《Terse Elements》 Ch 1 - Two Bloops A young creeping vine lay on a small, clear patch of ground near the base of a large tree. The tree, vine, and ground sat midway through a small forest which itself was mostly surrounded by farmland. One moment later, the vine and patch of ground disappeared. If anyone had been around to watch, they would have seen the space at the base of tree go through an odd stretch, then twist, then shrink down to a vanishing point. If arcane researchers had been present with sensitive and subtle devices, they could have commented on measurements of ¡°Oscillating Mana Flux¡± and correlations with ¡°Interconceptual Densities¡±. Anyone with only ordinary ears would not have noticed anything at all except perhaps a short breeze. However, entities with sufficient perspective and expanded senses would have gotten a much clearer idea of what had occurred and those entities might have described it to lesser entities as a sort of bubbling sound. *bloop* The cause of this bubbling sound was the creation of a miniature world, tacked in place on the side of the regular, larger world. A wobbliness to the air at the base of the large tree was the only evidence of the connection between the regular world and the miniature world. Inside the miniature world, the entity known as the ¡°System¡± was taking advantage of an opportunity. _ Initializing Dungeon _ _ Deconstructing Available Components _ All the material that had been caught in the miniature world was torn apart into energy and concepts and then dropped in a metaphysical blender of sorts. After the blending, the wildly fluctuating slurry was compressed down into a small orb. The orb was perfectly smooth chrome, or perhaps it was glass. In any case, the orb was shiny and reflective. The orb did not seem to reflect its surroundings, however, rather it reflected something that couldn¡¯t quite be seen. _ Dungeon Core Complete _ _ Proceeding with Dungeon Creation _ The dungeon core automatically, instinctually, created a floor of loamy soil and a small mound of that soil under itself to hold itself in place. The core created a sufficient amount of air to fill the small space and added dim light (coming from nowhere in particular) to match the forest ¡°outside¡±. A few small green vines poked up through the mound of dirt and cradled the orb before turning and growing slowly across the floor. Mana from the core flowed down into the vines and roots, following the flow of water around the giant plant. This mana fortified the tissues of the vines and improved their functions beyond natural. _ Assigning Dungeon Agent _ A tiny humanoid figure appeared in a flash of light. The figure immediately fell to the ground, unconscious. Filthy clothes wrapped the figure and gave off terrible odors of booze, blood, and other things. The growing vines instinctively moved to go around the figure, pulling back from mysterious vapors let forth by an outsized burp. The vines gradually filled up the ground space. Leaves and tendrils reached up high and crowded together, filling the air space. As the vines cycled water and mana around, there were high and low mana waves. In the low mana waves, some leaves turned yellow and dropped to the ground. In the high mana waves, new leaves grew to take the empty places. _ Dungeon Capacity Reached. Select Void-Claim Mechanism _ After a minute with no response from the dungeon core, the System seemed to turn to the figure on the ground. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. _ Select Void-Claim Mechanism _ The figure did not respond. _ SELECT VOID-CLAIM MECHANISM _ The System repeatedly prompted the tiny figure to respond. Eventually, the figure let out a loud groan and rolled over. The face (under a thick layer of dirt) had sharp features and large eyes under violently violet hair. The clothes unwrapped to show that they were not clothes but were little fairy wings. The actual clothes were as filthy as the wings and otherwise had no discernible features. Altogether, the figure looked like a fairy that had been dipped in mud and then rolled in other, fouler substances. The dungeon fairy blinked slowly a few times, struggling to focus on something. _ ASSIST YOUR ASSIGNED DUNGEON _ ¡°Alright. Alright! Shutup ya damn¡­¡± The fairy¡¯s face turned green for a moment as it tried not to vomit. ¡°Damn fairy school. Damn loans. Damn everything¡±. The fairy took a couple tries to get up on hands and knees. The fairy did vomit then. A stream of sparkly slugs flew out of the fairy¡¯s mouth and popped with the sound of a bird chirping. Coughing, the fairy said, ¡°Gods, was I in tha¡¯ sewer?¡± The fairy continued to mutter to itself as it turned its head toward the Dungeon core and the vines all around. _ Select Void-Claim Mechanism _ ¡°Dungeon core. Okay. Right¡± The fairy sat up, took in a deep breath, and let it out slowly. The fairy had another green face moment as it pulled out a small, diamond potion vial. The fairy¡¯s face turned to a look of sullen disappointment. ¡°Well, looks like ya got the hang of it. No point in fairies.¡± The fairy turned to the System (which was everywhere) and said ¡°Randomize¡± as it closed its eyes and lay down. _ Selection Required. Select Void-Cl¡­ _ ¡°RANDOMIZE ALL¡± the fairy nearly shouted the words, grabbing at its head. The fairy let out another groan then drank the entire small vial. ¡°Hibernate¡­¡± the fairy whispered and then passed out. _ Are You Sure? Yes/No _ _ Random Selection. ¡°Yes¡± Selected _ _ Select Void-Claim Mechanism _ _ Random Selection. "Multi-Worldlet Pathways" Selected. Description: With this void-claim mechanism, dungeon worldlet ¡®free growth¡¯ size is restricted and overall worldlet growth is slowed. In exchange, the dungeon core can push against the edge of the worldlet to trigger the creation of a subsidiary worldlet. This action can be repeated multiple times in each worldlet. Subsidiary worldlets are considered equivalent to ¡®floors¡¯ in the default dungeon configuration and should have similarities with neighboring worldlets (though this is not guaranteed). WARNING: This void-claim mechanism increases the odds of interactions with void artifacts which will have unpredictable effects on dungeon worldlets. Consult your dungeon fairy frequently as you expand your dungeon in order to minimize risk. _ Basic knowledge of how to claim the void trickled into the dungeon core. If the dungeon core had been sapient, this would have been the basis of training and education. If the dungeon core had been at least sentient, it could have been trained or guided to claim the void. The dungeon core was neither of these; it was mindless. In the metaphysical blender that the System had used to prepare ingredients for the dungeon core, the concept of the young vine had mixed into the concept of the dungeon core consciousness and colored it very green. The dungeon core was driving forward with the instincts of a plant. The walls of the worldlet begin to shift as the vines pushed outwards again. The roots of the vine pushed a little deeper into the ground, but it wasn¡¯t the type of vine that would root deeply. As the longer vines stretched out, they sent out roots to pull in water and nutrients that would sustain the expansion. Over the next few days, the vines cradling the dungeon core thickened and twisted to create a spheroid space around the core. Thick vine walls closed around the core (and the comatose fairy), cutting them off from the rest of the worldlet. As the worldlet grew, the amount of mana the core was pushing out also grew. In a short time (short to plants anyway), one of the large vines ran into an obstruction and could grow no further in that direction. The tip of the vine pushed leaves and small roots at the obstruction like it would if it had run into a stone or log. This action pulled in more mana than the other vines and concentrated it right up against the obstruction. The roots strained, seeking to push into cracks and force them apart. *bloop* Ch 2 - Void Artifact When a worldlet is created from claimed void, the Nothingness of the void is converted into Somethingness in order to fill the worldlet with world stuff. Some aspects of the claimed void trickle through and influence the composition and concepts of the worldlet. The aspects that trickle in are strongly filtered by the expectations of the actor which does the claiming of the void. The vine dungeon core didn¡¯t have expectations but it did have instincts that evolved over billions of years to react to soil, air, light, and stress. If the dungeon core had been capable of speech, it would only have had a vocabulary of four words. The new worldlet *bloop*-ed into existence on the left side of the main worldlet. Instead of the vine pushing up against an invisible wall, the vine ran into a wobbly patch in the air and disappeared into it. Inside the new worldlet, the vine exited an identical wobbly patch of air and reached to the ground, sinking its roots in as it continued to grow. At almost the same time, a vine on the opposite side of the main worldlet triggered the creation of a worldlet and sank roots on the other side. *bloop* The dungeon core vine spanned three distinct worldlets in the dungeon. The main worldlet was very similar to the forest ¡°outside¡±: loamy soil, dim diffuse light, moderately humid. The second (left side) worldlet had rather sandy soil with rivulets of water creeping back and forth, carving across the sand. With somewhat brighter and warmer light, this worldlet was much like a river delta. The third (right side) worldlet had red light and hot, dry, clay soil. In the middle of the third worldlet, there was a twisted fragment of red-orange metal. The metal fragment stood about the height of a human adult and was the source of the red light. Sparks occasionally flew off the broken metal edges and burned out on the ground. The System eagerly supplied vital information to the dungeon core. _ WARNING: Void Artifact Detected. Void artifacts are items, constructs, or materials of unknown origin that survive intact or mostly intact through the creation of a worldlet. These artifacts are normally devoid of mana or interact with mana in abnormal ways. Do not approach or attempt to assimilate void artifacts. Consult with your dungeon fairy on how to deal with each artifact _ The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The vine was struggling to grow across the hot, dry, clay soil. The river delta worldlet had plenty of water for the vines to absorb and pass along, so water and mana were directed to support the spread of roots and leaves in the hot worldlet. When the vine grew close enough to the void artifact, the leaves began to intersect the falling sparks which burned black spots on the leaves. A few sparks would be no great stress, but the flow of sparks was unending. Leaves near the void artifact began to die and drop to the ground. When the fallen leaves had dried sufficiently, they began to catch fire from sparks near the ground. As the spark-burned leaves pile up, more and more water and mana were sent to support the struggling vine. The flow of mana through the main worldlet and around the dungeon core increased in volume and density. When the mana in the hot worldlet reached a certain level, the System recognized a common dungeon core action and immediately analyzed the situation in order to provide options. _ Forced Mana Evolution Attempt Underway. Select Upgrade Path for ¡®Poison Berry Vine¡¯: _ After a minute delay, the System fell back on the directions from the dungeon fairy. _ Random Selection. ¡°Water Alignment (spray)¡± Selected _ The mana in the stressed and burned vine pulsed and swirled for a few minutes. With a final pulse of mana, the vine turned blue (though to human eyes it would appear black under the red light) and the mana from the roots near the entrance all the way to the tips of the leaves changed to water aspected mana. The leaves of the vine began spraying water mist in all directions. The sparks hit the water mist as they fall toward the leaves and all their heat is sucked away. With water droplets everywhere and only dead sparks, the leaves on the ground stopped burning and let out a bit of smoke before collapsing into ash and mud. The clay soil soaked up every drop of water until it became a thick and heavy mud. The whole worldlet began to resemble a sauna, and the vines in the sauna worldlet began to thrive. _ Multiple Dungeon Floors Constructed. Spawn Functions Unlocked. Spawns Available: _ The vines all over the dungeon began to generate fruit and infuse mana into those fruits. Ripe fruits dropped to the soil sprouted unnaturally quick into young vines. These spawned vines were similar in size to their natural cousins out in the forest. In the sauna worldlet, fruits from the blue vine would occasionally spawn into young blue vines that would also spray water into the air. Ch 3 - Eyes to See The growth of the dungeon core vines gradually increased the size of the worldlets both by claiming more void and by stretching the space already inside the worldlets. In the outside world, a young wizard student once asked his instructor how something inside a space could then also stretch that space. The student was told to get back to work and not ask such a question again until his beard reached down to his toes. As the student was unable to grow any beard at all, he never learned the answer. A side effect of stretching the space inside the worldlet was to slightly increase the size of the entrance into the dungeon. The entrance reached the ground in the forest and small creatures began to walk, crawl, or slither into the dungeon. The first creature to enter the dungeon was a millipede. _ Intruder Detected. Select Automated Response: _ _ Random Selection: ¡°Banish¡± selected _ _ Banish Attempt Failed. Insufficient Mana to Retry. Make a New Selection _ _ Random Selection: Mutate. Available Mutations: _ _ Random Selection: ¡°Water Alignment (spray)¡± Selected _ The millipede (which had been completely unaware and munching on dropped leaves) turned blue and swelled in size to that of a stick that a small human child would use as a sword. The millipede let out a spray of water from between its mandibles and returned to munching leaves. It crawled under some of the larger leaves and laid some eggs. While the millipede did all this, the dungeon core regenerated the mana spent in the banish attempt and the mutation. _ Intruder Detected: Select Automated Response: _ _ Random Selection: ¡°Banish¡± selected _ _ Banish Attempt Partially Successful. Insufficient Mana to Retry. Make a New Selection _ _ Random Selection: Claim _ A few of the millipede eggs vanished from the dungeon and appeared nearby the entrance in the forest. A complicated pulse of mana shot from the dungeon core into the millipede and the remaining eggs. As that mana settled into the creatures, they began to absorb dungeon mana from the air and the dropped leaves. The millipede eggs hatched unnaturally quick and the baby millipedes happy munched away at the abundant leaf litter. Their new instincts as claimed dungeon creatures kept them a minimum distance from the entrance and gave them improved control over the water spray attack. Over the next few weeks, millipedes multiplied and spread into the sauna worldlet as well. The rivulets of water in the delta worldlet made walking on a hundred little legs difficult, so the millipedes did not thrive in the delta worldlet. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. More creatures entered the dungeon, mostly millipedes and beetles. With each creature, the System prompted the dungeon select an automated response and then randomly selected a response for the dungeon until each creature was either absorbed, banished, claimed, or ignored. Creatures were equally likely to be mutated before or after any of these actions. Claimed but unmutated creatures would absorb mana and grow in size but could not compete with the mutated claimed creatures and were few in number. A couple frogs and a handful of salamanders were also claimed by the dungeon. The water mutation did not make significant changes to the amphibians as they were already perfectly at home in the water. The salamanders adapted well to the delta worldlet and were the only creatures to spread through the whole area. Domination succeeded only one time. Through inexplicable random chance, the mindless dungeon core mentally dominated a large hunting spider. Through System-provided instincts, the vine began to perceive the hunting spider as part of the vine and tried to send water and mana to this ¡°new growth¡±. Mana successfully transferred over the mental connection, and the spider began to grow along with all the vines. *bloop* A vine behind the dungeon core pushed into a new worldlet and sank its roots into the soil. Unfortunately, there was no soil, so the vine only pushed some roots into a blob of floating pebbles. Under the roots, a few pebbles were glowing softly and one or two had dew drops on them. The space of the new worldlet was filled with darkness and clumps of floating pebbles. With no gravity providing direction, and no strong light sources or concentrations of water, the vine¡¯s plant instincts struggled. Leaves and vines stretched, pale and thin, in all directions. Like a potato left in a dark cupboard, the vine tried to grow far enough to catch enough light to sustain its growth and justify the energy expense of the new rooting. The dungeon core vine (as well as the all the dungeon claimed creatures) did not actually require much sunlight or nutrition to survive, but the plant instincts driving it reacted to the darkness to send increased water and mana to help the vine find the sun. Mana from all over the vine swirled together in the dark worldlet vine. As the mana concentration swelled, the System offered options. _ Forced Mana Evolution Attempt Underway. Select Upgrade Path for ¡®Poison Berry Vine¡¯: _ _ Random Selection: ¡°Low Light Vision¡± selected _ _ Error: No Vision System. Augmenting ¡®Poison Berry Vine¡¯ _ Mana swirled in the vine. The swirls migrated to the leaves that stretched in all directions. The mana concentrated down to a small circle in each leaf and pulsed hard. Every leaf opened a single small eye. After eyes evolved on the vine in the dark worldlet, excess concentrated mana flowed back across the whole multi-worldlet vine plant. The mutations from the blue vine and the eye vine could not take hold in the main worldlet vine, but dropped fruits began to occasionally produce vines with the water or eyes mutations. These vines were the same natural size as the unmutated vine spawns and did not have any real advantage over the unmutated vine spawns except in the dark worldlet. In the dark, the eyes could track the glowing stones and could draw sufficient light energy to sustain vines. The few blue vines that survived in the dark were small and very close to the brightest stones. As water mist sprayed weakly around the glowing stones, the eye vines could track either the glowing stone or the rainbows that shone against the black background. Ch 4 - Acid Rain Two more creatures of significance entered the dungeon shortly after the creation of the dark worldlet. The first creature was an unfortunate snake that got the eye mutation applied to every one of its scales before it was banished back to the forest. It is unlikely the snake survived long before it¡¯s death, but the snake definitely saw it coming. The second creature of significance was a wounded goblin. _ Higher Life Intruder Detected. Select Automated Response: _ After the regular delay, the System turned to the dungeon fairy. _ ¡®Randomize All¡¯ Not Recommended _ The fairy shifted a little as though an invisible foot had kicked it in the side but otherwise didn¡¯t react. _ Random Selection: ¡°Ignore¡± selected _ The goblin looked around at the large vines and the odd blue critters crawling over the leaves. The goblin was short, green, dressed in torn hide clothing, and bleeding from a bite on its calf. It shuffled carefully behind a dense bundle of vine and blended in quite well, practically disappearing. The goblin held its bleeding leg with one hand and scratched at a flea with the other. _ Additional Intruders Detected. Select Automated Response: _ _ Random Selection ¡®Banish¡¯ selected _ The goblin relaxed a bit as the irritation from the fleas disappeared. It wrapped its leg with some torn hide and vine, then lay down to rest, falling asleep quickly. While it slept, it scratched at its head. _ Additional Intruders Detected. Select Automated Response: _ _ Random Selection ¡®Claim¡¯ selected _ The lice on the goblin received their own complicated pulse of mana from the dungeon core and began to absorb mana from the air. Since the goblin¡¯s blood held no absorbable mana, the lice paused feeding and held still as they slowly grew to the size of large mice. Once their changes stabilized, the lice, all in unison, spread out and jabbed their mouthparts into the goblin. The goblin woke up screaming and thrashing at its own body. The lice dug their claws in to avoid being dislodged, causing more pain to the goblin. The goblin tried to rise to its feet and run to the exit and away from this painful strange cave, but it was disoriented and could barely see due to a louse on its face. The lice were sucking goblin blood as fast as they could when the goblin tripped on a millipede and hit the ground. The goblin yanked the louse off its face and tried to stand again, but it was weak. The lice had nearly turned red from the blood they had consumed, and the goblin¡¯s injury was freshly bleeding. The goblin began to crawn toward the exit but each body length it crawled, it also slowed. The goblin passed out and, just as the lice drank in the maximum they could hold, died of blood loss. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. _ Successfully Defeated Intruder. Experience Awarded _ _ Core Level Increased to 2. Mana Storage Increased 5%. Mana Generation increased 5%. Durability Increased 10% _ _ Select Dungeon Reward: _ _ Random Selection: ¡°Unlock Spawn¡± Selected. Select From Available Spawn: ¡­ _ _ Random Selection: ¡°Lesser Floating Jellyfish¡± _ Shortly after the death of the goblin, a large amount of mana flowed into the dungeon core vine. Every vine stretched and pushed out more leaves and roots. In the main worldlet, a fruit fell from the dungeon vine and bounced off a frog¡¯s head. The skin of the fruit unwrapped and revealed a small jellyfish, floating off the ground. The frog shot it¡¯s tongue out at the jellyfish. Moments later, with a soft undulation, the jellyfish drifted away from the frog as it thrashed on the ground, pawing at its own tongue.
