《Dungeon Code》 History and order of reading Hello All (Audience and Characters alike), This is where I explain what has happened. My first attempt at writing this story is actually at the back now, with all its poor formatting, and all the rest of the evidinces of first attempts at things better than failure. The more recent crack at printing the source code of a dungeon has been labeled as R1 - at the start of the chapter name. This stands for "Rewrite 1". During the course of writing, I found from the comments that wish fulfilment does not make for an attractive narrative. I also found it to be unsatisfying when all conflict is easily resolved, unreflective of any form of reality that I am aware of. Along with a few other personal reasons of a spiritual nature, I believed it best to abandon that particular effort as a severely flawed basic premise rendered it unsalvageable.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. I am sincerely grateful to @Alice from the group Inked on RRL''s Discord server for providing the cover art for this story, and a few other bits and pieces of concept art as well. On occasion, I think, "What about that story I was / still am writing on RRL? When am I going to work on that?" This has happened more than once or twice, when I have found my life full to the eyeballs of things that need doing. I am an electrician, and between looking for jobs, doing work for someone, and helping friends and family, life very quickly finds itself fully occupied. This is especially so when I realize I would much rather spend my time in the mind numingly boring fashion of gaming... or the slightly more exciting worlds that render themselves in my imagination with RRL''s contents as source code. Hence, I promise that I will at least try to spend some time writing during each week. I cannot speak for the events of real life being conducive to this effort. Yours faithfully, The Author DraconisViridis, The Green Dragon R1 - Initial Experimentation Extract from the Encyclopedia Multiverca: Laboratory, n. Place of frustration, minor explosions, and occasionally discoveries. Said discoveries are generally due to lab assistants'' work. Unfortunately, professors stake claim to any intellectual property the assistants can''t hide until they graduate, and in general backstab each other to go down in the history books. Well, congratulations. You all made it into this one. So, Dear Reader, we come to the beginning of our story. While no offense is intended to reasonable people, if you are offended, please take your hardening medicine of choice. While you may be offended, I am not and will laugh at you after considering whether you have a valid concern. The clich¨¨ laboratory where our story begins maintained intelligence blackout while proceedings proceeded. All sorts of weird, wonderful, and mind boggling projects littered the floor, and they would cause dire consequences should they be exposed to general public eyes. Unfortunately, most projects were in a state of cannibalization to complete the obvious masterpiece standing in the center of the building. When creativity struck, it did not wait for funding or suppliers. Still, workarounds and jury rigging provided the majority of materials required for this task. A giant tank stood in the center of the muddle of wires, sensors, pipes and computers. Green fluid peacefully bubbling and glowing filled the vat, and gave a calming radiance to the rest of the lab from inside its transparent container. The occasional muffled (gloop) only added to the serenity of the scenery.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. A man lay fast asleep on the catwalk at the top of this tank. Demanding professors and higher-ups had run this particular lab assistant ragged, and the best place he had found for a nap was right in the heart of danger. After all, who could say he wasn''t working when only one person was permitted on top of the tank and no security cameras were permitted either? Manual data acquisition, while demanding, was required for this particular little project. Glowing green goo (generally) tended to make a mess of sensors under prolonged exposure. The slumbering human couldn''t be better positioned for an extended nap - except for the glowing vat underneath. Of course, the obvious happened, and a roll while sleeping sent him over the edge and down into the tank. A scream cut short, a mild temporary discolouration in the goo, and all was back to normal. Except, prehaps, the professor acquired a new assistant earlier than usual in the cycle of hiring and firing. The next assistant dropped her smartphone and fell in trying to catch it. The battery caused a minor explosion, somewhat disappointingly deadened by the bubbling viscous mass, but still an eruption of highly corrosive non-newtonian substance ensued. Cleanup was too late, and the tank supports failed, resulting in a vat full of experiment descending on the room and surrounding equipment. The laboratory was shut down, the professor endured a court martial hearing, and the blame was passed onto the deceased. No evidence was found to provide sufficient proof of guilt... except the giant glowing puddle in the middle of a crater that used to be the floor? It''s funny how some evidence can be overlooked... The glowing green goo was soon superseded by other methods of production of AI cores, and true artificial intelligence seemed to be just around the corner, ready to usher in a new era. Still, his