronze struts. I smashed up a block of obsidian, sticking the sharpest shards on the outer legs of my satanic spider. The chassis in the middle was hollow, like a hose or gunbarrel, and this structure was vital for my next plan.

  On it's back half I built and re-built an abdomen to hold magic, and on it's back I began the column. Reminiscent to a smokestack or a camel hump, this oubliette served one purpose: mana gathering.

  The head was last, focusing glass modeled to look like as a giant eye. I finalized my creation, 107 EXP down the drain, and beheld it's statblock in all it's number-crunchy glory

  My last few dozen EXP were spent on rune capacity and a rune that made half the burn damage from my spells cause bleeding, perfect to synergize with both. New skills, new runes, and many perk choices lined the mall, but I had spent all my EXP. In the time I had lingered here, I knew I generated enough mana. So, wedged between some shelves, I left a Sight crystal.

  My status window: (Intentionally not hidden as I worked hard on it)