Few mammals entered the dungeon, and fewer still established a foothold for their kind. A few bats found the dungeon every night, but they mostly flew out again without interference from the dungeon. Bats claimed by the dungeon would no longer choose to leave it and survived on mana and catching beetles. A few bats got the water spray mutation and became water-aligned; this resulted in a very odd creature with wings that could not fly. Water bats struggled in the dungeon but were able to survive in the mud of the sauna worldlet where they would snap beetles off the surface like little mammalian sharks. A wolf briefly visited the dungeon. Perhaps the wolf had tracked the blood trail of the goblin to the entrance. As a higher life form, the wolf could not be absorbed and resisted being claimed. The randomly selected response was for the dungeon to attack the wolf. Several millipedes close to the entrance shot streams of water at the wolf and several beetles crawl over the wolf¡¯s paws and try to bite through the fur. The wolf whined in a confused manner and shook its paws to knock off the large beetles. The wolf bent down to bite at some of the millipedes but left off after crunching a couple in half. The wolf then raised its head right into the path of the floating jellyfish. With a yelp of pain, the wolf turned and ran out of the dungeon. _ Successfully Repelled Intruder. Experience Awarded _ *bloop* In the delta worldlet, a vine had pushed far enough and firmly enough to create a new worldlet. The vine nearly missed sinking its roots down into the soil due to rain falling sideways; left to right. The cold rain nearly stopped the roots from reaching the ground, but the ground nearly killed the roots. The ground was composed of acidic peat with pools of rainwater that pulled acid from the peat to became acid water. The dungeon core vine sent huge amounts of water and mana in response to the acid burning the roots of the vine. On top of the stress from the rain and the acid, the light in the new worldlet would have been nearly blinding to a human, and the vine struggled to manage the influx of light energy through even a few leaves. The System detected the mana concentration in the vine and offered options. _ Forced Mana Evolution Attempt Underway. Select Upgrade Path for ¡®Poison Berry Vine¡¯: _ _ Random Selection: ¡°Acid Alignment¡± selected _ Once again, the mana pulsed and swirled. The vine turned slightly yellower, and the roots stopped withering. _ Spawn Mutation Available: Lesser Floating Jellyfish (acid alignment) _ With the immense light energy flowing in from the acid rain worldlet, the frequency of spawn fruit increased. Acid floating jellyfish began to appear in each worldlet, though they were most commonly spawned from the acid-aligned vine. The sideways rain in the worldlet led to the new vine growth and all the jellyfish clumping up on one edge of the world. In very little time, compared to other new worldlets, the acid rain vine pushed through. *bloop* Roots of the acid aligned vine pushed into the ground. Slowly. The ground was solid, grey, weathered limestone, and it took time for the acid nature of the roots to dissolve stone to gain a purchase. The light in the stony worldlet was light grey, pairing with the grey stone. After the vine took root and started to expand, a shallow wave of water rushed over the ground. After a handful of seconds, the wave of water retreated, like a wave rushing back to the ocean. The floating jellyfish had been pushed into the stony worldlet by the sideways rain immediately after the worldlet¡¯s creation. The vine in the stony worldlet began spawning jellyfish as well, and the space quickly filled with a cloud of softly undulating stinging and acid jellyfish. Ch 5 - Pigs and Spears _ Higher Life Intruder Group Detected. Select Automated Response: _ _ Random Selection: ¡°Claim¡± selected. Claim Failed _ _ Random Selection: ¡°Ignore¡± selected _ _ Additional Intruders Detected. Select Automated Response: _ _ Random Selection ¡®Claim¡¯ selected _ _ Claim Attempt Partially Successful _ _ Random Selection: Ignore _ A small group of wild boars entered the dungeon. They were ignored by the dungeon, but some of their lice were claimed. As the lice began to grow with absorbed mana, the boars rooted around in the leaves and chomped down with relish on beetles, millipedes, grubs, and occasionally a salamander. The lice grew slowly, so the boars did not realize they were there. One of the smaller boars reached up to bite a fruit off the vine. The other boars smelled the fruit and reached up to eat some of the plentiful berries for themselves. After a few more minutes of feasting, the first boar to eat a poison fruit began to cough up bloody foam. It quickly died. The remainder of the boars were spooked and started to run toward the exit, but they crashed to the ground and began coughing up more bloody foam. They struggled for a while, and one got back to its feet and staggered around in a daze. Then the Lice were big enough to drain the boars dry, and they all died. _ Successfully Defeated Intruder Group. Experience Awarded _ _ Core Level Increased to 3. Mana Storage Increased 5%. Mana Generation increased 5%. Durability Increased 10% _ _ Core Level Sufficient to Spawn Low Cost Claimed Creatures. New Spawns Available: _ _ Select Dungeon Reward: _ _ Random Selection: ¡°Entrance Feature¡± Selected. Select From Available Features: _ Random Selection: ¡°Doorway¡± Selected. Select Material _ _ Only One Material Available. ¡°Vines¡± Selected _ Inside the dungeon, nothing changed. In the forest outside, a doorway of twisting vines grew out of the ground. The doorway completely surrounded the wobbly patch of air and looked like a proper magical portal. Only a short time later, A human man tracked the boar family to the vine doorway. He was dressed in simple, durable clothing made from woolen rectangles that wrapped and tied around his shoulders and waist. He carried a sturdy wooden spear and a sort of rough wooden shield. An empty bag had been tied to the human¡¯s back. After checking around the doorway a few times and poking the vines, the human entered the dungeon doorway. _ Higher Life Intruder Detected. Select Automated Response: _ _ Random Selection: ¡°Dominate¡± selected. Domination Failed _ Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. _ Random Selection: ¡°Dominate¡± selected. Domination Failed _ _ Random Selection: ¡°Ignore¡± selected _ The human was able to faintly detect the domination attempts as an uneasy feeling, but he quickly shook it off. He almost immediately saw the remains of the boars he had been tracking. Beetles, grubs, and one jellyfish were nearly done stripping the bones. The human¡¯s eyes widened in shock, and he swore. ¡°Scales! A rotting dungeon? By that vine doorway I thought this would be the queen of the elves!¡± The human stares all around the dungeon for several minutes. His eyes tracked a blue millipede or a floating jellyfish for a few moments apiece before jumping to look at another specimen. A couple lice picked up the feel of the human¡¯s body heat and crawled towards him, but the human was aware enough of his immediate surroundings to jab at each louse with his spear before it reached him. The human studied the vine fruit closest to the entrance for a moment before recognizing them as a common poison berry. The human muttered about ¡°goblin berries¡± as he stepped back out of the dungeon. A few hours later, the human came back. With him was another human: similarly dressed but with a club instead of a spear. The two humans had brought multiple woven reed baskets tied together in a bundle. The first one spoke and swept an arm. ¡°As I said, Chaney, enough critters to hire ten wizards. Look!¡± _ Higher Life Intruder Group Detected. Select Automated Response: _ _ Random Selection: ¡°Claim¡± selected. Domination Failed _ _ Random Selection: ¡°Dominate¡± selected. Domination Failed _ _ Random Selection: ¡°Ignore¡± selected _ The second human (Chaney) replied, ¡°You¡¯re out of mana, Oz. What is this?¡± Chaney looked around, confused and nervous. He had felt the claim and domination attempts and continued to feel like something was breathing on his neck. ¡°It¡¯s a dungeon! Did you tell the hill lord?¡± ¡°No, you¡¯re out of mana!¡± Oz¡¯s face flushed red for a second before he calmed himself. ¡°The hill lord can find his own self his own dungeon. Burn my bones if I want to take every little thing to that fae eared fake.¡± Oz began untying the baskets while keeping his spear ready in one hand. ¡°Oz¡± Chaney drew the name out in exasperation. ¡°You can¡¯t just keep a secret like this, it could be dangerous. Your cousin¡¯s a proper adventurer and knows about dungeons. It¡¯s what hill lords are for.¡± Chaney took a half step back as an extra-large blue millipede crawled out of some leaves. ¡°What did you bring me for? It¡¯s a right goblin¡¯s garden in here.¡± ¡°I need someone to watch my back as I stuff these baskets. Maybe if we get enough, I can take it up the hill and get the wizard to light Andy¡¯s ass on fire¡± Oz dropped the basket he was trying to balance in one hand, then accidentally kicked it away when he tried to catch it with his foot. ¡°Scales!¡± he swore. Chaney¡¯s face turned red as he took his turn being angry. ¡°You can climb the highest peak and get eaten by a dragon if you want to get me to work against Hill Lord Andebert. You don¡¯t understand. You¡¯ve always had your ¡®Cousin Andy¡¯ keeping the monsters away but the rest of us haven¡¯t!¡± Oz looked ashamed for a moment, then held up his hands, still holding his spear. ¡°Sorry, sorry! I swear by the elven queen and the System that I meant no harm. I was just excited and got carried away. I don¡¯t know what I¡¯ll do with all this bread and beer¡± He gestured around at the wealth of creatures, just waiting to be stuffed in a basket, ¡°but I know I want to do something with it, instead of handing it all over to Hill Lord Andy.¡± Oz kicked at a louse that was crawling close. ¡°Look, it¡¯s just bugs. Little crawlers and the like. It¡¯s not like a dungeon in a story, sending out goblin armies and such. Let¡¯s just get what we can and, in a week or so, you can send a message up the hill saying you just found it. How about it? Help me out here and then you get the credit later.¡± Oz¡¯s face showed only sincerity. Chaney relaxed at hearing Oz¡¯s apology. He shook his head and huffed a silent laugh as he took over untying baskets. ¡°You watch my back; You have the greater reach with that spear anyways.¡± Oz nodded agreement quickly and readied his spear. Chaney took a basket in one hand and a lid in the other started shuffling quietly toward a large blue beetle. ¡°Bread and beer.¡± He said wryly, ¡°Bread and beer is what you would get with all this. Maybe you could buy enough bread that Talea would give you a smile and remember your name.¡± Chaney snapped the basket and lid together like jaws around the beetle. Oz grinned, ¡°That¡¯s the spirit! Impressing pretty women with the might of our arms and our high levels of monster slaying!¡± Oz speared a louse and stomped on a spider. The two friends chatted and joked while they caught millipedes and beetles. With the last basket, Chaney tried to catch a floating jellyfish, but one of the jellyfish tentacles fell outside the basket and touched Chaney¡¯s hand. ¡°Teeth!¡± Chaney¡¯s face paled as he swore. ¡°Teeth! Scales and teeth!¡± He dropped the basket and grabbed at his hand, which was swelling quickly. ¡°Aaah, it burns like dragonfire!¡± Oz bashed the jellyfish to the ground and speared right through it. He whirled to his friend and grabbed his shoulders. ¡°Chaney! Are you poisoned? How much damage did it do?¡± Oz began pulling Chaney toward the bundle of full baskets, leaving his spear buried in the dying jellyfish. ¡°Not much damage. Just hurts¡± Chaney said between clenched teeth. Oz let out a quick sigh of relief. He was about to say more when a louse bit him on the ankle. ¡°Ow! Rotting bugs! Let¡¯s get out of here.¡± Oz smashed the louse with a fist, grabbed his friend and the baskets, and left the dungeon. Ch 6 - Go Ahead and Kill It Two weeks later, Oz reentered the dungeon. He was accompanied by a well-muscled man who was half a head shorter than Oz but with much broader shoulders. The newcomer wore leather and fur and carried a curious bow. Four points on the bow shaft sparkled bright blue and the bowstring seemed to have a thread of blue woven through it. The man had golden fur across his shoulders and back, and his chest was covered with a scaly brown hide. He wore a short, grey wool skirt over his bare legs and his foot wrappings were a similar color to the fur on his shoulders. Around his forehead he wore a circlet made from yellow knuckle bones. Next to Oz, the newcomer looked powerful and wealthy. ¡°There, Andy, there¡¯s all your precious new bugs. All the crawling things your little heart could desire¡± Oz sullenly folded his arms in front of his chest. _ Higher Life Intruder Group Detected. Select Automated Response: _ _ Random Selection: ¡°Attack¡± selected _ Dozens of millipedes, beetles, spiders, lice, frogs, salamanders, and bats turned toward the two humans. Hill Lord Andebert shoved Oz out of the exit while shouting, ¡°Run Osmund!¡± Andebert did not follow his cousin in leaving the dungeon. He drew a knife from his belt and begin to dart back and forth through the dungeon creatures. The hill lord moved so quickly he seemed to be just an image of a man flashing around the worldlet. Every place his image appeared, a dungeon creature died. The dungeon creatures died from a knife cutting through them or a foot stomping them, or a fist smashing them out of the air. The sound of the fighting was oddly muted and was mostly the buzz of beetle wings and the croaking of frogs, but the sound was sudden enough that it startled all the unclaimed creatures that still resided in the main worldlet. Andebert did not kill indiscriminately and kept his blows to creatures that were clearly attacking or unnaturally sized. Oz ran back in through the dungeon entrance with a large stone in each hand. He stopped two steps inside the entrance when he saw that the floor of the worldlet was covered in smashed and sliced dungeon creatures. Andebert finished killing the last of the flying attackers and turned to glare at Oz. Oz looked around in angry disbelief, ¡°I was only out there long enough to find two stones. Rotting goblin teeth, how?¡± ¡°Stay there.¡± Andebert¡¯s voice held a furious warning. He began stalking soundlessly around the worldlet. Every few paces, he would twitch a vine aside or poke at a pile of leaves. A few claimed creatures had hidden to try an ambush, but the hill lord ferreted them all out. Off to one side of the entrance, Andebert nearly stepped back in shock when he moved a vine aside to find a spider the size of a large dog. The spider did not move. Andebert waited for it to attack; it had surely seen him by now. The spider still did not move. Andebert poked one of its legs with his knife. No response. The motionless spider had been Dominated by the dungeon weeks ago and had not moved since except to shift its feet as it grew. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Andebert finally stepped back and let the vine fall back in place. His face showed baffed confusion. He looked over at Osmund and sighed. The boy¡ªwell, maybe he was a man now¡ªsat on his heels with his arms folded over his knees, glaring at the floor. Andebert took a few steps toward the middle of the worldlet and picked up a long, pointed stick. He took the stick over to Osmund and tapped it on the ground, saying, ¡°Do you want some free experience, cousin?¡± Oz jumped up, ¡°My spear!¡± Aside from being filthy, the spear was in fine condition. Oz took the offered spear. ¡°What free experience?¡± Andebert gestured in the direction of the spider. ¡°There¡¯s some weird big spider over there but it¡¯s not moving or reacting to anything. You can just stab it in the head.¡± Oz looked unsure. ¡°Big spider? Are you sure it¡¯s not just natural?¡± Andebert shook his head. ¡°Much too big. Come look.¡± Oz spooked and jumped back when he saw the size of the spider. ¡°Burning bones! That¡¯s not a ¡®big spider¡¯ that¡¯s a rotting giant spider!¡± Andebert squinted at the spider. ¡°Hmm, it¡¯s definitely a ¡®lesser spider¡¯. Don¡¯t know why it¡¯s so large or why it¡¯s paralyzed right now, but it¡¯s the last dungeon creature in here. Go ahead and kill it, then we can leave.¡± ¡°Why couldn¡¯t we just leave anyway?¡± Oz asked. ¡°If we leave this dungeon floor without killing every creature, the dungeon will gain experience for driving us off. Best to be thorough and slow down the dungeon development until I can get it inspected. I saw some lice in here, those will have to be dealt with soon if it¡¯s not too late.¡± With significant hesitation, Oz stepped forward and stabbed his spear into the spider¡¯s head. The spider twitched for a moment, then collapsed. As the spider¡¯s body hit the ground, the mental connection between the dungeon core vine and the spider was violently severed. Without a mind to localize it, mental pain shot through the entire dungeon vine plant. The sudden and sharp pain shocked the plant¡¯s stress systems and the whole dungeon reacted. Leaves on every branch of the vine shook and many dropped. The blue vine sprayed water out in such a flood that the clay mud floor around it was pushed back and a small pond formed. The acid vine dripped out acid from every root and filled the air in the stony worldlet with acrid smoke. Water and mana shot back and forth from all the branches of the vine. Around the dungeon core, water, and all the mana alignments the vine had, began swirling together to try and flow toward the ¡®wound¡¯ of the dead spider. The System detected the swirling mana and recognized a spell. _ Spell Unlocked: ¡°Acid Spray¡± _ _ New Spawn Mutation Available: ¡°Acid Alignment (spray)¡± _ Andebert looked around at the trembling and dropping leaves. ¡°Huh. This dungeon might have a temper. Maybe we killed its favorite pet. Anyway, now we leave.¡± He and his cousin walked out the dungeon exit. Ch 7 - Pest Ward _ Failure to Repel Intruder Group. No Experience Awarded _ _ Significant Battle Debris Detected. Absorb? Yes/No _ _ Random Selection. ¡°No¡± Selected _ After the hill lord and his cousin left the dungeon, the dungeon core vine slowly returned to normal. The loss of the dominated spider caused pain in a way that plant instincts could not readily handle, but the loss of a ¡°branch¡± of the vine was an ordinary source of stress and the plant reallocated mana to support the remainder of its body across the worldlets. All over the dungeon, leaves regrew, and fruit dropped to spawn new creatures. It was a slow process. Many of the spawn from the acid vine gained the acid spray mutation, though it remained rare from the other vines. The dungeon vine had a strong suite of plant senses that were augmented with dungeon core senses. Data from these senses flowed continually into the dungeon core mind where it was read by only two things: the plant instincts inherited by the dungeon core, and the System. The System was able to infer the presence of intruders more accurately than any mortal mind could, but neither the System nor the core could detect the human that entered the dungeon two days after Andebert and Oz left. The human made no sound, gave off no smell, had a diminished mana presence, and had somehow muted their electromagnetic self. The dungeon creatures had no chance to detect the human aside from bumping into them blindly, but the human effortlessly wove around the few creatures that had respawned in the main worldlet. The human walked a circle around the main vine body that hid the dungeon core (and the dungeon fairy), then followed one of the main vines into the delta worldlet. The human observed the worldlet for a time, then drew a stiletto dagger and stabbed a louse. The human put the dead louse in a sack and gently stepped around on the sand, looking for more. There were only two lice in the delta worldlet, so the human returned to the main worldlet and followed a different main vine to the sauna worldlet. The human staggered briefly in the heat and mud, before continuing their hunt for lice. There were a handful of lice in the sauna worldlet, and the human harvested them quickly. Back in the main worldlet, the human placed two small devices on either side of the main vine body before returning to stand in front of the exit. They extended their arms out to the two devices and took a deep breath. A pulse of mana went out from the devices and echoed around the dungeon. The pulses returned to the two devices after a minute, and the human seemed satisfied. The System detected the spell but wasn¡¯t able to determine the exact source of the spell. Without a better explanation, the System attributed it to the dungeon core. _ Spell Unlocked: ¡°Greater Detect¡± _ As the human stepped back out through the exit, the two devices crumbled to dust. Outside, the human stomped a pair of tiles into the ground just in front of the dungeon doorway. Runes on the tiles flashed white for a moment, and the System detected a change. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. _ Entrance Feature Unlocked: ¡°Pest Ward¡±. Description: A ward against common pests such as mice, lice, fleas, mosquitos, and ants _
The next day, Oz entered the dungeon alone. In addition to his spear, he wore tan leather greaves and bracers and carried a shoulder bag embroidered with an image of a fort on a hill. Oz stood in a ready stance with spear in both hands as he waited for a response from the dungeon creatures. _ Higher Life Intruder Detected. Select Automated Response: _ _ Random Selection: ¡°Attack¡± selected _ A dozen dungeon creatures turned and advanced on Oz. Two of the creatures had the blue water alignment mutation and they send loose streams of water at Oz. Oz sidestepped the sprays and swung at a jellyfish with his spear. The jellyfish burst under his strike and some jelly landed on Oz¡¯s cheek. Fortunately, another spray of water from the blue creatures struck Oz in the face and cleaned the jelly off. Oz yelped and swiped at his eyes, taking a step back and resetting his spear and stance. He jabbed his spear at a frog, then swept the spear in a semi-circle along the ground. This movement pushed aside several millipedes and opened a gap in the advancing creatures. Oz quickly stepped through the gap and into more open space. Oz was no longer surrounded by creatures, but he also no longer had a quick means of escape. ¡°Come and try again you rotten bugs!¡± Oz yelled. He reversed his spear grip and began stabbing at millipedes and beetles on the ground. Some of the beetles were large enough that the spear passed through them and picked them up like meat on a skewer. Oz heard a click and then buzzing that told him that at least one beetle had taken to the air. Keeping an eye on the creatures on the ground, Oz located the flying beetle and swung his spear at it. The beetle was a bit further than the spearman estimated, but a couple beetle carcasses slipped off the spear and clipped the flying beetle. The beetle tumbled in midair for a moment before righting itself, just in time for Oz¡¯s second swing to connect. A frog¡¯s tongue lashed out and crushed Oz¡¯s hand against the spear haft. Oz screamed as he felt a bone snap but managed to reset his stance and push a spear thrust through the eye of the frog. The biggest creatures were all dead at this point and Oz took only a few more moments to kill the rest of the attacking wave one-handed. Oz took a few minutes to catch his breath as he cradled his broken hand against his chest. ¡°Burn my bones, burn my bones, peaking blight! Ow!¡± The bone had not pierced the skin, so Oz took a deep breath and levered the opposite thumb into his palm to set the bone. He released his breath in a stream of obscenities. Looking around for a splint, Oz remembered that was still in the dungeon and had not completed his task. He took a small clay tablet and a scribe from the bag and balanced the tablet with the arm above his broken hand. Oz walked around the dead creatures and carefully tallied up the different kinds. Putting the tablet back in the bag, Oz tried to replicate the careful search for hidden creatures that he had watched Andebert perform. Oz¡¯s perception was high, but not sufficient to prevent another water spray to the face and a bite that was easily stopped by his greaves. After adding another couple of tallies to the tablet, Oz walked the perimeter again and marked a simple map with the three locations where a major vine went through a wobbly patch of air. He felt a bit smug that he had located one in a dark area behind the main vine body, one that his cousin Andy hadn¡¯t mentioned and so presumably hadn¡¯t noticed. ¡°Thank you, dungeon! Don¡¯t blow yourself up trying to catch me, I¡¯ll be back tomorrow for more bread and beer!¡± With that farewell, Oz left the dungeon. _ Failure to Repel Intruder. No Experience Awarded _ Ch 8 - Apricot Tree *bloop* Before Oz returned the next day, the dungeon core vine pushed through to a new worldlet. A branch of the blue vine in the sauna worldlet had been pushing against the edge of the worldlet for days, but water and mana had been pulled away due to the death of the Dominated spider. The tip of the vine pushed through into the worldlet and sunk its roots into¡­ nothing. Cold water surrounded the vine and a medium blue light illuminated silt drifting through the water. Small bubbles of air rose through the water and carved lines in the silt clouds. The dungeon vine did not inherit its instincts from an underwater plant like kelp or even something halfway like a lotus, the instincts did not have a clear response to having one end of a vine, with roots and a bundle of leaves, stuck under water. The roots were able to draw in water and the leaves absorbed some light energy from the blue light, but the vine was also suffocating and cold. Spraying water out into water had no benefit and only stirred the silt clouds. The dungeon core vine struggled for a while, instincts fighting over pulling in water, pushing out water and mana, trying to cut off resources to the struggling area to let it die, and trying to grow leaves up and (presumably) out of the water. The plant instincts of the dungeon vine were in conflict, so for the first time since the creation of the dungeon, the dungeon core instincts operated independently. Mana flowed separately from water and reinforced the struggling vine. Some of the mana got pulled back out as the plant instincts fought, but eventually there was enough mana for the System to notice. _ Forced Mana Evolution Attempt Underway. Select Upgrade Path for ¡®Poison Berry Vine (Water Alignment (Spray))¡¯: _ _ Random Selection: ¡°Air Bubble¡± selected _ Mana pulsed and swirled in the drowning vine, then pushed outward in a sphere around the root bundle. Mana pushed the water back and left air behind. The vine changed color back from blue to green and the vine was suddenly in a situation more compatible with the dungeon core vine¡¯s plant instincts. The roots and leaves hung in the middle of a bubble of air. As bubbles in the water merged with the bottom of the vine¡¯s bubble, a new bubble of about the same size leaked out the top. _ New Spawn Mutation Option Available: Air Bubble _ In the acid raid worldlet, a dropped fruit spawned a jellyfish with an air bubble. The jellyfish floated up off the ground and drifted around. When the sideways rain hit the air bubble, it flowed around the bubble and dripped off the other side. The jellyfish undulated softly and drifted around the acid rain worldlet without being washed out into the stony worldlet. Later, a water-aligned bat would spawn in the sauna worldlet. The air bubble made it impossible for the bat to swim in the mud or cool off under the spraying water. The air bubble water bat died soon after it spawned. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. When Oz came back the next day, the only change to his equipment was a splint around his broken hand. He once again stood ready with his spear. _ Higher Life Intruder Detected. Select Automated Response: _ _ Random Selection: ¡°Dominate¡± selected. Domination Failed _ _ Random Selection: ¡°Ignore¡± selected _ Oz stood ready for half a minute before deciding that the dungeon creatures were not going to attack. ¡°Roast me, maybe you learned your lesson about messing with the great and powerful Oz!¡± Oz shifted his spear grip and stalked over to a beetle. He set his feet and pinned the beetle to the ground. With eyes and ears wide, Oz watched for any response from the other creatures. Nothing. Oz kicked the beetle of his spear and stalked over to his next victim. As it had only been one day, and the dungeon had spent significant mana on the mutation of the vine in the underwater worldlet, there were very few creatures in the main worldlet. Oz finished them off and marked tallies on a new tablet for the creatures present. With his task apparently done, Oz sat near the entrance and pulled out a fruit to eat while he watched for any change in the dungeon. The System noticed the fruit and took a moment to cross-reference it against the dungeon core vine¡¯s capabilities. _ Spawn Unlocked: Apricot tree _ In the delta worldlet, a vine fruit dropped to the ground and sprouted an apricot sapling.