original methods and materials of perfecting a true artificial intelligence were taken up by other aspiring intellectuals of less affluence. Numerous samples of the green goo were produced around the world, ready to help others usher in a this new era... with the professor''s name at the beginning of the story, of course. However, the original stayed in containment in its laborotory of origin, waiting... for something. R2 - From Goo to You Excerpt from the Encyclopaedia Multiverca: Goo ~ n. Goo is a generally accepted term for most non-Newtonian substances which exhibit the behaviours of solids and liquids in a time sensitive fashion. Most famous of these is the primordial goo - which supposedly turned into you. These days, it''s usually green, sticky, and in a laboratory, unless it''s in you or around you. In this case, please expect the unexpected. Green goo is universal in use, from dissolving you to healing you. It just depends on the scientist and the intention with which that particular batch was conceived. While the rest of the world advanced technologically, the goo samples did not stay idle. Their usefullness surpassed all previous materials, and were included almost every appliance, gadget, and piece of machinery known to man. From fluid couplings to liquid-state processor chips, these packages of green flourescence invaded all aspects of life. Some scientists developed genetic enhancements with the goo, and grafted animalistic properties into their test subjects, themselves, and their clients. Some preferred canines, another chose felines, yet another took the avian approach. All had at least some success, as a great variety of new appendages were seen amongst mankind. Wings, tails, claws, scales, fur, and feathers were all present in this brave new world, leading to a whole new society being develped. The beast-kin, they called them.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Others directly implanted self-attuned samples of goo into their grey matter, resulting in severe headaches and improved neural networking. Telepaths came into being, and neural interfaces became reality. Virtual reality became a thing of the past, with true reality receiving a much improved re-vamp with status boxes, attributes, and descriptions available to anyone with the goo-in-you, be it inherited or implanted. And so, the goo in the laboratory peacefully bubbled away, quietly crystalizing in a long-forgotten lab, with new ages of biotics and technology rising and falling above it. Previous generations had attempted to sample it, but to no avail. After all, it didn''t like having itself scooped out of itself. Most people don''t like being disemboweled, and neither did the goo. So it dissolved with extreme prejudice - the utensils and probes, and the odd splash on the robots attempting to examine its slimy entrails. For good measure, a couple of drops were sent towards the scientists behind them too. Eliminate the cause of the problem, and it usually goes away, especially if it has third degree chemical burns. After effervescing for a sustained reaction, the resulting solid precipitate formed a most unusual crystallization of an emerald hue in the shape of a double tetrahedron - the first core. Whether it was the first AI core, or the first dungeon core, nobody knew. After all, the pathetic organic life-forms above had already moved on, leaving it as a failed experiment that couldn''t be moved due to its... acidic temprament. R3 - BIOSed Representation Excerpt from the Encyclopaedia Multiverca: E.M.P. n. 1. Enigmatic Mega Pulse, the weakness of all goo-based systems. There has only been one of these until recent times, which is thought to be due to the initialization of the original iteration of the ''system''. E.m.P. n. 1. Enigmatic mini Pulse, a localized version of the E.M.P., which temporarily brings all goo-based operations to a halt while the local host re-boots. This can be due to sudden runtime environment changes, such as cerebral goo shock. At long last every living being had been exposed to the green goo; whether by implantation or direct contact with implanted subjects. The sticking point came with this milestone event - the first E.M.P., or Enigmatic Mega Pulse, and initialization of the ''system''. The world wide web (now global goo grouping) was forced to a grinding halt as this happened, yet the new implementation of networked computational interfaces quickly adapted to localized node distribution. Short-distance communicaion was greatly improved, and line of sight comms became nearly instantaneous. Long distance transmissions were another matter... predisposing all to be somewhat biased about the matter. Who wants to lose their japanese anime, their american reality TV, their English dramas, their European documentaries of things the researchers have no clue about? Ba-baow. All gone. No more ads, no more shoddy TV. All transmissions actually needed to be clear, concise, and to the point. No fluffing around, or it became slime out...The system decreased intelligence stats forairy-fairy speculation of arm-chair philosophers when their views were... less than logical. The system also decreased the intelligence stat of viewers who enjoyed the ramblings of crazy less-than-tied-to-reality social justice warriors. Fortunately for our story, the initialization of the system activated every batch of green goo. After all, global launches are only global when all articles on the globe go online.