Oz brought more humans with him when he returned five days later. They came armed and also with traps of a sort. The dungeon creatures attacked, and the human group killed them quickly, but the humans used the traps to catch all the blue water-aligned creatures. There were only five blue creatures, but that was one higher than they had estimated. ¡°It is strange,¡± Oz said as he marked tallies on a tablet, ¡°the dungeon has attacked me thrice, but I¡¯ve been in here five times. Six maybe.¡± ¡°What happened the other times?¡± said a woman wielding a mace. ¡°The bugs mostly ignored us. They would still sting and bite but no different than a natural bug. By the elven queen, if you found a louse the size of your fist out in the forest, you wouldn¡¯t be shocked if it tried to bite you. Nothing strange about that, you understand me?¡± Oz finished his tally and put the tablet away. The woman looked skeptical. ¡°Were they trying to ambush you?¡± Oz shook his head. ¡°No, they just crawled about in the leaves like regular bugs. Look you can see there are regular bugs in here.¡± Oz used his spear to flip a pile of fallen leaves. Multiple small millipedes were revealed, and they began moving their tiny legs as fast as they could to get back under darkness. ¡°They acted just like that the first time I was here.¡± No one had much to say about that. ¡°Well, time to look in on the other floors, then!¡± Oz grinned and readied his spear. The woman took the lead towards the left side portal. Oz¡¯s shoulders slumped at not being the leader, but he made a mighty effort to not slouch after the woman. The woman checked that Oz was ready to follow, then stepped through the portal. Oz jumped in after her. Ch 9 - A Few Moments of Beauty Oz managed to not bump into the back of the woman as he landed in the delta worldlet. It was sparser in vegetation than the main worldlet but had more creatures since the humans had not yet cleared this worldlet. The woman went down on one knee and slammed her mace into the sandy ground. Oz didn¡¯t take any damage, but the shockwave did cause him to stumble and sit down in the wet sand. The nearby creatures exploded from the force of the blow. Oz pushed himself up, trying to inconspicuously brush the sand and water from his clothing. ¡°Goblin¡¯s teeth, that was a lot for just bugs.¡± He said. ¡°You don¡¯t know it¡¯s just bugs. Anyway, you reported a frog that broke your hand, so you do know that it isn¡¯t just bugs.¡± The woman stood and walked forward into the worldlet. Oz followed and they hunted salamanders. One of the salamanders shot an acid spray at the woman but she covered her eyes with her arm and was unharmed by it. ¡°The creatures are small and young, so they have little mana to put in spells like that one.¡± She explained. ¡°Is that a tree?¡± she asked. Oz looked where she pointed and saw an apricot sapling. ¡°I think so.¡± He said, not clear on if trees were important. The woman walked over to the tree and circled it twice. ¡°It is. I would swear before a dragon that this is one of my brother¡¯s apricot trees. Why is it here?¡± Oz shrugged. Then his eyes widened for a second in panic before he put on expression of forced calm. ¡°Fae mysteries.¡± Oz shrugged again, trying to look natural. ¡°Next floor?¡± The woman (whose name, Oz didn¡¯t clearly remember) led them back to the main worldlet and straight across to the sauna worldlet portal. The woman went through but came back out instantly to stop Oz from entering. ¡°Environment is hazardous. Too hot for you.¡± She waved over one of the others to go with her. Oz tried not to sulk while he waited for them to come back. The two spent less time in the sauna worldlet than Oz expected, but the woman explained, ¡°Not too important to clear it. Harvesters won¡¯t be going in there.¡± And that was all the explanation Oz got. Oz followed the woman into the final portal, the one in the dark area behind the big vine plant. He braced himself to be pushed back out if there was another ¡°hazard¡± he wouldn¡¯t be allowed to face. Instead of being pushed out, he bumped into the woman¡¯s back. He only knew it was the woman¡¯s back because he got some of her hair in his mouth. The dungeon floor was pitch black. After a moment of spitting out hair, Oz realized that the floor wasn¡¯t pitch black, just very dim. He looked around and saw tall, thin vine branches and leaves. Then he looked up and forgot everything else in the world. Stretching high above him, small spots of light were scattered like stars. Rainbows floated near many of the spots of light. The spots of light seemed to be drifting slowly, some disappeared, and others appeared, rainbows drifting after them in the dark. Jellyfish drifted about in the rainbows. Oz¡¯s breath stopped. His mind didn¡¯t know how to interpret glowing rainbows on a black background. Oz took a step forward. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. The woman elbowed him in the gut. ¡°Don¡¯t move, blight brain. There¡¯s no floor.¡± Indeed, the two humans were standing on a pile of pebbles around the spot where the big vine rooted. Oz held his gut and kept an angry silence. ¡°There¡¯s something wrong with the leaves¡± the woman said. Oz squinted at the nearest leaves but couldn¡¯t make out anything in the darkness. The woman sighed. ¡°I suppose no harvesters are coming in here either. Let¡¯s go¡±. She turned and waved Oz back through the portal.
Oz and the others reported to the hill lord in the evening. Tallies were checked against estimates and a dungeon harvest schedule was shaped. Every four or five days, a group would enter the dungeon and collect water-aligned creatures from the first floor of the dungeon. The number of water-aligned creatures on the second floor (the delta worldlet) was lower than expected, so it would only be cleared out every month or two, just to keep the threat low. Fluctuations in monster types or number would be reported and then the dungeon would be re-evaluated for harvesting. Andebert asked Osmund to stay a while after all the plans were made. ¡°Something seems different about you cousin.¡± Andebert lounged in a sturdy chair lined with fur. ¡°What has you so withdrawn?¡± Oz sat on the floor and chewed on a piece of dried meat. He did not respond right away but took several breaths. ¡°I¡¯m still thinking about the floor with the rainbows on black. It is the most amazing thing I can imagine. Before I saw that floor, I thought seeing a dragon in the distance might be the most rare and beautiful sight. Now I think the queen of the elves would have trouble drawing eyes away from what I saw.¡± Oz closed his eyes to more clearly picture the drifting rainbows. ¡°Are dungeons really monsters? How could a bloodthirsty monster create¡­ all that? It doesn¡¯t seem possible, and I don¡¯t know what to think about it.¡± Andebert smiled, and his smile grew into a wide grin as Osmund finished speaking. He stood from his chair and walked over to his cousin. He extended his hand as Osmund opened his eyes. Pulling the younger (but taller) man to his feet, Andebert slapped his shoulders. ¡°I am so happy for you cousin! What a wonderous sight to see!¡± Andebert laughed a rich, joyous laugh, ¡°A rare chance to let a few moments of beauty challenge everything you believe. Wonderful!¡± Andebert laughed some more, and Oz (somewhat confused) was caught up in the joy his cousin was showing. The two talked a while longer that evening. They had not spoken so easily since they were both children and Oz was glad to find that Andy was more of a real person than Oz had thought him in a long time. After Oz left, Andebert went into a private office and unlocked a drawer. He pulled out paper and ink and a stone inscribed with runes. He drew a few practice strokes on a smudgy sheet of vellum just to make sure he wouldn¡¯t embarrass himself, then Andebert wrote a request for permission to refer his cousin to the adventurer society. The foolish boy had grown up and Andebert felt that he had gained sufficient insight to not waste the specific training that adventurers underwent. Ch 10 - Emergency Situation As the underwater worldlet grew, most spawns drowned before they could reach the portal back to the sauna worldlet. The vine spawn only survived if they had the air bubble mutation. The dungeon core vine didn¡¯t have a mind to care about the waste of mana or the inefficiencies of random spawn selection, so the underwater worldlet filled up more slowly than any other. A few weeks after the humans started harvesting the creatures in the main worldlet, every worldlet except the main one and the underwater one had replenished the spawned creatures. In the underwater worldlet, a fallen vine fruit got caught in one of the root bundles of the main vine. Since the roots were not under soil or covered in acid, this fruit was the first to successfully sprout a vine mutation that fused with the main vine without forced mana evolution. The small vine dug its roots down into the root bundle and stretched its leaves up and out. The leaves each opened a single eye as the two root systems fused together. The dungeon core vine didn¡¯t process visual input from the eye vines, but the System did. As the new eye vine branch fused with the main dungeon vine, the System saw something that triggered an immediate response. _ EMERGENCY SITUATION: VOID ENTITY IN DUNGEON. ACTIVATING EMERGENCY RESPONSE. PLEASE CONSULT WITH YOUR DUNGEON FAIRY IN ORDER TO SURVIVE THIS SITUATION _ Every creature in the dungeon turned and moved as quickly as it could towards the underwater worldlet. The humans in the main worldlet paused their harvesting in confusion as the attacking creatures turned and ran toward the right-side portal. The humans yelled in surprise and backed up against the dungeon exit when a wave of salamanders came through the left side portal. The salamanders paid no attention to the humans and streamed straight across the worldlet. After the wave of salamanders, there was a trickle of every kind of dungeon creature which was followed by a very slow wave of jellyfish from the acid rain worldlet. The jellyfish in the stony worldlet could not push past the sideways rain and stayed stuck near the portal. In the underwater worldlet, the creatures swam about in every direction, sometimes thrashing out wildly. A water bat from the sauna worldlet swam in circles, releasing sharp bursts of water that sent pressure waves bouncing off everything more solid than water. That bat was the first to flush out the void entity. The void entity appeared from behind a cloud of silt. It was shaped like a sea star and moved like a cuttlefish. It had no color of any kind and appeared to normal vision as a black silhouette with an iridescent outline. The bat dove towards the creature and let out an underwater screech. Nearby creatures turned and swam toward the sound. The void entity seemed to absorb and regrow its legs in a new orientation, then shot away, leaving black sparks behind. The bat swam through the sparks and caught fire. It thrashed about it pain as white fire burned it underwater. Other creatures brushed against the bat or the remaining sparks and caught fire as well. The bat and some of the burning creatures fell through the top of an air bubble and through a bundle of vine leaves. The fire went out as soon as it touched air. Creatures flowed through the portal into the underwater worldlet. Many of them died of drowning before they could help with the fight. After the first exchange, the void entity hid in an empty stretch of water, the only sign of its presence being the absence of the air bubbles that constantly flowed up through the worldlet. A drowning millipede discovered it by accident while trying to swim backwards by spraying water. The next hiding place was in the interface between the water and an air bubble around a vine. This hiding spot did not last long because the increasing number of water-aligned bats still needed to breath and would swoop through the air bubbles to catch a breath. When the void entity fled again, a leg snapped out and several bats were turned to stone. When the wave of salamanders arrived in the underwater bubble, they quickly sighted a miniature void entity hiding just off the back of a frog. The void entity turned the frog inside out as it jetted through the body of the frog to escape. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. This hide-and-seek fight continued in this manner for around an hour. The void entity would use its extreme speed and ability to ignore reality to hide in improbable places, while the dungeon creatures hunted about blindly to try and flush out the beast. Each exchange left at least one dungeon beast dead or bizarrely changed. Slowly, over the next hour, the wave of jellyfish drifted in. The air bubble jellyfish had no difficulty underwater, and the other jellyfish were only slowed down by the water¡ªthey didn¡¯t drown. The jellyfish cloud slowly spread over the space in the worldlet and caused the first injury to the void entity. The void entity had tried to jet through a jellyfish like it had done to the frog previously, but the tendrils of the jellyfish were caught in the jet stream and were sucked up against the skin of the void entity. A buzzing scream shook every air bubble in the worldlet. The void entity desperately avoided the jellyfish after that and started hiding among the carcasses of the drowned dungeon creatures. For two days, the void entity hid in or around the drifting carcasses. Every few hours a bat or a salamander would find the hiding spot and die flushing out the void entity. Eventually, the void entity ran out of carcasses to hide in because the jellyfish were slowly eating them. The void entity was once nearly enveloped by a jellyfish as it pulled a beetle corpse up into its bell for digestion. With few carcasses left and an even greater number of jellyfish and other dungeon creatures surrounding it, the void entity went on the attack. The void entity formed it legs into a hollow cylinder and aimed at the nearest jellyfish. A black star, like a miniature version of the void entity, shot from the cylinder and through the jellyfish, turning it to glass. The void entity fired on three more jellyfish before a flight of bats swept in to fire their own jets of water at the void entity. The water mana attack seemed to slightly eat away at the body of the void entity, and it rushed away to attack more jellyfish. Since the void entity had ceased hiding, the many dungeon creatures were able to follow its movements and continue pressuring it. Sometimes the void entity fired black stars at the creatures chasing it. Most just died or changed to solid materials, but a few creatures suffered more anomalous changes. Some creatures had their limbs and head shuffled around on their body, some turned and attack their fellows, some imploded down to a single point. One jellyfish transformed to be entirely made of the white underwater fire. As the battle continued, the swarm of bats were able to put the most pressure on the void entity. The water jet attacks of the bats tore at the entity¡¯s skin until it was ragged. One bat, with glowing burns on much of its back and one wing, managed to organize the salamanders into a wall that herded the void entity towards the worldlet portal. With bat water jets, jellyfish stingers, and dungeon creatures all around, the void entity made to escape the worldlet. It jetted towards the portal, but not the flat face of the portal. The void entity pressed its body against the edge of the portal. Arms thrashing and pushing, the entity seemed to squeeze through an invisible gap on the edge of the portal. Right as its last arm slipped into nothingness, it reached out and slapped the side of the dungeon vine. _ Successfully Repelled Void Entity. Experience Awarded _ Ch 11 - Gall _ Core Level Increased to 4. Mana Storage Increased 5%. Mana Generation increased 5%. Durability Increased 10% _ _ Core Level Increased to 5. Mana Storage Increased 5%. Mana Generation increased 5%. Durability Increased 10% _ _ Core Level Increased to 6. Mana Storage Increased 5%. Mana Generation increased 5%. Durability Increased 10% _ _ Select Dungeon Reward (X3): _ The dungeon creatures ceased swimming frantically around the underwater worldlet. The few recent spawns that had not yet arrived stopped their march across the dungeon and settled down it whatever worldlet they found themselves in. Inside the dungeon core vine, a black bubble with iridescent edges was being buffeted around by mana flowing back and forth through the vine. The dungeon vine could feel the bubble like an ordinary plant would feel an irritant or parasite. _ Random Selection: ¡°Unlock Spawn¡± Selected. Select From Available Spawn: ¡­ _ Without the void entity to focus on, some dungeon creatures in the underwater worldlet began to attack and eat other dungeon creatures. _ Random Selection: ¡°Lesser Fish¡± Unlocked _ _ Random Selection: ¡°Unlock Treasure¡± Selected. Select From Available Treasure: ¡­ _ The salamanders mostly left the underwater worldlet. Some salamanders stayed in the sauna worldlet and took over the mud where the water bats used to hunt. The rest migrated to the main worldlet. _ Random Selection: ¡°Amber Piece (Small)¡± Selected _ _ Random Selection: ¡°New Material¡± Selected. Select From Available Materials: ¡­ _ With the increased core levels, the dungeon core vine grew more quickly and dropped spawn fruit more frequently. Small fish flopped over dry ground in the main worldlet but managed to hang to life in most of the others. Fish in the underwater worldlet had no issues. _ Random Selection: ¡°Flint¡± Selected _ The dungeon vine concentrated water and mana around the irritating bubble, but it slipped through multiple blockages and crossed over into the vine in the main worldlet. The mana density in the vine increased as the bubble drew closer to the core. Mana rushed outwards from the mana core and squeezed the bubble up against the skin of the vine. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. _ Emergency Situation Resolved. Entrance Feature Awarded: ¡°Defender Badge¡±. Description: This badge indicates that the dungeon has repelled an extremely dangerous attacker without outside aid. This badge also indicates that the dungeon has been awarded an uncommon treasure. _ Treasure Unlocked: ¡°Chest of Gold¡± _ The dungeon vine continuously pushed the bubble out toward the skin of the vine, but also concentrated mana in the vine skin, preventing the bubble from leaving. A gall began to grow on the side of the large vine between the main vine body and the portal to the sauna worldlet. With more mana than ever, the dungeon vine grew the gall to the size of a grapefruit and locked it down tight with constantly flowing mana. The bubble thrashed around in its prison but could not push past the mana. _ Anomalous Battle Performance Recognized. Dungeon Spawn Experience Awarded. Dungeon Spawn Marked for Continuous Respawn. _ In the underwater worldlet, the water bat with white glowing burns gave a surprised squeak. This was the same bat that had first flushed out the void entity and the bat that had organized the salamanders for the final push that drove the void entity out. Mana pulsed in the bat, and it began to grow. Water and bubbles swirled around it in a furious sphere for a handful of seconds. When the sphere dispersed, the bat was twice as large and much more streamlined. Its head looked more like a fox head, but with tiny scales instead of fur. The claws on its wings pulled out and along its wings to make slashing blades. The white glowing burns were gone, but the bat¡¯s eyes glowed white. The bat snapped its wings and flashed through the water to catch a newly spawned fish. The lesser bats flocked around the larger bat like an honor guard. _ Significant Battle Debris Detected. Absorb? Yes/No _ _ Random Selection. ¡°Yes¡± Selected _ _ Material Unlocked: ¡°Lesser Stone¡± _ _ Material Unlocked: ¡°Glass¡± _ _ Material Unlocked: ¡°Sand¡± _ _ Material Unlocked: ¡°Lead¡± _ _ Material Unlocked: ¡°Void Fire¡± _ _ Warning: Void Materials Disallowed. Select Replacement Material: ¡­ _ _ Random Selection: ¡°Ice¡± Selected _ Oz sat by the dungeon exit. He had watched the dungeon creatures cross the dungeon left to right for the better part of three days. The dungeon creatures no longer traveled but shuffled and dug about in the fallen leaves like normal. Oz thought the dungeon was anything but normal, however. Fruits were falling at a noticeable rate, and there were fish for some reason. The composition of the creatures on this first floor was all different from the regular¡ªit was mostly jellyfish and salamanders. A few millipedes had spawned, but no beetles yet. The other big change was a few apricot trees and some vine fruit that fell to the ground and lay there. Oz stared at the closest one for long enough to be certain it would not open into a creature or sprout a plant. He carefully tapped it out of the leaves with his spear. Visually it was not unusual, so Oz wrapped his hand in his clothes and picked it up. The skin of the fruit slipped off and left the insides still on the ground. Oz dropped the loose skin and picked up what was left behind. It was a glass ball, just the same size as the fruit, but completely smooth. He looked around for more fruit laying on the ground. Over the next hour he found six distinct fallen fruits. One was the glass orb, one was a round grey stone, one was a waxy brown stone, one fruit just spilled a bit of sand on the ground, one was a heavy metal ball, and the last was a ball of ice that melted quickly. ¡°Well,¡± Oz said to the dungeon, ¡°I think Andy will want to look at you for himself.¡± Ch 12 – Let’s go Andebert and Oz were not the next people to enter the dungeon. Four people stepped through the dungeon portal when it was night out in the forest: The first person was a huge man with red hair, dark clothes, and a large lumpy bag on each hip; The second person was a bald, dark skinned woman wearing red and wielding a bronze sword; the third person was an ordinary looking brown skinned young woman wearing ordinary brown clothing with ordinary brown eyes and an ordinary bow; the final person was a figure dressed all in grey with grey eyes. The grey figure started to move to the side, then it flickered to be in a crouch, then it threw a punch from standing, then it fell backwards. All these movements happened so close together that they seemed to overlap. _ Higher Life Intruder Detected. Select Automated Response: _ The huge red-haired man turned to the others. ¡°We have a few moments before it decides to attack. Hildred! What are ya doing? The dungeon won¡¯t care what you look like. You should stick to the face that Arna and I will recognize¡± The ordinary looking young woman clenched her fists and glared at the man. ¡°I¡¯m Hilda today, Baggi.¡± Behind her, the grey figure flashed through dozens of actions but, on average, didn¡¯t move. The Dark swordswoman, Arna, smirked. ¡°You two are hard to look at even without your illusions.¡± ¡°Leta and I aren¡¯t-¡° _ Random Selection: ¡°Dominate¡± selected. Domination Failed _ _ Random Selection: ¡°Attack¡± selected _ The ordinary woman was cut off as a dozen salamanders broke from cover of fallen leaves and raced towards the group. Two jellyfish changed course and began to drift in a menacing manner. One beetle opened its wings and lifted off from the top of the largest vine. Several millipedes followed behind the salamanders. At the sound of the beetle¡¯s buzzing wings, the four people focused on the incoming threats and spread out a little. The huge man, Baggi, pulled a rock from one of his hip bags and threw it at the beetle. The rock flew so fast that the air whistled, and the beetle exploded. Hilda began firing arrows at the salamanders. Leta and Arna moved forward to meet the rushing creatures. Leta threw a punch, but a salamander was kicked aside with a broken neck. The grey figure appeared to move in ways that were completely unrelated to the damage they did. Arna slashed with her sword and thin lines of bronze flew out to cut several creatures. The four quickly slew all the creatures in the main worldlet. Baggi walked around the worldlet to collect his thrown rocks. ¡°Leta, turn that off when we are not actively fighting.¡± Baggi held up a hand to block his sight of the grey figure. Leta stopped moving. They then folded their arms and huffed. Hilda gave them a side hug. Arna spoke loudly to address everyone. ¡°Attend. The badge on the doorway means there is a good treasure in this dungeon. Could be riches, could be magic, could be potions. Might be in a chest, might be in a clam, we don¡¯t know. We¡¯ve got two directions we can walk from here so everyone vote: left or right.¡± The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Left.¡± ¡°Right¡± ¡°Right¡± ¡°We go right¡± The group started walking to the right, except Hilda, who took a step to the left before looking confused, then embarrassed. She quickstepped to catch up with Leta. Leta held out first one hand and then the other. ¡°Right. Left.¡± ¡°I know, shut up.¡± Arna was the first through the portal this time, and she slashed at several salamanders wading in the mud near the portal. Hilda entered last and gasped at the heat. Then she gasped at the number of creatures. There were easily twenty salamanders in the area around the portal, and the mud was already sucking at her feet. ¡°Back!¡± Arna shouted. Hilda fell back through the portal and rolled to her feet without getting tangled in her bow. The others rushed through almost on top of each other. They paused to stomp off the clinging mud. ¡°Unpleasant.¡± Arna said. ¡°Rotting fae blight.¡± Baggi swore in agreement. Arna gestured, and the group moved over to the opposite portal. They readied their weapons (or fists) and stepped through. The delta worldlet had a comparable number of creatures as the main worldlet, so the group cleared out the worldlet in under a minute. Their faces showed much improved attitudes and expectations. ¡°This is good.¡± Said Baggi, ¡°This must be the side the monsters left to go fight something on the other side. Roast me if it isn¡¯t all cleared out like this.¡± Arna gestured again and the group followed the largest vine to the next portal. Each of them had a distinct reaction as they stepped from the delta worldlet into the near-blinding light of the acid rain worldlet: Baggi swore loudly and threw up an arm to defend himself; Arna grunted and squinted her eyes; Leta clapped both hands to their eyes and pulled their grey headwrap down; Hilda screamed and fell to her knees, crying. Hilda¡¯s form became translucent under the intense light, and Leta¡¯s illusionary motion disappeared. The sideways rain splashed over the four and refracted the light in dazzling ways. ¡°Blind fight tactics. Follow the vine.¡± Arna said loudly. Leta reached down and helped Hilda stand and put her hand on the vine. Baggi took out two stones and spun them in his hands. The stones began to orbit around Baggi at varying heights. Arna held her sword in a high guard, then moved it erratically up and down in front of her. ¡°I have partial sight.¡± Leta said, squinting through the weave of their headwrap fabric. ¡°Rearguard. Let¡¯s go.¡± Arna said. The four moved along, following the vine. Leta walked backwards in the rear, silently cursing themself for volunteering to try and see through blinding light, fabric, and rain. A salamander bit at Arna¡¯s leg. She swiped her sword through its body and kicked it away. After two minutes of walking, Arna called a halt. They rested for one minute, then continued. After a few paces, a jellyfish drifted up behind them. Leta couldn¡¯t quite see the jellyfish, but felt it slap into their face. Their cloth wrap kept the stinging away and Leta was able to knock it to the ground and stomp it dead. A half minute later, another jellyfish hit Leta in the face. Ten seconds after that, a third jellyfish arrived. ¡°They are coming faster back here!¡± Leta yelled up to Arna. ¡°I think this is a portal. Stand by.¡± Arna said loudly. Arna squinted at the vine, trying to see if it stopped in a wobbly patch of air like the other portals. Behind her, Baggi switched places with Hilda and began throwing rocks over Leta¡¯s head to try and hit or deter creatures coming from behind. At that moment, an acid-aligned jellyfish hit Leta in the face and dissolved most of their face wrap and some of the skin on their neck. Leta screamed. Hilda panicked tried to rush back toward Leta, but one of Baggi¡¯s rocks hit her it the temple. Hilda collapsed to the ground away from the vine, dazed and unnoticed. ¡°It¡¯s a portal. Let¡¯s go.¡± Arna said. She stepped through the portal. Baggi and Leta walked backwards, following the vine, and stepped through the portal as well. Ch 13 - Grey ash Hilda groaned and pushed herself to hands and knees. Her skin burned from the acid water on the ground. The sideways rain dripped down her face and under her collar. Hilda cursed and stood to her feet. She was too sensitive to light to open her eyes without taking damage but she didn¡¯t know in which direction she would find the vine. She covered her eyes and tried to squint through the space between her fingers. The light burned her eyes and her sight immediately started to dim. She turned quickly around to spot the vine on her right. Hilda closed her eyes tightly and walked to the vine. She held the vine and trembled. Which way had everyone gone? Why hadn¡¯t they noticed she wasn¡¯t with them? After a deep breath, Hilda decided that they must have continued on and hadn¡¯t yet noticed her absence. Which way is that. Left? Right? Hilda cursed herself as she remembered the sideways rain that was, even at that moment, hitting the side of her face. She turned to put the rain at her back and walked a few steps to the portal. Unknown to Hilda, a jellyfish floated right behind her head. They passed through the portal one after the other. The first thing Hilda heard was Leta¡¯s scream. The first thing Hilda saw was Arna on the ground, choking and feebly swinging her bronze sword above her. Baggi roared. Hilda looked up and saw the huge man with two rocks in his hands, swinging his arms wildly in a cloud of jellyfish. Jellyfish were everywhere. There were jellyfish around Arna. There was one right beside Hilda. A burning sensation hit the back of Hilda¡¯s neck and she jumped forward and whirled around. A jellyfish had come up behind her while she stood in shock. A second jellyfish drifted through the portal. She was trapped. They were trapped. They were all dead. There were jellyfish everywhere. She was trapped. Leta screamed again. This time, Hilda recognized her own name. She turned toward the sound. A jellyfish stung her arm, but Hilda could hardly feel it. Leta was on hands and knees, thrashing about as if blind. Hilda rushed to Leta and used her bare hands to shove jellyfish away. This time, Hilda felt the pain. She screamed. Leta fell back into the water. Where did this water come from? It pulled at Hilda¡¯s feet, and she lost her footing and fell next to Leta. From this close to the ground, Hilda could see that Leta¡¯s clothes were full of holes and blood leaked from every hole. The water flowed away to expose plain grey stone. Hilda grabbed Leta¡¯s shoulder and pushed them towards the portal. The stone scraped her burned palms bloody. The portal was so close, why couldn¡¯t they get closer? Why was each crawl so slow? Leta fell again but Hilda grabbed their hand and dragged them. Hilda was in shock, and her mind was stretching each moment as long as possible. In reality, she had been in the stony worldlet for only a handful of breaths. During those breaths, Arna lost consciousness, and Baggi¡¯s acid-burned hands lost their grip on the stones. Hilda dragged Leta behind her towards the portal. One pace away from the portal, the jellyfish launched the attack that had devastated Arna, Baggi, and Leta. Acid sprayed out from nearly every jellyfish. Hilda screamed as acid hit her in the eyes and threw herself forward into the portal. She kept hold of Leta¡¯s hand and dragged them through right after. Leta¡¯s clothes were almost completely gone. The exposed skin was melted and bleeding. Worse, they were starting to choke on inhaled acid. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Hilda couldn¡¯t tell at the time, but she was not much better. She was completely blinded and bleeding from many places. She panted heavily as she sat up. She pulled Leta onto her lap and held them tight. Leta choked out, ¡°Couldn¡¯t¡­ find you.¡± Hilda sobbed hysterically. ¡°Leta! Leta!¡± She shouted hoarsely between sobs. They sat there together as Leta¡¯s breathing worsened. Hilda couldn¡¯t shed tears because of her burned eyes, but she couldn¡¯t stop sobbing. After a few minutes, Leta raised a hand to touch Hilda¡¯s face. A golden light, even brighter than the light in the acid rain worldlet, flashed. Hilda gasped as her wounds partially healed. Then she screamed as Leta¡¯s body turned to grey ash. A jellyfish drifted over Hilda¡¯s head, unable to navigate accurately as the sideways rain pushed it inexorably on.
Hilda crawled on her elbows through the peat and acid water. She kept the vine on her left side brushed it with her shoulder every few body lengths to make sure it was still close. She had lost her bow¡ªacid probably ate through the string, and it fell off. In one hand, Hilda held tight to a handful of ashes from Leta¡¯s body. She had sat with the ashes on and around her for a long time, waiting for her sobs to stop. She had nearly lost everything of Leta because the sideways rain slowly washed Hilda clean. When she came back to herself and was able to think again, Hilda found some ashes in her leeward hand. Then and there, Hilda promised Leta that she would take those ashes out of the dungeon. The acid rain worldlet was long. The other worldlets were mostly circular, but the sideways rain pushed the vine to grow in one direction only, so the worldlet expanded only in that one direction. Hilda didn¡¯t know how long she crawled in the acid water, but she eventually found sand and acid-free water under herself. She tried to open her eyes, but her eyes had only healed enough to let a sliver of sight through. She scanned back and forth to try and find the threats she was sure must be here. She saw what she thought was a salamander running towards her. Hilda carefully got to her feet. Then she ran. The crawl across the acidic peat water had not been kind to the skin on Hilda¡¯s legs, but she strained to move her feet fast enough to outrun the dungeon salamanders. She had no weapons. she was injured and she could barely see; there was no reasonable way she could stand and fight. She tried desperately to keep her sight on the vine that led towards the exit. Hilda tripped on something she couldn¡¯t see and nearly went down. She straightened up and ran her shoulder into something stiff and hard. Feeling with her hands, she felt a tree with a few branches. Hilda yanked and twisted one of the branches, hoping to acquire the most basic of weapons. The tree and branch bent and twisted but did not break. Hilda shuffled around it and ran on. She scooped up some sand in her free hand. As she got closer to the exit, she caught glimpses of more monsters, but Hilda thought they might all be bugs. She heard a beetle¡¯s wings buzzing towards her. Pausing for half a breath to listen, she swung her fist down and bashed the beetle to the ground. She threw the sand straight ahead in a hopeless attempt to blind whatever was in her way, then she barreled ahead and through the portal. Ch 14 - Help protect the dungeon Oz and Andebert stood on the first floor of the dungeon and waited for more vine fruit to drop. Carcasses of dungeon creatures lay in the area around the entrance, but only a handful were fresh. Oz had checked the whole floor in vain for creatures in ambush. They had gathered all the dropped fruits with the materials inside, Andebert even had a special box that could keep the ice orbs frozen. It was clear to both of them that multiple people had entered the dungeon and had not yet left. Oz felt conflicted about confronting the trespassers. It hadn¡¯t been that long since he himself had taken creatures from this dungeon without permission from the hill lord. It wasn¡¯t a law that the dungeon and everything within belonged to the nearest hill lord, it was just that hill lords were responsible for dungeons and monsters and things like that. To take from a dungeon without permission was similar to baking bread in someone else¡¯s oven; it was rude, and you might mess something up. Oz didn¡¯t want anyone to mess up the dungeon and ruin that dark rainbow floor, that was certain. Oz wondered what dungeon features Andy and the other hill lords would want to protect. He had almost worked through the reluctance to break the silence and ask when a woman ran through the left-hand portal and fell on her face. A millipede rose up on her leg, ready to bite. The next instant, the millipede fell in two pieces as Andebert arrived with his knife. The woman lay on the ground, gasping for breath and bleeding from many places. Oz didn¡¯t think she knew they were there. Andebert frowned in worry. He reached in a pouch and took out a healing barrel. It wasn¡¯t really a barrel; it just had the shape of a miniature barrel and it had medicine inside. Andebert carefully placed his hand on a patch of shoulder that wasn¡¯t too abused and rolled her over. She groaned. ¡°Hildred?¡± Andebert asked. After a few breaths, she responded. ¡°Hilda¡±. Andebert¡¯s expression said he would smile at that at some other time. ¡°Chew this.¡± He commanded. He pushed the barrel into her mouth. She tried to spit it out, but he pushed it back in. She crushed the barrel in her teeth, and medicine flowed down her throat. Oz knew that the medicine was magic enough to not choke the patient, but the woman coughed anyway as the barrel dissolved. ¡°Leta¡¯s dead.¡± She said. She raised one of her hands which was closed in a fist and stained grey. ¡°This is all that¡¯s left.¡± Her eyes opened a sliver and stared at her hand. She was still staring when the medicine forced her to sleep. Oz watched as many of the wounds stopped bleeding. The melted flesh around her eyes also reduced and thinned. Oz looked at Andebert. Andebert looked at Oz. Oz shifted uncomfortably; he didn¡¯t know this person or ¡°Leta¡±. Andebert stood and turned fully towards Oz. ¡°Osmund, will you swear to serve me in my work as Hill Lord and to keep my secrets for a year and a day or until I release you from this oath?¡± Andebert¡¯s voice echoed impossibly around the dungeon floor. A System message appeared in Oz¡¯s mind. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. _ Warning: Violation Of The Proposed Oath Will Result In Loss Of All Levels And Experience _ Oz¡¯s eyes bulged and he nearly shouted, ¡°Why would I do that?¡± Andebert walked over and put a hand on Oz¡¯s shoulder. Andebert¡¯s face looked sad and weary. ¡°Because I need you, Oz. I need your help.¡± Oz¡¯s thoughts shot to the question he had earlier: what dungeon features would Andy want to protect? ¡°Would¡­¡± Oz swallowed. ¡°Would I help protect the dungeon?¡± Andebert looked a little surprised. ¡°Yes, you would.¡± Oz closed his eyes. ¡°Then yes, I swear to serve you in your work as Hill Lord and to keep your secrets for a year and a day or until you release me from this oath.¡± His voice didn¡¯t echo, which seemed petty on the part of the system. The two men prepared Hilda to be carried. Andebert opened her hand and found the ashes. They didn¡¯t have a good container for ashes, so Andebert took out a medicinal vial and, looking uncomfortable, poured the contents over the worst of the remaining wounds. To Oz¡¯s questioning look, Andebert explained, ¡°You really shouldn¡¯t mix two powerful medicines like this because it could make things worse, but I know from experience that these two are safe enough.¡± He scraped the ashes into the vial and resealed it. Then, all things ready, Oz picked up Hilda and all three left the dungeon. _ Successfully Defeated Intruder Group. Experience Awarded _ _ Core Level Increased to 6. Mana Storage Increased 5%. Mana Generation increased 5%. Durability Increased 10% _ _ Select Dungeon Reward: _ _ Random Selection: ¡°Entrance Feature¡± Selected. Select From Available Features: ¡­ _ _ Random Selection: ¡°Welcome Message (Sign)¡± Selected. Messages Restricted. Select From Available Message Formats: ¡­ _ _ Random Selection: ¡°Beware the Mighty DUNGEON_NAME¡± Selected _ _ Supply Dungeon Name _ The System waited a short time for a response directly from the dungeon core, then it turned to the Dungeon Fairy _ ¡°Randomize All¡± Not Compatible With Dungeon Name Generation. Select Dungeon Name Generation Formula: ¡­ _ _ Random Selection: ¡°Adjective Noun¡± Selected. Generating Dungeon Name _ _ Dungeon Name: ¡°Terse Elem- _ Within the gall in main worldlet of the dungeon, the void bubble pulsed and spun. The message from the System warped and strained between the will of the void bubble and the will of the System. _ Dungeon Name: ¡°untimely vengeance of intolerable solitude beyond compre-¡± _ The System message snapped back into place, and the void bubble shrank noticeably as the mana around it surged. _ Dungeon Name: ¡°Terse Elements¡± _
Above the vine doorway in the forest outside the dungeon, a bronze plaque came into being. Plaques around dungeon entrances always had the message written in three languages. The topmost language on the plaque was unknown and defied translation. Some wizard researchers believed the middle language to be an ancient language of dragons. The lowest language was whatever language was most common in the surrounding region. The plaque in the forest read: ¡°Beware the Mighty Terse Elements¡± Ch 15 - Flowering Vine In the sauna worldlet of the Terse Elements dungeon, a blue vine pressed up against the red edge of space. The roots of the vine twisted and dug at, apparently, nothing. The leaves of the vine crowded together and pushed outwards. The vine sprayed water mist in all directions, but any mist that flew towards the edge of space was redirected by some invisible force. As water and mana concentrated in the tips of the vine, a new worldlet came into reality. *bloop* The roots of the vine sank into a ground made of fine wet grey silt. The leaves spread out into the cool air of the worldlet to absorb the light. An uncountable number of blue motes floated in the air. Each mote was of a slightly different size and each glowed softly blue. The vine water mist sprayed out and gently stirred the motes in the air around the vine. The entire worldlet resembled a soup of dust motes, floating in a blue sunbeam. As the vine grew and expanded through the worldlet, vine fruit dropped and spawned dungeon creatures. The first fruit to drop spawned a frog. The frog sat and looked at the floating blue motes for a long while. When the next fruit spawned a beetle, the frog had mostly sunk into the quicksand ground and had to struggle to pull its feet free. Without a layer of dropped leaves to hide under, the beetle scrambled across the silt to avoid the frog. Silt sucked at the beetle¡¯s legs at every step, and the frog caught up with just one hop. A jellyfish spawned behind the frog and began to drift through the motes, following the currents stirred up by the spraying vine. A spider crawled up into the leaves to spin a web while a millipede tried to swim across the ground with its many legs.