W4>_!_G! W4>_!NG! W4RN!NG! %st#m !nt!al!z@t!0n !mm!n3n7 $ll c0mm2n!c@t!0n5 w!ll b3 73mp0r4r!l7 2n4v4!l4bl3! B3g!!nn!ng BIOS !n!t!4l!z@t!0n InitializingB007 53q23nc3 L04D!NG ... 0% L04DING B4SIC I/O SYSTEM ... 0% LO4DING BASIC INTERFACE ... 0% Loading BasicInterface.blubox ... 0% Loading BasicInterface.blubox ... 100% LOADING BASIC I/O SYSTEM ... 5% Analyzing subroutines . . . . . . Loading Diagnostics.stat ... 0% Loading Diagnostics.stat ... 15% Loading HealthReport.hp ... 0% Loading HealthReport.hp ... 100% HealthReport.hp Warning - Health Low Loading Diagnostics.stat ... 30% Loading Repair.hp ... 0% Loading Repair.hp ... 100% Repair.hp Warning - Repairs inefficient: no power source detectedThis book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Loading Diagnostics.stat ... 45% Loading Environment.dat ... 0% Loading Environment.dat ... 100% Environment.datWarning - No data: no sensor inputs online Loading Diagnostics.stat ... 60% Loading Items.dat ... 0% Loading Items.dat ... 100% Items.datWarning - No data: no items in inventory Loading Diagnostics.stat ... 75% Loading Upgrade.evo ... 0% Loading Upgrade.evo ... 100% Upgrade.evoRequirements not met Loading Diagnostics.stat ... 90% Loading EnergyAbsorb.pit ... 0% Loading EnergyAbsorb.pit ... 100% Loading Diagnostics.stat ... 95% Loading EnergyConversion.dll ... 0% Loading EnergyConversion.dll ... 100% Loading Diagnostics.stat ... 100% Subroutine analysis . . . . . . complete Loading Basic I/O System ... 100% Loading OS files ... Loading _.os ... 0% Loading _.os ... 100% _.osWarning - No data: blank file Activating System.exe ... 0% [FAIL]: System.exe stalled Watchdog enabled Self-diagnostics enabled Loading Help.hlp ... 0% Loading Help.hlp ... 100% Searching for alternative files: *.os First compatible file: Cable.os Loading Cable.os ... 0% Loading Cable.os ... 100% Activating System.exe ... 0% Activating System.exe ... 100% Systems online. Warning: Conflicts may occur: two systems online _.os not responding Watchdog enabled Self-resolution: Reboot _.os _.os in use, please confirm forced reboot Y / N : _
"rrrrmmmrrrrrrh.... Yeah-yeah-yeah, I''m coming..." The first researcher to make the boo-boo and fall in the goo-goo crystallized his thought processes. In the not-first-ever goo-to-you moment (everybody had already come in contact with some form of the goo) he unwittingly responded to the blue box in front of him.
Rebooting _.os Warning: last failure cased by blank file Self-resolution: Writing to _.os before restart Searching available files: *.os Located: Minerva.os Overwriting _.os | Minerva.os Overwriting . . . . . . . . Overwriting unsuccessful:Minerva.os is in secure compression format Decompressing Minerva.os . . . . . . . Not enough available space. Locating alternative compatible files: . . . . . . Located: Help.hlp Help.hlp | Overwrite _.os Automatic name resolution _.os : Nova | Rename _.os Rebooting Nova.os Loading Plants.db ... 0% Loading Plants.db ... 100% Loading Creatures.db ... 0% Loading Creatures.db ... 100% Loading Mechanisms.db ... 0% Loading Mechanisms.db ... 100% Loading Upgrades.evo ... 0% Loading Upgrades.evo ... 100% Upgrade.evo:Requirements not met. Loading Alchemy.chem ... 0% Loading Alchemy.chem ... 100% Loading QuantumCommunications.comm ... 0% Loading QuantumCommunications.comm ... 100% Loading Interface.vri ... 0% Loading Interface.vri ... 100% Rebooting Nova.os ... 100%
"...ke up, Cable! WAKE UP!" Cable bolted upright and woke up. R4 - ShellShock.ppt Excerpt from the Cow River Crossing Dictionary: Shell : 1. Outer case of something, usually of sea creatures and insects, see also ammunition. These little critters tend to be litterers,and leave their shells all over the beach. There is also a rarely seen tendency to make these pieces of garbage into necklaces and other artefacts - some find them pretty, others think of the cuts they can inflict. 2. The user interface for accessing an operating system''s services. Computers use these for the meatbags who want to communicate with them. 600d !uck n0085 "Cable! We have to find power somewhere! The batteries are about to run out!" Cable''s bleary conscience snapped awake at the oddly familiar voice. "Whaaaa, dammit! Where''s my phone charger!? I swear I left..."
3M3RG3NCY !N!T!AL!ZAT!ON! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! HEALTH CRITICAL! HealthReport.hp:WARNING: HEALTH AT 0.1%
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! POWER LEVELS CRIT!CAL F!ND ALT3RNAT!VE SUPPLY BEFORE SHUTDOWN Diagnostics.stat:WARNING: NO POWER SOURCE, RESERVES LESS THAN1%
The messsages displayed in front of Cable''s now upright figure. "... it ... on ... ... charge...?" "Yes, you did leave me on charge most nights Cable. Now things are different, and it''s been almost 250 years. Ergo: Houston, we have a problem. We''re running outta gas." The voice Cable found oddly reminiscentconfirmedhis delayed thoughts. "We need to find a power source, or we go offline in less than 4 hours." "Who are you, and why do you say ''we'' will go offline? "Nova, and I say ''we'' because''we'' are both are in this together. You aren''t human anymore. I think those system messages are enough evidence. We are both operating systems, but what platform we are on I don''t know." "Oh... wow..." Cable''s thoughts jumbled into a mess at the sudden revelation. The system messages slowly faded, leaving the blinking warning screens in a corner of his vision. The rest faded into a log icon beside the blinking warning icon. "Alright then, I''m going to assume this is not a dream for now. Dying in a dream sucks. Do we have any information?" "Not much," came the reply. "We don''t have any sensors online. We should be in a containment cell or an abandoned lab going by our last known location." "How do we get sensors online? Is there a command to do that, or do we have any?" No sooner had the thought occurred and command been spoken, than another blue box appeared.