Outside the dungeon, spring weather warmed the forest a little more each day. Dormant seeds sprouted and many creatures hatched. Near the dungeon doorway, a small caterpillar inched across the ground toward the delicious looking green vines. As the caterpillar approached the most delectable low-hanging leaf, it crossed the threshold into the dungeon. The system noticed and sent the regular message to the dungeon core. _ Intruder Detected. Select Automated Response: _ The caterpillar paused for a few seconds after the abrupt change in surroundings. It aimed at the nearest visible leaf and resumed its slow travel. After the same delay as always, the System followed the instructions of the dungeon fairy and applied the ¡°Randomize All¡± mechanism to select the response. _ Random Selection: ¡°Absorb¡± selected _ Right before the caterpillar reached a green vine that would carry it to its meal, it vanished. Mana flowed into the dungeon core along with the information which described the structure and functions of the caterpillar. The System recognized the caterpillar as a creature sufficiently simple for the dungeon to handle at the current core level of 6. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. _ Spawn Unlocked: Lesser Butterfly _ A ripe spawn fruit in the main worldlet split open without falling. From the open fruit skin, an unnaturally large butterfly crawled out. The butterfly hung on the side of a vine as its wings slowly inflated and dried. The closed wings of the butterfly matched the mottled green of the vine¡¯s leaves and kept it unnoticed by the other dungeon creatures. As the butterfly¡¯s wings finished stretching to their fullest, the butterfly opened them for the first time. A frog on the ground looked up and gazed at the mesmerizing tapestry of color on the back of the butterfly¡¯s wings. The butterfly flexed its wings and launched into the air a moment before the frog¡¯s tongue slammed into the side of the vine. The butterfly flew lazily around the worldlet. Inside the dungeon core, the plant instincts roiled in response to the information from absorbing the caterpillar. Some of the information from the caterpillar had caught onto a part of the plant instincts and flapped about in the empty mind of the dungeon core. The dungeon core instincts latched onto the flapping information and sent mana into it as it did in response to most abnormal stimuli. The mana from the core flowed across the caterpillar information and struck the plant instincts. The plant instincts pushed the mana out along all the vine branches. Across the entire dungeon, along every vine branch, green buds pushed out and swelled. The buds split open into giant flowers of every color. Five wrinkly petals and five small stamens flared out around a star shaped pistil. The butterfly in the main worldlet settled down to drink from a bright red flower. In the underwater worldlet, the bats curiously circled the air bubbles around the flowering vines. A bat dropped out of the water and onto a vine then crawled toward a purple flower and peeked over the petals to give a sniff. The bat pressed its face down into the flower and stuck its tongue down at the nectar in the bottom. It raised its head and squeaked at the other bats. The other bats looked at the first bat which had a face covered in pollen, then they all raced to claim their own flower and drink the nectar at the bottom. _ Natural Evolution: ¡°Flowering Vine¡± Unlocked _ Several of the oldest poison berry vines began to ravenously absorb mana from the dungeon air. As the vines glowed and pulsed with mana, dungeon creatures fled. The glowing vines gave a final pulse of mana and opened several flowers each. The flowering vines each had a distinct color for their flowers, which had the same structure as the flowers of the dungeon core vine, only smaller. More butterflies spawned across the dungeon. Each butterfly had huge wings and a unique pattern of colors. The acid-aligned butterfly wings had brilliant greens and yellows. The water-aligned butterflies had deep lustrous blue patterned wings but could not fly and would just fall to the ground on their first attempt. Those were quickly eaten by other dungeon creatures. Very infrequently, a butterfly spawned with the ¡°Low Light Vision¡± mutation and received additional eyes, instead of more sensitive ones. When the eye butterflies opened their wings, two eyes gazed out. The eyes were similar to human eyes and had irises that matched in color to one of the many of vine flowers. The eyes did not blink but would look around and track the motion of other creatures, especially the frogs. Ch 16 - We Should Have Turned Back
A woman, on a survey task for the hill lord, hefted her mace and stepped into the dungeon. A dungeon creature flashed right in front of her face, and she struck out instantly. The mace slammed the butterfly¡¯s body to the ground in crumpled pile. The butterfly¡¯s wings drifted slowly to the ground; they had been ripped off the butterfly. The woman stared down at the butterfly wings for several seconds before letting out a surprised laugh. She raised her eyes to scan her surroundings. She swore in surprise at the hundreds of flowers nestled under and around the vine¡¯s leaves. Human harvesters soon returned to the dungeon. The first few visits recorded the types of creatures, their variations, and their numbers. By clearing out all the creatures between visits, the harvesters working for the hill lord could determine how long to allow the dungeon to repopulate. With sufficiently frequent visits, the danger of being overwhelmed by attacks was minimal. The harvesters continued to capture water-aligned creatures and slay the rest. After a few favorable trades occurred involving butterfly wings, Harvesters brought big nets woven with spider silk to catch the butterflies. There was often a great deal of laughter when one harvester or another had to chase a butterfly in circles or climb up one of the larger vines to reach. The harvesters spoke often in appreciation of the beauty of the butterfly wings. The first time an eye butterfly was sighted, many harvesters complained about the eyes¡¯ unsettling nature, though it later became the most valuable butterfly capture.
Hildred opened his eyes to see patches of bright sunlight on the wall of a roundhouse. Smoke drifted lazily through the light and up into the thatch of the roof. He blinked several times before he remembered that his eyes had been ruined. His face felt stiff, so he reached a hand up to touch. His hand found raised scars around both eyes and on much of the upper half of his face. Tears stung his eyes as he remembered being unable to see Leta as they died. Hildred closed his eyes and used one of his abilities to see himself accurately. Oh, I still look like Hilda. He thought. With a flex, he changed from a brown-haired, brown eyed, brown-skinned woman to a black-haired, black-eyed, lavender-skinned man. His skin was pale enough that most people he had met had assumed he was a pale skinned human, and his features were very similar to those of Hilda, like a brother. The scars colored his face red and purple, further disguising his lavender skin. ¡°Greetings, Hildred. My name is Oz. May the System guide you to glory¡± A young man¡¯s voice startled Hildred and stopped him staring at his own face. He opened his eyes to see the man awkwardly bowing. The man had not spoken in the local language, but in a rough approximation of Hildred¡¯s own language. Hildred replied in the young man¡¯s own language. ¡°That is kind of you to say. I expect Hill Lord Andebert had you memorize just that phrase?¡± Hildred¡¯s voice sounded a bit dry to his own ears. He sat up and cleared his throat. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Oz switched to his regular tongue. ¡°Yes, he did, though I was happy to do so.¡± Oz sat down on the floor across from Hildred. ¡°How are you? Do you have any hurt?¡± Hildred¡¯s eyes furiously threatened to spill tears. ¡°Leta is dead.¡± Nothing could hurt worse than that. Hildred found he could speak no more at that moment. Oz nodded solemnly. ¡°Yes. Here are the ashes we found in your hand.¡± Oz pulled out a small pouch from his bag and handed it to Hildred. Hildred clutched the pouch and felt a hard object inside, probably a crystal vial. He held Leta¡¯s remains for several breaths while Oz politely waited for a response. Hildred managed a nod of thanks without looking up. ¡°The others with you are also dead. Andy- I mean, Andebert told me you probably had two others with you in the dungeon. Would you tell me about them?¡± Oz produced a small clay tablet and a scribe. Clearly, this young man was here by direction of the hill lord. Hildred wondered why he woke up in a roundhouse and not inside the stone walls of a cell in the hillfort. ¡°Yes, two others. They were going and asked us to assist them. Arna and Baggi. The hill lord knows of them already, I¡¯m certain.¡± Hildred said. Oz wrote two names on the tablet. ¡°Tell me how you met the others and what your intention was in the dungeon.¡± Oz sounded a bit stiff, as though he were reading the question off his clay tablet instead of speaking naturally. Hildred shook his head. ¡°Leta and I met far away from here and long time ago. We met Arna soon after we came here. Yesterday-I mean, I assume it was yesterday-She invited us to join her in finding some treasure in the dungeon.¡± Hildred realized that he was rubbing the scars on his face, so he pulled his hand down and clasped both hands in his lap. ¡°You saw the badge on the dungeon door?¡± ¡°I did.¡± Oz nodded. ¡°That badge means the dungeon has at least one good treasure. It usually means that the dungeon is difficult and very dangerous, but Arna said the dungeon had just had something happen and most of the monsters were dead or missing or something.¡± Hildred looked out the doorway of the roundhouse as he felt blood rush to his face. ¡°Was that even true? Why did we believe her?¡± Oz waited politely for a few breaths before continuing. ¡°And what happened in the dungeon?¡± Hildred put his face in his hands. ¡°The first floor was fine. The monsters attacked but they were pretty weak. The next floor was the same. Then we just couldn¡¯t see. We should have stopped; we should have turned back!¡± Hildred pulled at his hair and took two deep breaths before continuing. ¡°I was separated from the others. When I caught up, they were mostly dead already. I tried to get Leta out, but we couldn¡¯t even get back through one floor together. Leta died.¡± Feeling like a child in a tantrum, Hildred lay down and turned away from Oz. ¡°Please, I cannot speak any more.¡± Hildred heard Oz stand. The man spoke. ¡°Thank you for answering my questions. Please stay in this roundhouse until the hill lord comes to speak with you. There is food in the box there and a latrine outside.¡± Oz¡¯s footsteps moved towards the door, and then the man was gone. Hildred was alone. Ch 15 - Addendum In the delta worldlet, a large vine had branched off the one that led to the acid rain worldlet. This second vine pressed against the edge of the space. It¡¯s roots sank into the air, instead of the sand, and twisted about, full of mana. The pressure from the vine and the mana reached a threshold, and the vine pushed through into a new worldlet. *bloop* Hot dry air touched the leaves and roots of the vine as it droped towards the ground. The ground was also hot and dry, but the roots dug in anyway. The water and mana supplied from the main body were sufficient to keep the vine healthy, and the bright light. A short distance away from the vine, a pond of clear water sat, sparkling in the bright light. The air was dry enough that, as leaves fell from the vine, they crumbled to pieces and blew away in the slight breeze. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. The first few fruits to drop spawned into jellyfish. The jellyfish drifted about for a few minutes, but visibly shrank and shriveled. As they lost the last of their water, the jellyfish flaked apart like dry bread crusts and fell to the ground. A millipede spawned and sat still, baking in the bright light. With no fallen leaves to hide under and eat, the millipede died from overheating. A few fish spawned and managed to flop into the cool pond. Over six hours, the light in the oasis worldlet dimmed to night and then returned to bright day. During the night, the creatures that spawned did not slowly bake to death, but the day returned with the heat, and the unlucky creatures died. Ch 17 - A Dark Burn A small snake entered the dungeon. It hesitated for a split second, then raced under the nearest fallen leaves to hide from the big flying things. The snake only got a moment of rest before a millipede crawled under the same pile of leaves. The snake reacted instinctually and zipped away from the threat and towards deeper darkness. Further in the pile of leaves, the snake tried to burrow a little into the ground. It was of a toothless species that fed mainly on worms. _ Intruder Detected. Select Automated Response:
  • Absorb
  • Banish
  • Mutate
  • Claim
  • Dominate
  • Ignore
_ _ Random Selection: ¡°Claim¡± selected _ _ Spawn Unlocked: Lesser Snake _ The snake began to absorb dungeon mana. It quickly grew to adult size, then slowly continued growing as the mana filled it. Snakes began to spawn across the dungeon, with similar success to the millipedes and the salamanders. In the acid rain worldlet, the first acid-aligned snake to spawn had gained fangs. In the underwater worldlet, an air bubble snake had a hard time navigating the underwater worldlet, with only the tip of its tail reaching into the water until it grew larger. The first people that noticed the dungeon snakes were not pleased. The largest of the snakes would eat the giant butterflies when they could catch them, and the number of water-aligned snakes did not make up for the loss in butterfly wings. A few days later, one man lost a foot to a strike from an acid-aligned snake. All the harvesters agreed that he was lucky that the acid burned through his ankle instead of traveling through his blood.
Dara felt two emotions as he walked towards the dungeon with the other harvesters. The first emotion was worry. He worried about his father who had lost his foot to some awful snake. He also worried for himself and his ability to replace his father in the harvester group. He worried about the dungeon monsters, though he was supposed to stay near the exit because he was both young and new to harvesting. The second emotion was exasperation; the walk to the dungeon was so long and so boring. The containers Dara carried were bouncing around weird and it was no fun. The path to the dungeon had been trampled by the many harvesters and there was nothing interesting to look at. Dara leaned out past the edge of the path to see the people near the front. It looked like they were turning to the right cross a short bridge made of cut tree limbs. Dara instantly left the path to take a shortcut. He wasn¡¯t afraid of splashing across a little stream, not like these older people who couldn¡¯t handle a bit of mud. The spring weather had caused most things in the forest to be damp and soggy, so he didn¡¯t make much noise or draw any attention. He regretted his shortcut as his leg sunk nearly up to his knee in some mud around the stream. The stream did not flow powerfully enough to clear it all away and expose roots or rocks that a young person, such as Dara, could scramble across. He nearly cried out but he couldn¡¯t quite manage to reverse his decision to take the shortcut; after all, he had come this far already. Looking to the column of other harvesters, he saw that he was actually getting left behind. He high stepped through the mud and tried to use trees and branches to keep his balance. He came out the other side of the stream with plenty of mud and a fair amount of moss stuck on his legs and clothes. With no time to scrape off the mud, he rushed after the other harvesters. He had to vault over a mushroom covered rotting log to get back on the path. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Dara thought the dungeon doorway was interesting and he paused to look at it before stepping through the wobbly patch of air. One of the hill lord¡¯s escort people looked up from marking a tally and saw his mud-covered legs and the splashes of mud over the rest of him. ¡°Hey now, who¡¯s this goblin pup trying to enter our dungeon?¡± The adult grinned at Dara. ¡°Are you Dara, standing in for your father?¡± Dara tried not to sound like a kid. ¡°That I am.¡± He cleared his throat. ¡°Just slipped on the bridge back there. Should I go through now?¡± The adult did not look convinced of the slipperiness of the bridge. ¡°Not yet. Take a single step through here and stop. Don¡¯t move forward or sidewards. Hand your baskets forward when asked and trade for full ones. Don¡¯t try to open them. Got it?¡± ¡°I do.¡± said Dara. ¡°Go on in. If you hear any kind of screaming or yelling, turn and come right back here.¡± The adult marked one more on the tally as Dara stepped through the doorway.
_ Spawn Unlocked: Moss _ _ Spawn Unlocked: Lesser mushroom _ A few spawn fruit, all across the dungeon, fell and popped open to reveal a small patch of moss or a single small mushroom. Over several days, the moss and mushrooms colonized the open ground and fallen leaves of every worldlet except the acid rain worldlet and the stony worldlet. The mushrooms did not do well underwater or in the oasis worldlet but grew exceptionally well in the dark worldlet. The dark worldlet mushrooms grew into the mist off the sides of the floating clumps of pebbles and the mushroom spores drifted over to grow on the clumps of pebbles that remained out of reach of the vines... The refracted rainbow light painted many mushrooms in unusual colors.
Shortly after Dara¡¯s harvester group left the dungeon, a snail crept through the entrance. The System detected the intruder and went through the process to select the response. The response was a mutation of the snail. _ Intruder Detected. Select Automated Response:
  • Absorb
  • Banish
  • Mutate
  • Claim
  • Dominate
  • Ignore
_ _ Random Selection: ¡°Mutate¡± Selected. Available Mutations:
  • Water Alignment (spray)
  • Acid Alignment
  • Low Light Vision
  • Air Bubble
_ _ Random Selection: ¡°Water Alignment (spray)¡± Selected _ The snail turned blue and swelled to the size of a grapefruit. As the snail crawled towards the green vines, its slime loosened and allowed the snail to glide across the ground. The System still detected the snail as an intruder and repeated the process to select a response. The second response was another mutation. _ Random Selection: ¡°Mutate¡± Selected. Available Mutations:
  • Water Alignment (spray)
  • Acid Alignment
  • Low Light Vision
  • Air Bubble
_ _ Random Selection: ¡°Acid Alignment¡± Selected _ The snail¡¯s body turned yellow and its shell turned a pale green. It stopped gliding across the ground and instead left a slightly smoking trail of slime that slowly ate through the fallen leaves covering the ground. The System repeated the process and got a final response from the random selection. _ Random Selection: ¡°Ignore¡± Selected _ The acid snail reached a vine and began to ascend towards the leaves. A dark burn traced the snail¡¯s path on the vines. Ch 18 - Dungen Music Next to the dungeon core, the dungeon fairy sat bolt upright. His mouth hung open slightly as he looked around at the small, green cavity inside the main dungeon vine. ¡°Some sort of plant? What?¡± He turned and got a clear look at the glowing dungeon core. ¡°Oh! Um, hello.¡± He batted at his stained clothing and ran a hand through his violet hair. ¡°Goodness, how long was I asleep?¡± He squinted at the dungeon core. ¡°Judging by the mana flow¡­ a year? Wow, that wasn¡¯t supposed to happen.¡± The fairy closed his eyes and accessed the basic System information he was allowed by default, as a dungeon fairy. ¡°Dang, only a couple months or so. Seems like you¡¯ve been doing really well on your own.¡± The fairy grimaced and looked ashamed. He stood up and sent a wave of mana from head to toe. The stains and filth vanished to reveal bright yellow clothes and sparkling silver wings. The fairy snapped his wings out wide and bowed to the dungeon core. ¡°Greetings dungeon core. I am Violet Danderpuff and I have been assigned as your dungeon fairy. I apologize for the terrible impression I must have given on my arrival due to my¡­ terrible¡­ condition. I feel¡­ terrible¡­ about it.¡± The fairy scrunched up his eyes brows and shook his head slightly as he straightened back up. ¡°Is there anything that you wish to discuss with me? Any questions or needs that you have? I hope you have not suffered terribly (damn it, stop saying ¡®terrible¡¯).¡± The fairy whispered the last part to himself. He watched the dungeon core and waited for some response. As each second crawled by, he cringed more and more due to the silence. Eventually, he coughed and tried to relax. ¡°Not much of a talker, eh? Hey that¡¯s fine by me, I¡¯m not here to criticize or judge, just to advise. And entERTAIN!¡± The fairy nearly shouted the last word as his face lit up with hope. ¡°I play music, I¡¯m pretty good, see?¡± The fairy summoned a flute to his hand. ¡°I mostly just play at friends¡¯ birthdays and things like that. I couldn¡¯t get enough money to play full time, which is why I became a dungeon fairy, but never mind, you don¡¯t want to hear my life story; you want to hear music, yeah?¡± The fairy looked intently at the dungeon core, fiercely hoping for the slightest permission. Out on the vine, the acid snail burned off a small offshoot vine and the dungeon core drew more heavily on its mana for a split second. The mana draw caused the core to briefly flash. ¡°Excellent! Aw man, this is gonna be great! Here, everyone likes this one.¡± The fairy began to play the flute. As a magical creature playing a magical instrument, the fairy imbued the music with a small amount of mana. The mana and the music sank into the vine body. The mana of the dungeon core vine carried the music all over the dungeon. The fairy played music for hours and hours. He took breaks to sleep or sometimes to tell stories about the music and the friends who had loved it. After the fairy woke up, people who visited the dungeon would sometimes hear snatches of faint music. The music stirred their souls and calmed their minds. Many people started to think that the creatures¡¯ actions were affected by the music; that they would move differently as they attacked or hunted or hid. Occasionally, the dungeon music was interrupted by a buzzing sound as the void bubble thrashed in its prison. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
Hildred sat in the roundhouse and was eating hazelnuts when Hill Lord Andebert arrived. It had been a day and a half since Oz had left. Andebert walked in without announcing himself and sat facing Hildred. The hill lord was not wearing his furs or leathers, just grey wool clothing that exposed his well-muscled arms and legs. Hildred took a moment to decide if he felt more like Hilda just then but decided to remain Hildred. ¡°Greetings, hill lord.¡± Hildred nodded to Andebert. ¡°Hildred. How did Arna know about our observations of the state of the dungeon?¡± Andebert asked this with a stony expression. Hildred swallowed nervously. ¡°I thought she might have worked for you, like Leta and me.¡± Andebert shook his head. ¡°She did not.¡± Hildred shrugged. ¡°Perhaps, She heard from some of the harvesters.¡± Hildred felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. What would the hill lord do if Hildred didn¡¯t know anything useful? Andebert¡¯s expression softened a little. ¡°I¡¯m not asking you to speculate, Hildred. I want you to look through your memories and tell me anything you overheard that could help my investigation.¡± Hildred flushed a bit in relief and embarrassment. ¡°Oh, of course. Let me think.¡± Hildred closed his eyes. It had only been a few days, so Hildred could clearly picture every moment with Arna and Baggi. Most interactions had been practical and brief. Arna hadn¡¯t had a talkative personality. After a minute of searching memories, Hilda had an answer for the hill lord. ¡°Two things. Arna said to Baggi, ¡®He said there are two portals on the first floor, left and right.¡¯ And inside the dungeon, Baggi said ¡®This must be the side the monsters left to go fight something on the other side.¡¯ Hildred opened his eyes and saw that the hill lord looked intrigued. ¡°Do you remember the words exactly? Can you picture their expressions while they said these things?¡± Hildred raised his eyebrows then stopped when the scaring made his expression uneven. ¡°Yes. I can.¡± Andebert have a brief smile and a nod. ¡°I apologize, I got distracted. The people who sent the four of you to die have sent many others to die as well, mostly travelers with moderate ability like you and Leta. You and Leta worked for me for only a short time, but your answer just now will allow me to finally identify their leader.¡± Andebert took a deep breath. ¡°I release you from your obligations to me. This has happened in my domain, and I bear the responsibility to avenge the deaths of those who should be under my protection, including Leta¡¯s death.¡± Hildred looked away and grasped Leta¡¯s vial of ash, which hung around his neck. ¡°Thank you, hill lord.¡± ¡°Now, what will you do next? What plans do you have?¡± Andebert leaned back and placed his hands on the ground behind him. Hildred sighed and shook his head. ¡°No plans. I thought I might head west to find the coast, but there is nothing drawing me anywhere.¡± ¡°You remind me of someone I know from my time training with the adventurer society.¡± Andebert smiled with a hint of mischief. ¡°I think you should study magic under a certain old wizard.¡± Ch 19 - Silent Movement Oz placed his feet and spun his new sling above his head. With a loud snap, he released and shot a stone orb at a branch hanging over the path. He missed. Unsurprised, Oz reached into a bag on his waist and pulled out a flint orb to load into the sling. The sling was newly made and the pouch in the middle was made of freshly tanned blue frog leather. The blue leather did not retain any magical properties, but it was bright blue and very striking. Oz walked a bit further down the path and shot at the next obvious target: a rock sticking out of the ground. The flint orb hit the rock after glancing off the ground in front of it. Oz reached into the bag but found it empty. Oz unshouldered his pack and refilled the bag then reloaded the sling again. All the orbs in Oz¡¯s pack were harvested from the dungeon. The glass and lead orbs had great utility as they could be melted or traded, but the people around the hill found the stone and flint orbs to have very little use aside from arrow heads or sling ammunition. According to Andebert, somewhere along this path is where Arna had directed Hilda and Leta to meet up with her and Baggi before they went to the dungeon. Andebert had tasked Oz with finding and getting as much information as possible about the secret group to which Arna and Baggi belonged. It was probably the case that the secret group was responsible for the death of many travelers and would-be adventurers from the areas around the hill. Taking from a dungeon without permission was not exactly something that a hill lord had the right to punish, but a hill lord was plainly responsible for preventing the endangerment and exploitation of travelers. Hilda¡¯s experience in the dungeon¡ªbeing unprepared and incompletely trained for the danger¡ªproved that the secret group could not be allowed to continue. Oz wandered slowly down the path for most of a day but didn¡¯t encounter a single person. He made significant progress on the first level of the Sling skill before he completely ran out of stone, so the day was not a complete waste. As the sun reached the horizon, Oz found a set of roundhouses tucked away off the side of the path. A stream ran between the roundhouses and a stony hill. Oz called out to alert anyone inside the roundhouses of a visitor. As there were no lights and no response to his call, Oz determined the houses were empty and possibly abandoned. He picked the least filthy roundhouse and wrapped himself in his wool blanket to sleep. Oz woke in the middle of the night and heard voices speaking. He shot to full consciousness when he heard the name ¡°Arna¡±. Oz quietly stood up and walked to the doorway in time to hear: ¡°They must have all died.¡± Oz leaned out of the doorway and spoke clearly. ¡°Who died?¡± Two dark outlines spun towards Oz¡¯s voice. Oz heard one pair of feet scuff the ground. ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± the voices sounded surprised and angry. Oz hesitated in responding. The scuff of feet was odd, nearly every adult he had ever met had some levels in the Silent Movement skill. ¡°I am Oz. I am wandering for a few days as I practice my skills. Who died?¡± Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. One outline circled silently to the Oz¡¯s left. Oz stepped fully out of the doorway to keep the silent outline in sight. Do they fear every stranger in the darkness? Oz wondered. The one who did not move must be the one without Silent Movement. ¡°Why should I tell you anything?¡± The voice from Oz¡¯s left was gruff and taut. It was probably a man¡¯s voice. Oz have a small but audible sigh. ¡°By the blight, do as you wish. Since you woke me up, can you tell me where the trader nomads pass by? I understand it is not far from here but I do not know where.¡± The outline in front of Oz continued to hold still and stay silent. The voice to his left spoke with exaggerated condescension. ¡°Aw, did you blessed cousin give you a toy and you can¡¯t wait to trade it? Can¡¯t wait till they pass through the hill fort?¡± Real anger flared up in Oz at the provocation. ¡°Rot your mana! I don¡¯t take anything from that blight eared fake and I¡¯ll burn before trading bread I didn¡¯t take from the peaking dungeon myself.¡± Oz was so flustered from his anger that he got some swears mixed up. The left voice chuckled. ¡°Calm, friend. You¡¯ll burn my bones with that fire.¡± The outline on the left took a step towards Oz. ¡°Tell me, are you happy with the hill lord?¡± Oz took a calming breath to help pull his thoughts in line. He knew what the man probably meant by the question, but Oz didn¡¯t think it would be very convincing to start spouting rhetoric against the hill lords to two strangers in the middle of the night. He decided to misinterpret the question. ¡°I had a higher skill with the spear than Andy had with a bow when they picked him to go off and train with the society.¡± Oz¡¯s opinion on Andy had changed drastically from before finding the dungeon, but it was easy to pull on his old resentment. ¡°I trained hard while he was away but he still came back stronger than a horde of goblins. He came back with all those items and skills I can¡¯t even name. It¡¯s not fair. And-and it¡¯s suspicious!¡± Oz noticed he was waving his arms around but didn¡¯t decide to stop. ¡°How could anyone grow that burning fast? Why do only adventurers give these fae gifts to themselves? Andy could not have earned this strength, someone gave it to him.¡± Oz folded his arms and caught his breath from ranting. The as-yet silent person in front of Oz spoke. They spoke in a high sing-song voice. ¡°How can you say this after you have been so helpful to him in the dungeon?¡± Oz managed to sound sullen. ¡°I wasn¡¯t being burning helpful. I found the dungeon but kept it secret for a few days so I could harvest from it. Andy threatened to tie me up because of that. A hill lord won¡¯t punish people, but he¡¯s basically head of the family now so he can do whatever he likes to punish me. I had to work.¡± Oz took a few breaths in the following silence. The two figures seemed to be looking straight at each other. Oz tilted his head as a question occurred to him. ¡°How did you know I¡¯ve been in the dungeon so much?¡± The two figures turned and walked away from Oz. The left one spoke ¡°We have things to do elsewhere. The traders should pass right by these roundhouses tomorrow.¡± The figures disappeared into the darkness, though the one with noisy footsteps disappeared less quickly. Ch 20 - Towering Vine The trader nomads passed by at noon the next day. Oz spent the morning practicing the sling and spearing a few fish from the stream to cook and eat. The traders walked up the path alongside a column of colorful covered wagons. The traders were not especially interested in buying Oz¡¯s flint orbs, but they traded a small trinket for them as a curiosity. When Oz tried to subtly mention trading dungeon creature harvests, one trader woman said a strange thing: ¡°No room for spider silk. Too much spider silk. I tell him-¡° Then the woman suddenly stopped speaking. She momentarily looked distressed, but quickly continued. ¡°I tell you there are too many spiders. Too many spiders all over. Everyone trade spider silk.¡± Then she walked stiffly away and vanished among the other trader nomads. Oz wasn¡¯t sure how to interpret her actions. After the traders had moved on, Oz speared another fish from the stream to eat. He passed a mostly idle afternoon at the roundhouses, but with no one to talk to and nothing to do, he decided that his investigations had stalled. The two people from last night would be suspicious if he remained another night to try and talk to them again. He walked back home, arriving late in the night. In the morning, he gave his new trinket to one of his little cousins.
The dungeon core mind had begun life with a set of dungeon core instincts and a set of plant instincts. These instincts formed the foundation for the higher reasoning and memory systems of the dungeon mind, but in this particular dungeon the mind had not formed when the dungeon core was created. The ¡®space¡¯ for the dungeon core mind had been left empty. As the dungeon core unlocked creature spawns and absorbed creatures, dense information bundles about the creatures flowed into the dungeon core¡¯s mind. This information defined the physical makeup of creature spawn and provided the instincts to allow the creatures to function. When a creature spawned, the creature instincts were copied out of the dungeon mind and overlayed with a set of instincts that compelled obedience to dungeon core commands and stopped dungeon creatures from trying to leave the dungeon. In the Terse Elements dungeon core mind, these bundles of information drifted around the mostly empty space. Sensory information from inputs such as the eye vine mutation and the fairy¡¯s music seeped into the mind space and fell like rain. The drifting information bundles absorbed some of the sensory information, each according to its nature. The remaining sensory data fell down and inundated the foundational instincts of plant and dungeon core. The bundle of butterfly information flapped slowly near the ¡°ground¡± in the dungeon core mind space. It had caught onto one part of the plant instincts and had been caught by an aspect of the dungeon instincts. The butterfly bundle formed a permanent connection between the two sets of instincts, a connection that caused the dungeon vine to flower. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. As butterfly numbers increased all over the dungeon, the visual data seeping into the mind space contained more and more instances of butterflies and butterfly movement. The bundle of frog information soaked up all the butterfly visual data it could reach. Every flap of bright colored wings fed into the frog instincts for catching prey. The frog instincts stimulated the rest of the bundle to turn and scan for more prey. The visual data was too fleeting and could not be tracked like proper food. The frog bundle drifted around the mind space, trying to feed its instinctual hunger. A stream of particularly dense visual data pushed the frog bundle towards the ¡°ground¡±. As it scanned for food, it saw the butterfly bundle. Here was prey that held still long enough for the frog instincts to churn through the calculations for a tongue strike. The instincts signaled the physical frog information, and a line of information shot from the frog bundle. The line struck and adhered to the butterfly bundle. In many ways, the frog bundle was the quintessential frog. Every frog in the dungeon was constructed from the information in the frog bundle and shared it¡¯s instincts. The frog bundle, however, lacked a physical form and so was unable to exert any force on either the butterfly bundle or the ¡°tongue¡± that connected the two bundles. The frog instincts had no concept of this situation and got stuck in a loop, trying to move on to the next step of swallowing and eating the food. The jellyfish information bundle drifted past. A short time later, the snake information bundle spotted the mostly stationary frog bundles. The snake bundle slithered across the ground and up the frog tongue. It clamped down on the frog and looped its information around the frog as though it had real coils, squeezing hard. The frog instincts flipped back and forth between trying to eat and trying to escape. The three entangled information bundles continued to drift in the space but were constrained by their tether to the plant and dungeon core instincts. One other information bundle moved towards the butterfly-frog-snake conglomeration. The mushroom bundle pushed thin tendrils along the ground in all directions. The tendrils crept over the plant and core instincts and pierced into cracks in all the information bundles near the ground. The moss information bundle and the apricot tree bundle lay on the ground due to their nature as plants. As the mushroom tendrils reached further across and into the plant and dungeon core instincts, tiny bits of mana began to flow across the network, in and out of the information bundles. The tendrils between the plant instincts and the apricot tree bundle became swollen with traffic. Music from the dungeon fairy continuously sent small waves of mana into the dungeon core vine¡¯s mana system, and those waves caused even smaller waves in the dungeon core mind space. The mushroom network fluctuated in response to the music and a small spike of mana jumped from the apricot tree to the foundational plant instincts. Out in the physical dungeon, a new vine grew straight up into the air above the main vine body. _ Natural Evolution: ¡°Towering Vine¡± Unlocked _ The jellyfish information bundle bumped into the millipede bundle. They both continued drifting through the mostly empty mind of the dungeon core. Ch 21 - The Spear Oz clutched a slightly squirming bag of blue dungeon beetles and walked up to Lou, the nomad trader. The man¡¯s name wasn¡¯t actually ¡®Lou¡¯, but Oz couldn¡¯t quite make the right sounds to match the nomad accent. He had apologized several times for his failure, but Lou asked him ¡°to apologize with wealth instead of words.¡± Oz had traded a bundle of dungeon harvests to Lou once every five days or so for a nearly a month. Oz received bits of metal in return. The nomad had called the metal, ¡°coins¡± and explained that the traders valued coins highly. Lou was happy enough to take some of the coins back in exchange for trinkets such as pretty shells from the coast. The shells had proven very popular with Oz¡¯s little cousins, which made him popular, which was nice. Oz had a growing pile of coins that he hoped to someday trade for a particular spear that Lou had shown him. Lou turned to Oz and bowed. Oz nodded at him and began to speak, but Lou interrupted. ¡°Ah my great customer, Oz. Today I must say farewell and refuse trade. My journey leads me away to new lands and my space on these wagons is already spoken for.¡± Oz was startled and dismayed. ¡°Oh teeth! You- I mean, I am sorry to hear you are leaving. Are you all leaving?¡± Oz glanced around uncertainly. Lou grinned. ¡°You are surprised that I am leaving, yet you call us ¡®nomad traders¡¯. What is a ¡®nomad¡¯ but someone who is always on their way to somewhere else? To your question, no, we are not all leaving. That would be a major thing and probably go very poorly. A few of us feel the need to move on and so we will take a few wagons with us when we go. Others will no doubt feel the need to bring their own wagons and fill our places.¡± The sound of scuffing feet distracted Oz, but he tried to be polite and not show it. ¡°Thank you for that explanation, Lou. Is there a chance that you traded that spear I like to one of these other traders?¡± Oz didn¡¯t expect this to be the case, but the disappointment about missing out on the spear was hitting him hard. ¡°I did not trade it to another nomad, no, but I did trade it to another customer.¡± Lou bowed again to Oz. ¡°Farewell customer Oz.¡± He turned and walked away. ¡°Wait! Who-¡° Oz half shouted in a panic. ¡°He traded the spear to me.¡± A high, sing-song voice spoke from behind Oz. The scuffing footsteps had stopped. Oz spun around to see an older man in loose robes wielding the spear as a walking stick. The man¡¯s robes were made of multiple colors and had patches of dungeon butterfly wing sewn onto the hem. The man had white hair, lightly tan skin, and sharp grey eyes. The man gave Oz a small nod. ¡°Greetings, Oz. I wish to discuss the contents of that bag. Walk with me if you wish to have this spear.¡± The old man turned and strode down the path, scuffing his feet slightly with each step. Oz felt entirely off balance and half considered throwing the bag of beetles at the old man in anger and desperation. Instead, he ran to catch up with the old man. ¡°Wait! Who are you?¡± He asked, nearly panicking. ¡°We met around a month back. You rudely butted into a private conversation in the middle of the night.¡± The man said. Oz¡¯s memories connected the man¡¯s voice and scuffing footsteps to the mostly-silent person from the night at the roundhouses. ¡°Oh, when you were-¡° Oz was cut off by the man striking the spear shaft against Oz¡¯s shin. ¡°Ow! Goblin teeth and bones, what was that for?¡± Oz stumbled and nearly fell to the ground. His faced flushed with anger and confusion. The old man kept walking. ¡°You will stop trading directly with the nomads. You will bring your harvests to my associate and we will conduct the trades. You will be rewarded according to your contributions. Agree to this and I will give you the spear. Refuse and I will destroy the spear.¡± The old man spoke evenly. Oz attempted to interrupt a couple times but the old man¡¯s voice just rolled over his objections. When the man stopped speaking, Oz managed to voice his biggest question. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°Why should I blighting do that? Another spear will show up and I can trade for it with as many burning harvests as I want.¡± Oz spoke with anger and defiance, but he wasn¡¯t thinking his arguments through clearly. Also, he didn¡¯t walk away because he wanted the spear. The old man smirked. ¡°Lou is gone, who will you trade with?¡± Oz noticed with irritation that the old man had pronounced Lou¡¯s name correctly. ¡°I¡¯ll just trade with one of the other nomads.¡± Oz said. He didn¡¯t see anything wrong with that assumption, but the old man¡¯s growing smirk made Oz want to punch his face in. ¡°You were lucky that Lou was so powerful and respected by this group. Not every nomad is willing to trade with anyone for anything from anywhere.¡± The old man turned off the path and Oz followed. ¡°Every person joining or leaving a nomad trading caravan has the potential to change the attitudes of the entire caravan. You might come back in a few days and be threatened as a brigand, secretly reported to the hill lord, or gifted with an official trading contract.¡± The old man rolled his eyes and made a scoffing sound. ¡°Their foolish ways make them difficult to predict.¡± Oz made to object to this arrogance, but the old man spoke over him again. ¡°I and my company know how to approach and identify willing traders. You do not. It is as simple as that.¡± The old man stopped walking in a small clearing between three trees. Oz felt mostly frustrated at the old man, but the reasonable part of his mind pointed out that Oz really was ignorant of the traders; he hadn¡¯t even put effort into remembering the different kinds of ¡®coin¡¯. Oz glared at the old man for a few breaths while Oz¡¯s reasonable side talked him into agreeing. Oz¡¯s greedy side urged him to ask for more. ¡°And what else?¡± Oz asked. The old man turned to look at Oz with a raised eyebrow. Oz clarified. ¡°After I have the spear, I don¡¯t want to keep harvesting from the dungeon just to build a hill of coin, and I don¡¯t think you came out here just to save me from the nomads. What else do you want?¡± The old man smiled and nodded, but his eyes held a challenge for Oz. ¡°Perhaps, on occasion, I could send someone from my company with you into the dungeon to harvest beyond the first floor.¡± Oz put a skeptical expression on his face. ¡°I¡¯ve only been on three of the floors, and only two of those had ground to rotting walk on. There are more creatures in the dungeon that could be harvested, yes, but a person can only carry so much bread and beer at a time. The hill lord would notice a group large enough to harvest multiple floors.¡± ¡°We suspect there are greater treasures on the deeper floors of the dungeon.¡± The old man said. ¡°The badge on the doorway suggests as much. A small group could delve deep and retrieve just the treasures.¡± Oz thought about that explanation for half a minute. Hilda¡¯s group had died looking for the badge treasure. Only two floors had been properly mapped, so no one even knew how deep the dungeon went. Oz was not convinced this idea had much chance of success, but it was a clear opportunity to progress his investigation. Was there a reason he could use as an excuse to accept but not be pressured into throwing his life away? He looked at the spear, still in the old man¡¯s hand. Experience for levels and skills was valuable and would be more abundant in the dungeon. ¡°I will agree so long as it is understood I won¡¯t throw my peaking life away. I¡¯ll turn back if I think we can¡¯t handle a floor.¡± Oz said firmly. ¡°I have no objection to prudence.¡± The old man held out the spear. ¡°I paid Lou to add something extra to this spear. Just a small enchantment to make the blade cut through most physical material. It should be quite useful in slaying dungeon monsters.¡± Oz blinked in surprise and took the spear. ¡°Burn my bones, thank you!¡± He had wanted the spear because it was well made and beautiful¡ªhe had no expectations of having a magical weapon. The old man nodded and began to walk away. ¡°Bring your next batch of harvests to the roundhouses where we met and my associate will arrange a group to delve the dungeon.¡± Ch 22 - Ravens Paradise