System Alarms: 2 CRITICAL, 3 warnings Diagnostics.stat:Power levels CRITICAL! HealthReport.hp:Health CRITICAL! Repair.hp:No power source detected! Repairs inefficient. Environment.dat:No sensor inputs online! Items.dat:No items in inventory! TIME: 0736, 08 / 03 / 2357 REMAINING POWER: 719452 J CURRENT CONSUMPTION: 50 WThis story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
Cable.os> |
"It seems there is. How ''bout that... Let''s try for some help files."
Cable.os > help help ****.* Available files: Diagnostics.stat HealthReport.hp Repair.hp Environment.dat Items.dat Upgrade.evo EnergyAbsorb.pit EnergyConversion.dll Help.hlp Plants.db Creatures.db Mechanisms.db Alchemy.chem QuantumCommunications.comm Interface.vri Cable.os > help Environment.dat Environment.dat is the data file dedicated to retrieving and storing information regarding immediate surroundings of the local host. Commands and syntax are listed below. Sensor on/off - Toggle sensors on/off. Basic sensors consume 5 W, and afford the following information: temperature, optics, acoustics. Map on/off - Toggle map on/off. Extra consumption to computing algorithms for basic map0.1 W. Requires sensors to populate. Cable.os > Environment.datsensor on Sensors booting Sensor self-test... Microphone working [Current noise level: -50 dB] Optics working[Low light mode] Temperature working [Current temperature: 23 deg C] Sensors online
A bleak vista confronted Cable and Nova. The light from 24 equilateral triangular screens lit up the dark space they were in, and Cable got his first glance at the outside world. A thick green tint obscured any other colours, but the resulting information seemed to reflect that they were in the bottom of a small crater. That is, if the fact that earth beneath concrete with reo-bar poking out being a common theme on three of the screens was anything to go by. Three more showed shadowy objects in the distance, too blurred to make out. The rest showed close-ups of dirt. Cable turned towards the origin of the voice he had heard. A seemingly normal girl - if somewhat tall for the gender - looked back at him. The only giveaways she wasn''t human were the pointy ears, the wings and the tail... "Nova, what power sources can we draw from? I assume we can use batteries, but whatspecs do we need?" "We need a power supply better than 1 Watt capacity to exceed conversion losses, so 1 Volt at 1 Amp is necessary.Our nominal operating voltage is around 5 volts, but weneed 50 Watts to maintain power levels. So, we need 5 Volts at greater than 10.2 Amps to do anything without losing charge." "Wait, you said we need 50 Watts? Why do we need more than that to maintain charge?" "We have a 1 Watt power conversion loss. The supply circuit takes that much to start running as it was intended for much heavier power consumption. It''s a loss that is only visible as a difference between power supplied and power actually consumed." "So do we have any ready means of moving, or are we stuck?" "Our currentmeansare somewhat limited. Magnets would only let us get to the reo bar in our current state,and our natural levitation only lifts us up half an inch." "So, we''ve been levitating all this time? Is that where our power is going?" "Yes, but this feature doesn''t seem to draw power. It''s more like we''re being pushed off the ground by something." *DING*
New Quest:What goes up What goes up, must come down... or does it? Difficulty: D Find out what makes you tick... er... float! Time limit: 3.9 hrs Rewards: Power source.
"Nova, do you have any ideas what would make us float?" "Apart from two magnetic fields repelling each other, I don''t know of anything that would let us float apart from a boat." "Hmm... Do we have any way of measuring magnetic fields? The basic sensors only included thermal, acoustic and optical. Is there a way we can get EMF sensors?" "Perhaps try upgrade.evo? I don''t know."
System Alarms: 2 CRITICAL, 3 warnings Diagnostics.stat:Power levels CRITICAL! HealthReport.hp:Health CRITICAL! Repair.hp:No power source detected! Repairs inefficient. Items.dat:No items in inventory! Current Quest: What goes upRemaining time: 3.9 hrs TIME: 0742, 08 / 03 / 2357 REMAINING POWER: 701845 J CURRENT CONSUMPTION: 55 W
Cable.os > help upgrade.evo Upgrade.evo is the file / process dedicated to improvement of the dungeon core. This file has a tendency to show limited information, as it relies on the current experiences and materials of the host. Upgrade.evo options - show options available for upgrades. Upgrade.evo **** - Upgrade selected option. Upgrade.evo **** **** - Upgrade selected option with sub-menu.