A young raven hopped through the dungeon doorway. It flapped and cawed in surprise. Its black eyes sparkled as it cocked its head to survey the surroundings. The humans had harvested the dungeon the day before, so the number of creatures was greatly reduced. Several butterflies flapped lazily between flowers, and a few millipedes crawled over the leaf-covered ground. The young raven took a few steps back and forth as it surveyed. It cawed again and hopped back through the doorway. A moment later, it hopped back into the dungeon. It cawed and hopped out. It hopped back in. The raven spent a minute hopping in and out of the dungeon. The System stuttered a bit as it prompted the dungeon core for a response each time the raven re-entered the dungeon. The raven finally took a final hop out of the dungeon. A few more creatures spawned in the main worldlet. Flute music sounded faintly across the worldlets. With a chorus of throaty caws, several other young ravens followed the first raven into the dungeon. The new ravens reacted the same as the first and hopped in and out of the dungeon for a minute. The first raven remained in the dungeon however, so the System had time to prompt for a select a response. _ Higher Life Intruder Detected. Select Automated Response: - Attack - Claim (Unlikely) - Dominate (Unlikely) - Ignore _ _ Random Selection. ¡°Claim¡± Selected. Claim Failed _ _ Random Selection. ¡°Ignore¡± Selected. _ The rowdy ravens began to explore the main worldlet. They flew around and over the large vines. A pair landed on a large flower and investigated it with their beaks. They ripped one of the petals off and let it drop to the ground. One raven stuck its head into the flower and came up brightly dusted with pollen. The other ravens cawed loudly at the yellow headed fool. A larger raven dropped to the worldlet floor and pecked at a millipede as it emerged from under some leaves. The millipede turned to bite at the raven, but the raven easily hopped out of reach. A second raven joined in the assault on the millipede, snapping at the back of the millipede¡¯s head before flapping a safe distance away. The millipede thrashed back and forth between the two attackers until the damage overwhelmed it and it died. The two crows pecked at it a bit more to see if it was truly dead, then they began to pry off the carapace of the dungeon creature. The other ravens joined in and tore into the millipede. The interior was not exactly their favorite food, but that didn¡¯t stop them from cleaning out every edible piece. A couple of the ravens tried to catch the large butterflies, but that turned out to be more difficult than expected. They quickly bored of that and flew to the top of the towering vine above the main vine body. This height gave them an excellent vantage to see a snake strike from a shadow and catch one of the ravens still on the ground. The snake¡¯s jaw engulfed the raven¡¯s head and upper body, leaving the wings to flap frantically for a few seconds before the abnormally large snake crushed the raven¡¯s bones. The two ravens at the top of the worldlet began shrieking it alarm. All the other ravens took to the air in response. They circled overhead a few times, cawing back and forth as they identified the enemy. Snake, they communicated. Large. Killed one of us. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. The snake pulled slowly back into the shadow, dragging the raven corpse along the ground. The other ravens cawed in anger. Kill! They yelled to each other. Their anger was not quite strong enough to overcome their fear and caution of the great snake. They circled a few more times. One raven landed on the vine above the snake and loudly cawed its displeasure of the creature. The ravens built themselves up for a few more passes before one was angry enough to attack the snake. The raven flew down to the top of the snake¡¯s head and stabbed at one of the eyes. The snake thrashed to defend itself and the raven had to flap hard to keep from being crushed under the snake. This additional attack on one of their peers was the tipping point for the small flock. They all flew down and struck at the snake¡¯s eyes and mouth. If the snake had been in a better location or had not had a dead raven stuck in its mouth, it might have fought off the flock or escaped. With its mouth full, the snake could not move as quickly as it normally could, and moving forward was hampered by the wings and feathers of the dead bird. The flock grew more and more bold in its attacks as the snake¡¯s eyes burst and leaked blood. Eventually, the snake was dead and the ravens set to eating every soft part they could reach with beak or claw. The snake was far too large for the small flock (now one smaller) to consume, and even before the ravens had eaten their fill, they were interrupted by the arrival of several large, featherless bipeds who entered the dungeon. The raven flock flew up to roost on the towering vine above everything so they could watch these bipeds from safety. The featherless bipeds milled about at the entrance for a minute before the dungeon creatures rushed them. The bipeds slaughtered the small number of creatures without apparent difficulty. The ravens cawed softly to each other. They noticed that one of the bipeds had a big stick and killed creatures better than the other bipeds. The ravens also noticed that the bipeds weren¡¯t eating the carcasses and instead just walked away from them. How could they be so careless and just leave good food lying around? Not to worry, the ravens would gladly take over devouring carrion left behind by such foolish creatures. The flock¡¯s attention was pulled from the attractive food by a startled squawk. One of the ravens had been watching the bipeds, but the bipeds had disappeared! The raven flew down to where the bipeds had been a moment before. It investigated by hopping around on a large vine and marching across the ground, looking for some bolt hole or other hiding place. The raven cawed out its findings and confusion to the other ravens, then that raven also disappeared. The other ravens cawed out their own startlement and flew down to investigate. The missing raven reappeared, cawing in triumph. It hopped back and forth a few times to show that this was a portal just like the one that brought the flock into this place. The ravens, one by one, hopped through into the delta worldlet. The ravens were delighted at the sandy area with running water. Several began washing their beaks and preening gore from their feathers. The sound of the bipeds fighting more creatures gradually grew more distant, so several ravens flew up into a convenient apricot tree to watch. The flock felt happy at the sight of more carcasses left behind by the bipeds. With plenty of water and abundant carrion, this new place was shaping up to be a raven¡¯s paradise. Ch 23 - Delvers Oz stumbled into the delta worldlet from the portal to the acid rain worldlet. He held his hands firmly over his eyes, but the rest of his face showed a pained grimace. His voice held pain and anger. ¡°Dragon teeth and burning bones! Rotting goblin ears! Peaking rotten goblin burning bones!¡± The other people in his group stumbled back out of the portal behind him. They rubbed their eyes and wiped rain from their faces. After a few moments, one of the others spoke to Oz. ¡°You should not have kept your eyes open, Oz. We can follow the vine well enough to find another portal with eyes closed.¡± Oz whirled towards the voice, squinting his eyes in pain. ¡°Eyes closed?¡± He yelled in disbelief. ¡°Eyes rotting closed? With burning dungeon creatures swarming us in every room? Go climb a mountain, Sif.¡± Sif, the one who had spoken, made an exasperated sound. ¡°It¡¯s just been a handful of these fae-blighted critters. We can probably just stomp our way through the whole burning place.¡± Oz glared at Sif for a moment, then turned and walked away. The others looked back and forth between themselves, worried that Oz was leaving. Oz walked up to a monster corpse and speared it through the middle. He returned to the group with a snake dangling from the end of his spear. ¡°You see this, Sif?¡± Oz said. ¡°This is a snake. Scales, it¡¯s a big snake.¡± Oz waved the snake slowly around so everyone had to look at the creature. ¡°The first week these green ghosts showed up in the dungeon, a harvester lost a foot.¡± One of the others, (Sif¡¯s twin sister, Sig) furrowed her brows in confusion. ¡°It doesn¡¯t look like a venomous variety.¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t venom.¡± Oz audibly struggled not to yell. ¡°It was an acid snake. Bit him and burned off his foot at the rotting ankle.¡± Oz snapped his spear to his shoulder to throw the snake corpse off behind him. He heard a few caws from the ravens that had followed around the dungeon floors. Oz continued, ¡°I¡¯m not going back in there until we have¡­¡± Oz floundered for a moment, trying to think of something. ¡°Dark glass to protect our burning eyes. If we can¡¯t see, we could get separated or overwhelmed. We won¡¯t find any treasure on the mountain if we¡¯re dead.¡± Oz paraphrased an old saying about adventurers looking for dragon hoards. The fourth member of the group, Tarka, took a breath and let it out. ¡°He¡¯s right.¡± The voice was from the same person that Oz had spoken to at the roundhouses¡ªthe one other than the old man who had bought the spear. The man wore black and grey clothing and wielded a bronze sword. Tarka spoke again, ¡°Even with a blind-fighting skill, you have to have some familiarity with the area or the enemy. It¡¯s all right, a little delay for some dark glass won¡¯t leave us starving.¡± Oz nodded at Tarka in gratitude. The man was not tall; thin with short, greying hair. He kept his beard trimmed down to stubble which showed off his strong jaw and lean face. Tarka¡¯s appearance was a strong contrast to the twins. They had large soft looking faces with light brown hair and dark brown eyes. They dressed in similar outfits of creamy tan and wielded axes. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°But¡± Tarka said, disappointing Oz, ¡°I think we must at least take a short look through the other portal.¡± Tarka pointed off to the side where a second large vine ended in midair¡ªa sure sign of a portal in this dungeon. Sig and Sif gave sounds of assent and started walking. Oz hesitated, unsure about the wisdom of resisting, then sighed and followed after the others. Through the other portal, they found the oasis worldlet. The light in that worldlet was dim, as though dusk had arrived. Oz looked around at the mostly empty worldlet and tasted the dry air. The large vine stretched down the sand and along one edge of the pond. The pond was surrounded by moss and rippled slightly from the small breeze. Dim light reflected off the pond. Sif stepped forward. ¡°This is nice. I wonder if there are fish in that pond.¡± Oz¡¯s eyes were pulled away from the pond by motion in the air. ¡°Above!¡± He shouted and lifted his spear into a higher guard. A small cloud of butterflies flapped lazily above the group. As the others looked up, multiple butterflies released a spray of acid down on them. Tarka yelled in surprise and ran back through the portal. Oz was all for leaving, but he was caught off guard by Tarka abandoning the group so suddenly. He yelled out to Sig and Sif who hadn¡¯t noticed the older man¡¯s retreat. ¡°Back out the portal! Run!¡± Oz swept his spear sideways to try and fan the acid away from himself, but Sig and Sif were further in and had no choice but to run through the spray as it fell. Sif yelled in pain but the twins made it through the portal. Oz followed immediately behind. The spirit of exploration had abandoned the party, it seemed. Tarka hiked back through the delta worldlet without discussion. Sif and Sig wiped acid from their skin and rinsed in the water on the ground. Sif had been injured on his neck by the acid spray and was bleeding. Oz looked at Sif¡¯s injury, but he didn¡¯t have much knowledge of wound treatment. The man would scar, but that was a much better result for a neck would than it could have been. Oz tried discussing preparations the group could make for the next delve into the dungeon, but the twins weren¡¯t very interested. Outside the dungeon, Oz caught up to Tarka and forced the man to discuss necessary preparations for the next dungeon delve. Tarka was a bit surprised that Oz wanted to discuss it further than ¡°get dark glass¡±, but he was open to the idea of a few simple supplies and an hour of training for the group. Tarka made it clear that the other ¡®delvers¡¯ wouldn¡¯t tolerate long or formal training. Oz decided that he had gotten all he would get from the conversation and went home. Ch 24 - Underworld The ravens explored multiple worldlets in the dungeon. The sauna worldlet and the acid rain worldlet were natural barriers that the ravens were not motivated to cross, so they stuck primarily to the main worldlet and the delta worldlet. One or two ravens would enter the dark and oasis worldlets for a bit of amusement. A certain dungeon creature was not amused by the presence of the ravens. A snake, smaller than average for dungeon snake spawn, had witnessed the ravens kill the snake that tried to eat a raven. The witness snake had retreated to its burrow. When the dungeon command came to attack the Oz¡¯s group, the snake resisted the command. It burrowed further into the ground, trying to get away from the ravens and the dungeon command that would surely lead to the death of the snake. The snake burrowed past a main root of the dungeon vine and was struck by a clear and powerful echo of the dungeon music. The snake lay in the burrow, hypnotized, until after Oz¡¯s group left. The snake no longer felt the push from the dungeon¡¯s command, so it turned around and peeked out at the surface. When it heard the ravens cawing, the snake turn back around and continued digging deeper. The snake did not have digging appendages, so it used its nose like a shovel. It pushed the dirt behind it by shoving with its scaly body. Since the dirt near the root was somewhat easier to dig and the dungeon music was very clear, the snake burrowed in a sort of spiral down to the bottom of the worldlet. The snake found that it could dig no further, so it coiled tightly around the lowest tip of the dungeon vine root. The dungeon music calmed the snake. When the next dungeon command came, to attack a group of harvesters, the snake ignored it. It was content to rest at the bottom of the world, listening to music in the dark. The snake occasionally strained to push further down and closer to the root. bloop A new worldlet formed at the bottom of the main worldlet. The dungeon vine mana in the roots had interacted with the dungeon music and the mana of the snake and reached a threshold to claim a space from the void. The snake knew immediately that it¡¯s environment had changed. The air was warmer and more moist. The snake felt packed earth under its scales and felt space around it like a tunnel. The snake slowly uncoiled and sensed its surroundings. It smelled water from down the tunnel. The snake slid down the tunnel, still content. The dungeon music filled the entire dungeon underworld.
Inside the dungeon mind, the dungeon instincts and the plant instincts contested each other¡¯s control over the dungeon mana. The dungeon instincts had felt the new worldlet form and sent mana to reinforce the connection. This mana caused the roots of the vine to grow rapidly in the underworld worldlet. The plant instincts objected to growing roots more deeply¡ªthese instincts came from a creeping vine which rooted often but did not root deeply. The plant instincts pulled mana out of the too-deep roots along with extra water and nutrients. The dungeon instincts sent mana to stimulate dungeon creature spawns, but the plant instincts took that away as there were no fruits in the underworld. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. As the instincts struggled, the System detected a specific pattern of mana in the highly contested flows in the vine roots. _ Spell Unlocked: ¡°Earthen Wall¡± _ _ New Spawn Mutation Available: ¡°Earth Alignment (defend)¡± _ As the new mutation was added to the dungeon instincts, a shock of mana flowed across the mushroom network inside the dungeon mind. The mana shock ricocheted off several of the information bundles and into the plant instincts. A dormant section of the plant instincts activated. In the underworld worldlet, tubers began to grow along the dungeon vine roots. The largest tuber sagged and broke free of the roots. It hit the tunnel floor and split open to spawn a spider. The spider immediately followed its instincts and walked until it hit a wall of the tunnel. It crawled up the wall and attempted to spin a web. The second dropped tuber spawned a jellyfish. Already sightless, the jellyfish drifted through the tunnel, bouncing off the roof and walls. A millipede spawned next and crawled through the tunnel in search of food. The vine roots grew slowly along the underworld tunnels, but the worldlet gradually filled with dungeon spawn. The moss and lesser vines failed to grow in the absolute darkness of the tunnels, so they typically wilted and were trampled by the tunnel snake. Millipedes and bats adapted to the tunnels well enough that the tunnel snake had to exercise its cunning to hunt them. Mushrooms spread well in the dark, and a few fish managed to flop down the tunnel to a small pool. The tunnel snake felt great contentment as it slid through the tunnels, hunting food and listening to the dungeon music.
In the underwater worldlet, the bats squeaked to each other in confusion. A new kind of bat had spawned from the dungeon vine fruit. The large bat with glowing white eyes swam in loops around the new bat. This bat was solid grey and appeared to be made of stone. It weighed down the dungeon vine it hung from, so it clearly wasn¡¯t going to succeed in swimming or flying. It could try to drink from the flowers, but if it slipped, the new bat would sink out of sight. The bat leader thought it would be a shame to lose any bat since bats had saved the dungeon from the void bubble. The bat leader dove into the air bubble and caught the vine. It squeaked loudly at the new bat. The new bat squeaked bat quietly. The large, white-eyed bat reached out with one blade claw and poked the new bat. Tink. The blade lightly bounced off the new bat¡¯s skin. Unfortunately, the new bat¡¯s claws ripped through the bit of vine it clung too and the bat plunged into the water. The bat leader dove quickly after the new bat and snagged it which caused the bat leader to struggle mightily not to sink. The new bat was heavy. The bat leader strained to gain any speed and squeaked out a call for assistance. Several smaller bats swam over and latched on to the new bat or the bat leader. As one, they swam slowly towards the portal into the sauna worldlet. With a squeaky cheer, the water bats got the new bat onto the dungeon vine. The new bat squeaked a thanks and crawled along the vine and through the portal. Ch 25 - Easy Walk Oz, Tarka, and three other delvers entered the dungeon. Sif and Sig were joined by a young man with black hair and pale, freckled skin whose name was Kian. They all wore cloaks and held large, flat shields. They waited at the entrance while the dungeon decided if it would attack. After a couple of minutes, Tarka let out a derisive laugh. ¡°All this extra preparation and it¡¯s not even going to attack. What a waste.¡± He said. The others grumbled a bit also. Kian dropped his shield on the ground and pulled off his bow. Over the past couple of weeks, Oz had learned it was futile to respond directly to criticism from Tarka. Oz treated himself to a mental sigh before turning around and addressing the group. ¡°The dungeon creatures will act the same as natural creatures now. We don¡¯t know if the dungeon will change its mind later, forcing us to fight our way out. Kian, strap your shield to your back if you move with your bow out.¡± Oz turned back away from the group. Kian gave a shrug and slipped his shield onto his back, with a longer strap across his chest. The group walked cautiously through the main worldlet and the delta worldlet without incident. The four with shields out held those shields high as they stepped into the Oasis worldlet. The light in the worldlet was transitioning between ¡®night¡¯ and ¡®day¡¯, and was dimly lit. The many butterflies flapped aimlessly through the air or perched on vine flowers. Sig unfolded some large bags as Sif pulled out a fishing net. They had practiced this a few times to avoid the need for a discussion while being attacked by dungeon creatures. Oz moved ahead of the group and stabbed his spear at a bright green butterfly. The butterfly died quickly but let out a small puff of acid. Oz stepped backwards and held out his spear so Kian could get a clear look at the acid aligned butterfly. Kian hadn¡¯t been in the dungeon before and so was not familiar with the different types of creatures. After looking between the bright green butterfly and the other butterflies in the air, he grunted to Oz and pulled back an arrow. Oz flipped the dead butterfly off his spear and stood ready to defend the archer. Tarka drew idly in the sand, clearly not paying attention. Kian shot half a dozen green butterflies. When he saw no more potentially acid aligned targets, he said, ¡°Done.¡± Oz and sift stepped forward for the next stage. Tarka was meant to advance with them, but he had been the most vocal delver in opposition to plans with more than two steps. Sif half spun and threw the fishing net high in the air. The net expanded above a group of butterflies and dragged them down to the ground. Sif and Sig pulled the net and butterflies back to the group and began moving them to the bags. They repeated this a couple more times before the bags were full. ¡°That went well.¡± Kian said. He stepped cautiously around on the sand, retrieving his arrows. Tarka snorted and turned towards the exit. ¡°It¡¯s brighter in here now.¡± Oz said. ¡°Like the sun is rising.¡± The others agreed with this observation. Oz walked to the pond and looked down in. He saw a few fish in the clear water. He considered asking Sif to throw the net in the water to catch the fish, but Tarka might just leave without them if they delayed any longer. The group left the bags in the delta worldlet to be picked up on their way out. They each pulled out a curved piece of dark glass and tied it around their eyes. A bit of padding kept the glass from slipping and blocked light from the sides. Oz took a deep breath and stepped into the acid rain worldlet. The light through the dark glass was still bright, but it was similar to a clear summer day at noon and didn¡¯t cause much discomfort after a moment to adjust. The other delvers followed after Oz with shields and weapons out. Sig swung her axe at something on the ground. A snake head tumbled across the peat a short distance. Kian gave startled yelp but quickly refocused on scanning for targets. They group killed a couple of salamanders which were nearby, then paused to adjust their cloaks and glass. The sideways rain weighed down their shields and leaked around the padding for the glass eye protection. The group wore waterproof cloaks and the raindrops rolled across them and dripped off the far side. Sif got a surprise as he wiped water off his glass to see a jellyfish drifting right in front of his face. With a startled curse, Sif stepped back and got his shield in between him and the jellyfish. The jellyfish slowly bounced off the shield and drifted away. ¡°Well done, Sif!¡± Oz said happily. ¡°The sting on those things burns like dragonfire. Better using the shield than your rotting hand.¡± He chuckled as Sif grinned widely. Oz turned to fully face the group. ¡°Now we explore a floor we know little about. It looks to me like a straight walk following the vine.¡± Oz gestured around and then towards the vine, which grew straight along the direction the rain fell. ¡°Kian, shoot as you see targets. Sig and Sif, keep anything from coming up on our sides. I¡¯ll take the front and Tarka guards Kian from the rear.¡± Oz paused to see if Tarka would object or ignore Oz¡¯s orders. To his mild surprise, Tarka didn¡¯t object and just positioned himself with his shield facing into the rain. Oz walked to the front and slung his shield onto his back so he could use his spear with both hands. They proceeded to move towards the far end of the vine. As they walked, the rain pushed a few jellyfish to drift into their backs. Tarka slew the first two with his sword, but then decided to just hold his shield up at an angle so the jellyfish bounced off and over their heads. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. The group slew a fair number of snakes and salamanders as they walked. They only saw one frog, which Kian shot before it saw them. At the end of the vine, the group paused again. Oz spoke with a grin. ¡°Easy walk through a goblin¡¯s garden. Next floor we have no burning idea what to expect. Might still be bright, might be pitch dark. I¡¯ll step through and right back to see if we need the glass. Then we¡¯ll all step through in this same order.¡± He unslung his shield and crouched behind it. He stepped through and immediately back. ¡°No glass.¡± He said and removed his eye protection. He squinted fiercely and stepped again into the portal. Oz¡¯s eyes went wide as he got a good look at the stony worldlet. He nearly turned and ran, but Sig came through the portal and bumped him to the side. She swore and raised her shield. Oz belatedly raised his own shield above his head. The rest of the group stepped through and had a similar reaction. Kian fumbled with his bow and shield as he desperately tried to swap. Hundreds of jellyfish floated around the group. In the grey light they appeared as a fog made of tentacles. Nothing was visible beyond the jellyfish and the group could only see the ground for a few yards in front of them. The jellyfish fog pressed in around them. The delvers swore again as a large spray of acid washed over the shields. They crouched down and pulled their shields tight in a sort of dome. The shields managed to keep out most of the acid and the group caught it¡¯s breath for a few moments. ¡°I saw something on the ground.¡± Sif surprised Oz by speaking up. The large twins didn¡¯t typically speak much. ¡°Scales! Everyone alright?¡± Oz asked the others. They all grunted or spoke a brief affirmative. ¡°How far was it?¡± Oz asked Sif. Sif shrugged. Oz tried to peak between the shields but couldn¡¯t see. ¡°Fine. We move slow and low. Try to go straight ahead, we don¡¯t want to get lost.¡± Oz shuddered at the idea of crawling for hours under the jellyfish fog. The group moved forward slowly. A few strides away from the portal, they all swore again as a wave of water rushed over their feet. A few strides further the water receded and Sif picked something off the stony ground. ¡°It¡¯s a sword.¡± Sif said. He had hooked his axe to his belt and held a bronze sword. Oz thought the sword looked very similar to Tarka¡¯s sword. Tarka seemed to agree. ¡°Give me that!¡± Tarka snapped at Sif. Sif handed the sword back to Tarka. Tarka put his own sword away and glared at the found sword. Oz waited for a long while but decided that Tarka wasn¡¯t going to be offering any insight aside from his unhappy expression. Oz ordered them back to the portal and out of the stony worldlet.
Back in the main worldlet, the delvers lost their willingness to obey Oz¡¯s orders as they prepared to leave the dungeon. They hadn¡¯t found any treasure other than the sword, and Oz figured the trip was worthwhile experience but not something they would repeat soon. Tarka stood in front of the exit and glared at the other delvers. ¡°There¡¯s two other floors we can access from this one.¡± He said. Oz wasn¡¯t sure if Tarka meant to threaten them, but the extra sword was still in his hand by his side. Oz felt very unsure about the other floors, He hadn¡¯t even seen the one on the right. He tried to explain. ¡°The one in the back doesn¡¯t have much to stand on. This one,¡± He gestured to the right side of the dungeon. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen, they said it was too hot or something.¡± Tarka glared harder. ¡°You just don¡¯t want us to find the treasure. Want to keep it to yourself.¡± Oz glared back at Tarka. Tarka had been receptive to Oz¡¯s suggestions at first, but the man became more abrasive with each meeting. Oz huffed in irritation, then rubbed his chin in thought. He didn¡¯t want any of the delvers to harm the marvelous dark rainbows, but there was enough room for two to stand at the entrance. Perhaps barely enough room. Oz stuck his spear into the ground. He took off his shield and cloak and hung them on the spear. ¡°There isn¡¯t much room, so one person can come with me to look. Don¡¯t-¡° Oz paused as he realized how suspicious Tarka would be if Oz said not to bring any weapons. ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ There isn¡¯t much room.¡± He turned and walked towards the back. Tarka dropped his shield and tossed the extra sword on it before following. Oz rolled his eyes as Tarka hesitated to follow into the shadowed area in front of the portal to the dark worldlet. When the man finally joined him, Oz turned and stepped through the portal. Oz carefully stepped forward to the edge of the pile of pebbles near the portal in the dark worldlet. He looked up in anticipation of having his breath taken away. The worldlet was even more striking than he remembered. As far as he could see above, Oz saw rainbows illuminating floating patches of pebbles. Mushrooms and small vines grew out of many of the floating patches. The rainbows colored each and every mushroom. The rainbows stretched across the black space between the floating patches and colored a few drifting jellyfish. Oz realized that a few pebbles in each patch glowed and provided the source of light to make the rainbows. Tarka stepped through the portal and gasped in astonishment. He stared into the silent black-and-rainbow dungeon floor with his mouth wide open. A bat fluttered swiftly in and out of the rainbows. The bat flew into the tentacles of a jellyfish and squeaked in surprised pain. ¡°Gods¡­¡± Tarka said and took a step forward. ¡°Wait!¡± Oz shouted, but it was too late. Tarka¡¯s foot slipped down the side of the patch of pebbles they both stood on. He flailed his arms and awkwardly tried to fall backwards onto safe ground. The pebbles shifted under his other foot and he fell into the darkness. He jerked to a stop as Oz wrapped two hands around his ankle. Oz had thrown himself to his stomach just in time to catch Tarka¡¯s ankle. He dug his toes into the pebbles to avoid sliding off the side as Tarka had. ¡°Pull me up!¡± Tarka screamed in full panic. He waved his arms and kicked his free leg, trying to catch onto anything. Below him there were only a couple floating patches hanging in the pitch black. ¡°Stop kicking me!¡± Oz shouted angrily down at Tarka. He tried to pull the man back up onto the pebbles, but his leverage wasn¡¯t right. ¡°Reach up and grab onto my arm!¡± Oz had to repeat the instruction twice before Tarka seemed to hear it. The man struggled to ¡°sit up¡± while hanging upside down but managed to reach high enough to grab Oz¡¯s forearm. Using Oz¡¯s body like a barely adequate ladder, Tarka clambered back up onto the pebbles and threw himself through the portal exit. Ch 26 - Cursed Oath
Oz stood and took another look at the beautiful rainbow dungeon floor. He took a deep breath and stepped through the exit. Tarka stood bent over with his hands on his knees, breathing heavily. Oz slapped the man on the back. ¡°Burn my bones, that was dangerous. Scales and teeth, let¡¯s not go back there.¡± Oz felt a bit unsteady but walked back to the others and explained what happened. They were surprised by the report since it had only been a minute or so since Tarka and Oz had left them. Sif and Sig walked to the back of the main worldlet to check on Tarka. Oz faintly heard Tarka angrily saying he was fine. When he regained his composure, Tarka stomped up to the exit. Almost growling, he said, ¡°There¡¯s one more floor.¡± He paused, swallowed, then said more calmly. ¡°Does anyone feel like taking a look? Volunteer only.¡± The man still breathed a bit more quickly than normal and his face was flushed. The other delvers looked at each other for a moment. Oz shook his head, refusing to go through the last portal. Kian shrugged and spoke up. ¡°I¡¯ll go. Just in and out, really quick.¡± Tarka nodded to him and accompanied him over to the right-side portal. Oz put his gear back on and pulled the spear from the ground. He looked up right as Kian fell back through the portal. The small archer vomited onto the ground and struggled to remove his cloak. Oz jogged over in alarm, but Tarka helped Kian to remove his cloak and get to his feet. Kian was soaked and sweat covered his face. Kian vomited again and undid his clothing to expose his chest, which was also coated in sweat. Oz handed the archer a flask of water. ¡°What happened?¡± Tarka said. ¡°Burning hot.¡± Kian panted as he spoke. ¡°I was boiling alive.¡± The archer drank some of the water and poured the rest over his head. Oz search around on the ground and soon returned with a few of the ice orbs from the fallen dungeon fruit. Kian gratefully rubbed the ice across his chest and neck. His breathing evened out, though he looked exhausted. ¡°Thanks for looking.¡± Tarka said. ¡°Sorry it wasn¡¯t nice. Gods, this dungeon¡­¡± He trailed off, shaking his head. He snorted. ¡°The treasure is probably back there somewhere, right where we can¡¯t get it. I don¡¯t know anything that would let someone survive boiling alive for long.¡± Oz remained in the dungeon after the other delvers left. He searched around for the flint and stone orbs until he had two bags full of sling ammunition. He spent a long time sitting on the pebbles and gazing at the rainbows in the dark worldlet. He took note of the creatures present and what he could see of the vine as it stretched upward. He thought he saw some eyes peeking around the patches of pebbles, but he couldn¡¯t tell what creature they might belong to. When he stood to leave, he noticed a damp patch on his hip. Searching the ground, he found a pebble that stayed slightly wet and slowly dripped water. He left the pebble tucked into the vine roots and walked home.
A few days later, Oz was kneeling in an unknown dungeon and wondering which of his decisions had led him to that moment. The old man who had bought the spear stood in front of him. Oz still didn¡¯t know his name, but the old man had scornfully explained that he was the wizard who worked with Hill Lord Andebert. Oz had never seen the wizard, having not spent much time in the actual hill fort. Behind the wizard, a circle of glowing red glyphs surrounded an oddly reflective white orb sitting on a stone plinth¡ªthe wizard and the delvers had referred to the orb as ¡®the dungeon¡¯ so Oz guessed that the orb was the ¡®dungeon core¡¯ that each dungeon was supposed to have. The core was mostly smooth, but it had a few black blemishes growing up from where it touched the plinth. The light from the core flickered unsteadily, which made it hard for Oz to tell if anything was moving in the shadows. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. The primary source of shadows was a dozen dark stone cages that grew out of the walls of the dungeon. The cages were full of giant spiders. Between each flicker of the light, oz was sure the terrifying creatures shifted their positions. Taken as a whole, the dungeon was not a place Oz wanted to return to. The wizard held Oz¡¯s spear in one hand. With his other hand, he traced a complicated pattern next to the spear head. Whatever magic was happening to the spear, it was taking a while. The delvers stood in a loose group behind Oz, and he could hear them shifting their feet. Sif yawned. The delvers had led Oz into the back of a cave full of large jars and other common storage items. In the back of the cave, Tarka had waved a hand to reveal a hidden doorway into darkness. Oz had not wanted to enter the doorway, but the delvers had insisted, practically shoving him inside. The doorway had led to this dungeon where the wizard was waiting. The wizard finally finished the magic and held Oz¡¯s spear high. The spear head glowed brightly and might have given off a soft hum. The old wizard spoke in his sing-song voice. ¡°As patron of this group of dungeon delvers, I command you to swear to protect the delvers from their enemies.¡± The wizard slowly lowered the head to point at Oz¡¯s chest. ¡°Swear or die.¡± A System message appeared in Oz¡¯s mind. _ Warning: Violation of the Proposed Cursed Oath will Result In Death _ _ Warning: Violation of the Proposed Cursed Oath will Result In Multiple Unknown Consequences _ Oz felt himself begin to sweat as questions raced through his mind. Why was the oath cursed? How could there be more consequences beyond death? Would the wizard really kill him if he refused to swear? Who are the enemies of the delvers? Would swearing this oath violate his oath to Andebert? Oz could barely hear his own thoughts over the sound of his panicked heartbeat, but he managed to voice a very practical question. ¡°For how long?¡± The wizard smirked arrogantly. ¡°Until I release you.¡± Oz frantically tried to think through his options. If he refused to swear, he would die. If he swore but broke his oath, he would die. If he swore and was forced to break his oath to Andebert, he would be nearly powerless. Swearing was the only option that left Oz the chance of survival. Maybe swearing wouldn¡¯t be so bad, the wizard wasn¡¯t telling him to obey commands, after all. Perhaps he could influence the delvers to go somewhere far away from the hill fort so Andebert wouldn¡¯t ever find them. Oz took a deep breath and spoke. ¡°I swear.¡± He immediately felt something wrap around his heart and squeeze uncomfortably. He let out a small gasp and grabbed his chest. The wizard¡¯s smirk widened into a vicious grin. He reversed the spear and offered it to Oz. ¡°Soon, but perhaps already, the Hill Lord will receive a message from me which will inform him of the existence of a dungeon cult at this location.¡± A few of the delvers made dismayed sounds, but Tarka ordered them to silence. The wizard continued. ¡°The message explains that I am at the location and I am fighting for my life and to prevent the release of a foul dungeon monster that would attack the hill fort, killing hundreds. The hill lord¡¯s duty requires him to respond to my message immediately. He will come here and kill or imprison everyone he finds. The delvers cannot run far enough to escape him.¡± The wizard paused for a moment, then continued. ¡°This makes him an enemy of the delvers.¡± The pressure on Oz¡¯s heart spiked as the wizard spoke those words, and he found himself staggering to his feet. He snatched his spear from the wizard and turned toward the dungeon entrance. Several of the delvers¡¯ faces showed surprise and fear. Oz moved to exit the dungeon. The pressure on his heart seemed to pull at him, threatening to rip his heart out if he didn¡¯t move fast enough. By the time he passed through the exit, he was running as fast as he had ever run in his life. Outside the cave, he turned and ran towards the hill fort, towards Hill Lord Andebert, enemy of the delvers. Ch 27 - Adventurer Satisfaction Violet Danderpuff, the dungeon fairy, was enjoying his vacation, for the most part. The dungeon core enjoyed his flute music and didn¡¯t put any demands on his time, so he had spent weeks de-stressing in every way he could. He mostly played the flute, but he also caught up on all the book club books he had missed since graduation. Music, good books, and a little drinking. A perfect fairy vacation. Violet was getting bored. He closed his latest book and set it on a little side table he had conjured. He rose from the reclined lawn chair and gave a big stretch. He adjusted his clothes, hair, and wings, then moved to stand politely in front of the dungeon core. He cleared his throat and spoke. ¡°Good morning, Terse Elements.¡± Words like ¡®morning¡¯ and ¡®night¡¯ were entirely arbitrary inside a dungeon, but Violet felt like he was having a morning. ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking, recently, that I might be of more benefit to you if I set up a visual scanner so I could look around and see what¡¯s going on out on your floors.¡± Violet gestured to the green walls of vines that surrounded the dungeon core. ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve got things under control, you are rather advanced for age, after all, but there are a number of tricks and tools that many dungeons never find one their own. This is the main reason we dungeon fairies exist, by the way, to make sure dungeon cores can make the most of every opportunity.¡± The fairy paused and watched the dungeon core. It seemed to flicker only a small amount. Perhaps it is hesitant? Violet struggled to extrapolate the dungeon¡¯s mood from the flickering glow. ¡°D-Don¡¯t worry!¡± He said, nervously. ¡°I won¡¯t let the visual scanner distract me from playing the flute, I know how much you enjoy my music. It¡¯s just something I could use every so often just to do a small checkup, you know?¡± Violet wasn¡¯t sure if the flickering was a positive or negative response. He clenched his fists behind his back for a few seconds, unsure what to do. The fairy berated himself as he had a realization. It probably doesn¡¯t know what a ¡®visual scanner¡¯ is, ya damn fairy. Just make one and show it off. ¡°Here, I¡¯ll just whip one up really quick so you can have a better idea what I¡¯m talking about.¡± Violet half turned from the core and worked his mana for a few seconds. The mana twisted around itself before sliding apart into a smooth rectangle. An image of the main worldlet appeared in the air. Violet presented the image to the dungeon core. ¡°This is a visual scanner. It allows me to see out into your floors without anyone out there being able to detect it. See, I can move the vantage point around¡­¡± The fairy flexed his will and caused the image to pan around the main worldlet. Then he had it float over above the exit and widened the viewing angle so he could get a good view of the whole thing. ¡°And I can adjust various things like the viewing angle, the side of the image, the spectrum being captured, and so on. What do you think?¡± He turned and smiled at the dungeon core, hoping for a positive response after the demonstration. Although Violet said the visual scanner could not be detected, one entity in the dungeon operated on different rules. The void bubble had fought to escape the dungeon vine¡¯s grip but had gradually shrunk to the size of a grain of sand. It¡¯s power was nearly spent but it saw a potential escape route through the magic of the visual scanner. It struck out and tried to seize it¡¯s freedom. Behind the dungeon fairy, the visual scanner fuzzed and switched to a scene of impossible iridescence and sharp, dangerous looking shapes. The dungeon instincts in the dungeon core mind detected the attempt by the void bubble to infect an existing spell, and the mushroom network delivered some of the details to the plant instincts. The mana in the gall around the void bubble tightened, nearly crushing the bubble out of existence. The void bubble¡¯s connection to the visual scanner broke, and it shrank to the size of a speck of dust. In front of the dungeon fairy, the dungeon core flashed brightly. Violet took that as an enthusiastic positive response, similar to when it had agreed to hear flute music. The fairy clapped his hands. ¡°Excellent! I¡¯m excited to take a tour of the dungeon and see what you¡¯ve built.¡± He summoned his lawn chair directly to him and sat to view the scanner in comfort. Violet surveyed the creatures in the main worldlet. He had a wonderful time watching vine fruit spawn creatures and watching those creatures compete for resources. On a whim, he followed an earth aligned beetle for half an hour until it was eaten by an acid aligned snake. ¡°A very interesting little ecosystem you¡¯ve built here.¡± He told the dungeon core. ¡°I love how natural you¡¯ve made everything.¡± This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Violet was surprised by the presence of natural ravens inside the dungeon. Allowing natural creatures to live in a dungeon was often quite dangerous¡ªthey would slowly become as strong as dungeon-spawned creatures but would not be subject to dungeon core commands. Violet decided to keep silent on the matter for now and just focus on the positives. He moved his scanner into the sauna worldlet to continue his tour. He found the void artifact immediately. ¡°Ah, oops.¡± He grimaced. ¡°A void artifact. I apologize again, I should have been awake and able to assist you with this. It looks like you have handled it just fine, though.¡± He cleared his throat and tried to smile. ¡°It¡¯s funny, I had thought that I smelled some void influence somewhere around here. This artifact must have an unusual amount of void residue.¡± In the underwater worldlet, Violet expressed ample admiration for the unique environment and the ¡®Boss¡¯ bat with the glowing white eyes. ¡°Unusual to have a boss this early! I think adventurers will have quite some difficulty with an underwater fight against an agile swimmer. Very tricky!¡± Violet chuckled as he imagined how such a fight might go.
The dungeon fairy toured the other worldlets but failed to notice the underworld worldlet, since it¡¯s entrance was underground and the tunnel to it had collapsed. He played his flute a bit as he enjoyed the interesting sights for a few hours. When he was done watching the scanner, he turned back to the dungeon core. ¡°That was excellent. Thank you so much for allowing be to view it more directly. It¡¯s a truly impressive set of worldlets you¡¯ve built.¡± Violet nodded politely in respect to the dungeon core. ¡°I noted a couple of things that I think we should discuss.¡± He summoned a notepad and pen to jot down some notes. ¡°The first item is one of dungeon safety. There are some natural creatures present in the dungeon. The ravens probably don¡¯t pose any threat right now, but over time, they will absorb ambient mana and grow stronger. They might undergo a mutation or develop spells that could turn them into serious threats. You need to have a plan for dealing with the natural creatures¡ªclaim them or kill them are the most reliable choices.¡± The fairy paused for a second to see if the dungeon core would respond. It glowed in a calm, undisturbed manner. Violet put his concerns on the back burner and moved to the next item. ¡°The second item is about adventurer satisfaction. That might sound odd, since we don¡¯t work for the adventurers, but adventurers are going to be your most effective source of experience and levels.¡± Violet took a sip of a fruity drink. ¡°The thing we are missing in your current set up is treasure. Adventurers love treasure. If there is treasure in a dungeon, adventurers will seek it out and take larger risks. There was a lecture about this that I really enjoyed in fairy school.¡± Violet proceeded to recite most of a lecture about risk and reward, luck and consequences. He described mechanisms of balance and strategies for handling groups of adventurers. The dungeon core glowed steadily throughout the lecture. ¡°Now, that was a bit more dungeon theory than I meant to go over, sorry.¡± Violet rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. ¡°But I can offer a specific application right now. I noticed that your fruit often spawn into samples of materials you have unlocked¡ªflint, stone, ice, and so on. This is an intriguing approach and I¡¯m sure people appreciate it, but it¡¯s not the same as real treasure. You do, however, have an unlocked treasure that would be perfect to mix in with these samples¡ªthe amber piece. Here¡¯s how we can add it¡­¡± The dungeon fairy used an obscure mechanism to share his view of dungeon System controls with the dungeon core. He navigated to the spawn controls and the treasure controls and showed the core how to connect the amber treasure to the group of spawnable things. ¡°And that does it. Now people will get a taste of the treasure in the material samples on the ground. What do you think?¡± Violet looked expectantly at the dungeon core. Across the dungeon, a wave of fruit fell to the floor and opened to reveal rich honey, colored nuggets. The dungeon core glowed brightly to supply the mana to spawn so much treasure at once. After the initial wave, amber began to spawn in equal ratio with everything else. The dungeon core settled back to glowing steadily, slightly brighter than before. Violet beamed. ¡°I¡¯m so glad you like the result. Now, I have just two other locations that I think need proper treasure right away.¡± The fairy continued to talk and demonstrate how the dungeon System treasure controls worked. He placed a pile of amber at the bottom of the oasis pond and placed the chest of gold at the far end of the underwater worldlet. The boss bat swam over and perched on the chest of gold. It squeaked in challenge to any who dared try and steal from it. The other bats circled excitedly and let off jets of water in all directions. Feeling very satisfied, Violet pulled out his flute and played it while watching the visual scanner. He watched as a group of harvesters entered the main worldlet and began capturing creatures. He didn¡¯t mind that the people were taking millipedes and beetles, but he felt rather uncomfortable when the people started catching the butterflies. The fairy twitched his own, very similar wings in sympathy.