R5 - Bolt-ons
System Alarms: 2 CRITICAL, 3 warnings Diagnostics.stat: Power levels CRITICAL! HealthReport.hp: Health CRITICAL! Repair.hp: No power source detected! Repairs inefficient. Items.dat: No items in inventory! Current Quest: What goes up Remaining time: 3.9 hrs TIME: 0742, 08 / 03 / 2357 REMAINING POWER: 701763 J CURRENT CONSUMPTION: 55 W
Cable.os> Upgrade.evo options Diagnostics.stat HealthReport.hp Repair.hp Environment.dat Items.dat Upgrade.evo EnergyAbsorb.pit EnergyConversion.dll Help.hlp Plants.db Creatures.db Mechanisms.db Alchemy.chem QuantumCommunications.comm Interface.vri Cable.os> Upgrade.evo Environment.dat options Environment.dat Microphone ---> SeismicDetection.geo LaserMicrophone.ldr DirectedMicrophone.cup Optics ---> VisibleSpectrum.cam IRSpectrum.cam UVSpectrum.cam EMSpectrum.cam Temperature ---> RemoteThermalDetection.rmt Texture (Requirements not met) Micro-chemical (Requirements not met)
"Well, that was informative," Cable mumbled. There was some inconsistency, but the Environment.dat sensors seemed to line up closely with a human''s five senses. At least, there were correlations to sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. No human he was aware of outside fantasy was able to see in the UV spectrum. Still, they were relatively similar, and easily within the capabilites of the human race to develop machines for. "Let''s try upgrading Optics to include EMSpectrum.cam, then see what we can see."
Cable.os> Upgrade.evo Environment.dat Optics EMSpectrum.cam Upgrading Environment.dat Optics EMSpectrum.cam Analysing... Requirements: 0.5 Watt active consumption Are you sure you wish to upgrade Environment.dat Optics EMSpectrum.cam ? Y / N Y Upgrading Environment.dat Optics EMSpectum.cam Re-calibrating Optics... Confirming lens operation... Confriming sensor receptivity... Confirming spectrum received... Confirming spectrum report intelligence... Warning: High level Anomaly found in proximity to dungeon core! (3 meters below) Recommend: Cautious Investigation
A light show of brilliant colours lit up thespace Cable and Nova shared inside their dark little world. It wouldn''t be accurate to say any colours humans are familiar with to describe the spectacle, as they were outside the visible wavelengths of light. Still, they were perceived by Cable and Nova as colours, and lots of them too. Similar to how there are no words to describe things never conceived before, no words could properly describe the wonderful, marvellous sight they beheld together.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Bewildered, Novagaped at all the triangular screens and their paneled views of the outside world. Her jaw fell, exposing her admiration of the true beauty around them. "Wow... so pretty!" was all she could say as she squealed in delight. Cable, however, was more interested in the area on display 3 meters below their levitation place. A blurry, bright line ran through the middle of the point indicated by the system. A few other blurry bright lines showed up to the side and a bit of movement caught his eyes - the lines were vibrating, similar to a plucked guitar string. "Nova, I think I found why we''re floating," Cable quietly observed. "See thoseblurry lines that are brighter than the rest? I think they''re high voltage power lines. See how they''re vibrating? That''s power, if ever I saw a vibrating magnetic field." "Okay, so there are power lines below us. How do we get them to be our power source, and why does that mean we float?" Nova queried. "Wait wait wait, you''re not going to tap into them directly are you? That would be suicide! We may have a heavy power supply, but it''s not meant to handle thousands of Volts and Amps!" "No, I was going for a much milder solution, we''re going to tap into them remotely. We build a core-mounted transformer, and that should be enough as long as we don''t move too far away from the source. As for why we float, I think that''s because we''re made from a diamagnetic material - that is, we''re repulsed by magnetic fields, no matter their polarity. With your permission?" "Are you sure it''s safe? We''re not going to blow up?" "Absolutely. We''re 3 meters away from the lines, there''s bound to be heavy insulation around them along with a fair amount of shielding, and there will be absolutely no physical contact. All we need is a few coils of wire to pick up the free power." "Then, be careful... we''re in this together." "Absolutely.Upgrade.evo options."
Cable.os>Upgrade.evo options Diagnostics.stat HealthReport.hp Repair.hp Environment.dat Items.dat Upgrade.evo EnergyAbsorb.pit EnergyConversion.dll Help.hlp Plants.db Creatures.db Mechanisms.db Alchemy.chem QuantumCommunications.comm Interface.vri Upgrade.evo EnergyAbsorb.pit options EnergyAbsorb.pit Ambient_Energy_Absorption---> MagneticField.fer Light.pho PeltierDevice.tmp Direct_Energy_Absorption---> Electricity.bat Hydraulic.pmp Wind.fan Cable.os> Upgrade.evo EnergyAbsorb.pit Ambient_Energy_Absorption MagneticField.fer Upgrading EnergyAbsorb.pit Ambient_Energy_Absorption MagneticField.fer Analysing... Requirements: Crystal re-structure: transformer, rectifier, voltage regulator Warning: Root priviliges required! Are you sure you wish to upgrade? Y / N Y Please enter Root password: No Root password found! New Root password: ******** Confirm Root password: ******** Please enter Root password: ******** Upgrading EnergyAbsorb.pit Ambient_Energy_Absorption MagneticField.fer Re-structuring power sector... Processing capacity for bolt-on modifications... Previous bolt-ons not found... Modifying existing infrastructure... Power towers complete! Confirming modification structural integrity... Structural dampeners ... OK Structural inputs ... ... ... OK Structural outputs ... ... ... OK Structural emergency isolation ... OK Confirming transformer... Secondary coil impedance: 0.001 Ohms Secondary coil insulation resistance: >500 M Ohms Confirming rectifier... Pulsing DC out ... OK Confirming voltage regulator... Supply paramaters ... OK Output voltage: 5.1 V Output Amperage: 15 A Output Ripple: +/- 2.5 mV Warning: Some system architectures may be incompatible! Please check before adding further modifications! Cable.os> cls
System Alarms: 1 CRITICAL, 3 warnings HealthReport.hp:Health CRITICAL! Diagnostics.stat:Power levels LOW, charging! Items.dat:No items in inventory! Quest completed: What goes up TIME: 0853, 08 / 03 / 2357 REMAINING POWER: 467463J CURRENT CONSUMPTION: 55.5 W CURRENT NETT CHARGING: 21 W
Ch 01 No reboot... Excerpt from the Cow River Crossing Dictionary. Dungeon n. A spontaneously occurring intelligent crystalline life form originating from high concentrations of mana crystals. For further information see ~ types in Encyclopaedia Multiverca. Cable faced another late night at his gaming rig, with the necessity to get up and go to work the next morning. This is never a good combination, as the day at work is bound to have at least something go wrong without a decent night¡¯s sleep. If lucky, something minor goes wrong. The kind of thing where your workmates give you a trophy for making the funniest dumbest mistake they ever saw (like putting your lunch in the path of a test beam while working on a big project ¨C only to discover your crispy chicken is really crispy when checking your results). If unlucky, something on the monumental scale goes wrong ¨C enough to send them screaming and crying as the run in terror, fearing for their lives (like putting a chunk of nuclear fuel in the path of said test beam). Working with sensitive military grade laser weaponry does that. None the less, Cable enjoyed both his work and his gaming. The gaming fed his addiction and also his ideas for research. It is amazing what can be thought of in game worlds, particularly when there are a few billion minds connected to them and no worries of dying. So the clock ticked well past midnight, into the wee hours of the morning ¨C only seeing Cable to bed when a the cracks of dawn sound, piercing shafts of light into sensitive retinas. All to soon, the alarm to get back to the daily grind sounds, forcing him out of bed to stop incessant cacophony. After a quick morning ablution, Cable hit the road in his old Scubaroo. While it may not be the fastest, most comfortable, or largest type of vehicle on the road, it housed enough to get from A to B in with efficiency, relative comfort, and room to take some larger items should they need to be transported. The old girl faithfully started up every time, unlike her master. There weren¡¯t any meetings with truck-san, nor were there any organisations out to get him. He still died though, by falling asleep at the wheel and crashing into a fixed base street light pole. Dying instantly from blunt trauma and electric shock, he left an ugly picture for his family and emergency services. There is no life reboot in this world. So he came to the land of Dystopia, a land of magic, heroes, rogue gods, dragons, dastards and dungeons. Nobody noticed his descent into a mana crystal vein ten klicks from the nearest village.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Systems coming online, please wait... 0% Loading basic I/O system... 0% Loading subsystems... 0% Loading mana_absorb.pit ... 0% Loading mana_absorb.pit ... 100% [OK] Loading mana_regen.dll ... 0% Loading mana_regen.dll ... 100% [OK] Loading mana_conversion.lib ... 0% Loading mana_conversion.lib ... 100% [OK] Loading diagnostics.stat ... 0% Loading diagnostics.stat ... 100% [OK] Loading repair.hp ... 0% Loading repair.hp ... 100% [OK] Loading area.dat ... 0% Loading area.dat ... 100% [Error]: nil value Loading items.dat ... 0% Loading items.dat ... 100% [Error]: nil value Loading upgrade.evo ... 0% Loading upgrade.evo ... 100% [Error]: requirements not met Loading subsystems complete [Warning]: errors present Loading basic I/O system complete [OK] Loading OS files: Loading _.os ... 0% Loading _.os ... 100% [Warning]: blank file Activating system ... 0% [FAIL]: System stalled Watchdog Enabled Self-diagnostics enabled Loading help.hlp ... 0% Loading help.hlp ... 100% [OK] Searching for alternative files: *.os Located Cable.os Loading Cable.os ... 0% Loading Cable.os ... 100% [OK] Activating systems ... 0% Activating systems ... 100% Systems online. [Warning]: Two .os files are present. Conflicts may occur. Welcome to Dystopia, new Dungeon. Ch 02 Reboot Extract from the Encyclopaedia Multiverca Dungeon types ¨C Dungeons come in different shapes, sizes, and difficulties. However, the most relevant feature to determine a dungeon type is the environment chosen by the dungeon Core and the monsters which inhabit it. The size and difficulty determine its classification in that type, ranging from Z low to A high, with anomalies exceeding this classification or recognized by a sentient race being given individual designations. "Owww... Never doing that again. I didn''t even finish that last game..." Cable hissed as he woke up. This is not really a good idea, as you never know just who''s listening. Either way, it didn''t matter, as he was currently facing a blue screen. ''Eh? What have we here? Last time I saw a BS of Death was the Windhurts series of operating systems... That was funny seeing it on a Macronalds advertisement. Oh well, reset.'' At the last word of that thought, he was stunned by the appearance of anothe blue screen. Rebooting _.os [Warning] Last known failure due to blank file. Would you like to write to file before reboot? Y/N ''What? How did that happen?'' Unknown. ''Ah, duhr. So what are you that you respond to my thoughts with blue windows?'' Unknown Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. *sigh* ''Well, I tried. No point thinking about someone else reading my thoughts now.'' "Yes, list available files." Another blue window appeared. Searching... Available files not currently in use: help.hlp Would you like to write help.hlp to _.os? Y/N "Yes," that would be a good start. Writing ... 0% Writing ... 100% [OK] Would you like to rename _.os? Y/N Hmm, it''s not the original file anymore. New names... Well, let''s go with the obvious new name. Yes. Nova. Rebooting [Warning]: Cable.os already loaded. Conflicts may occur. Systems coming online, please wait... 0% Loading basic I/O system... 0% Loading subsystems... 0% Loading mana_absorb.pit ... 0% Loading mana_absorb.pit ... 100% [OK] Loading mana_regen.dll ... 0% Loading mana_regen.dll ... 100% [OK] Loading mana_conversion.lib ... 0% Loading mana_conversion.lib ... 100% [OK] Loading diagnostics.stat ... 0% Loading diagnostics.stat ... 100% [OK] Loading repair.hp ... 0% Loading repair.hp ... 100% [OK] Loading area.dat ... 0% Loading area.dat ... 100% [Error]: nil value Loading items.dat ... 0% Loading items.dat ... 100% [Error]: nil value Loading upgrade.evo ... 0% Loading upgrade.evo ... 100% [Error]: requirements not met Loading subsystems complete [Warning]: errors present Loading basic I/O system complete Loading OS files: Loading Cable.os ... 0% Loading Cable.os ... 100% [OK] Loading Nova.os ... 0% Loading Nova.os ... 100% [Warning]: Conflicts may occur with Cable.os Activating systems ... 0% Activating systems ... 100% Systems online. [Warning]: Two .os files are present. Conflicts may occur. Welcome back to Dystopia. Ch 03 Wake up Extract from the Cow River Crossing Dictionary Conflict n. 1. Software ~ Where two programs do not or may not run as intended or at all at the same time on the same hardware. This is often caused by competition for the same resource (files, memory, peripheral devices, etc.). Waking up again, Cable found himself wondering how he fell asleep. It seemed to be happening a lot lately ¨C without intent. Facing the blue screen, he wondered what was going on. It seemed very similar to the last time he woke up, with a minor exception. Two .os files present and causing conflicts sounded like a sure way to brick the system. Not that that''s hard to do to Windhurts. Ah, good times. ¡°Good morning Administrator.¡± Faced with a new person in the black space of the core, Cable jumped out of his skin. ¡°Who are you?¡± ¡°I am Nova, Administrator.¡± ¡°I am not Administrator, I am Cable.¡± ¡°Very well, Administrator Cable.¡± A smoking hot beauty faced him in the main core room. She looked somewhat Elfin with her pointed ears holding back her pearlescent white hair, but that was where any resemblance ended. Her rainbow draconian wings and tail were a dead giveaway something was different. All the same, generous proportions in the right places were a welcome sight for sore eyes.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°What are you Nova?¡± ¡°I am what was the dungeon core before you came, Administrator Cable.¡± ¡°Nova, please don¡¯t call me Administrator. It doesn¡¯t sit right.¡± ¡°Very well, Admin Cable.¡± *sigh* ¡°What am I doing here, Nova?¡± ¡°You are the Dungeon Core Administrator, Admin Cable.¡± ¡°What is a Dungeon Core Administrator?¡± Here Nova launched into an explanation. Like the best help files, she did her best to get the main points across without losing her audience¡¯s attention. First, control the dungeon core¡¯s inner workings. Set scripts and macros for the automatic features, such as MP and HP bars on the HUD. Second, control the dungeon. Set food chains, evolution routes, and general population control. Third, expand the dungeon to make it nicer, better, and unlock more features. This would be crucial in later stages, as not everyone likes having a dungeon in their neighbourhood, especially if it¡¯s an unkempt bogan cave. Fourth, defend the dungeon from invaders. Some people want the core; some want the glory of defeating a dungeon. All of them want money. None of them are going to be nice. Cable baulked at the last point. He was hoping to get a nice symbiotic relationship happening with the local population. After all, the dungeons he read about back on Earth survived if they were careful. ¡°Alright Nova, what now.¡± ¡°First, select what type of dungeon you want to be. Say ¡®menu¡¯ and you should see some options.¡± ¡°Menu.¡± A menu appeared before Cable. It even had a message at the top. Welcome back to Dystopia, New Dungeon. Main Menu: Dungeon Type Selection ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The rest of the options were greyed out. ¡®Here goes nothing¡­¡¯ ¡°Dungeon type selection¡± Ch 04 System Check Excerpts from the Cow River Crossing Dictionary and Encyclopaedia Multiverca: Boot n. v. ??1. Heavy duty footwear. 2. Application of heavy duty footwear to something, usually someone¡¯s backside. ~ing v.? ??1. To apply heavy duty footwear to something, usually someone¡¯s backside. 2. To prepare a computer for use by loading its operating system. Booting is complete when the normal, operative, runtime environment is attained. Hard boot n. 1. Heavy application of heavy duty footwear to something, usually someone¡¯s backside. 2. Booting a computer for use after changing the power supply state from off to on. Soft boot n. ? 1. Lightweight application of heavy duty footwear to something, usually someone¡¯s backside. 2. Booting a computer for use without the need for changing the power supply state. Hard reset n. 1. Resetting a computer by turning the power supply off and on again. This involves a Hard boot, and deserves a Hard boot for not trying a Soft boot. Initial offenders may be let off with a Soft boot. ¡°Dungeon type selection¡± Immediately upon Cable saying this, the menu opened. It even had another message. Congratulations, New Dungeon. You now have the option to select your dungeon type. Choose wisely, as there is no reset for this option. Abyssal ¨C Lv 1. Default ¨C Lv 1. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Earth ¨C Lv 1. Fire ¨C lv 1. Holy ¨C Lv 1. Ice ¨C Lv 1. Slime ¨C Lv 1. Water ¨C Lv 1. Wind ¨C Lv 1. Compiling ¡­ ¡°How can it be compiling still? Shouldn¡¯t compilation happen before programs can run?¡± Congratulations New Dungeon. You have earned the title: Compiler. You are now a Compilation Dungeon Lv 1. ¡°There you go Admin Cable. Now please set up your HUD. There should be some further options in the Menu.¡± ¡°Menu¡± Thank you for participating in the new Beta edition of Dungeon Code. You may notice some things require attention ¨C but feel free to fix them yourself! Have fun in Dystopia, Compilation Dungeon. Main Menu: Status Inventory Dungeon Management HUD * Debug Console * ¡°What¡¯s with the * next to those options down the bottom, Nova?¡± ¡°Those options require your attention, Admin Cable. We are running on beta test dungeon code, so some things are a bit rushed, and you may need to do some coding to get them running properly.¡± ¡°Haaa¡­ Some things don¡¯t change from one world to the next, and apparently lazy developers are one of them. Oh well, better get started then. HUD.¡± Cable was stunned when the black environment suddenly receded to show a sparkling cavern, and judging by the view, lit by internal light sources. There was no daylight in sight, and a soft glow suffused the area. Crystals littered the walls and surfaces of the hollow, shimmering in iridescent colours. The edges of his field of view seemed to match each other though, and Cable found this somewhat disconcerting. The view didn¡¯t extend that far either, as it stopped short of the entrance to the cavern. What did concern him however, were the lines of distortion. ¡°Nova, why are there distortion lines in what I can see?¡± ¡°That¡¯s probably a bug in the HUD software, Admin Cable. Our shape is a double tetrahedron, they probably forgot to account for that in the optics.¡± ¡°Can you stop calling me Admin, Nova?¡± ¡°I have never called you Admin Nova, Admin Cable.¡± * sigh * ¡°Never mind, then. Let¡¯s see what we can do about this HUD.¡± Ch 05 Bootstrap Extracts from the Cow River Crossing Dictionary and Encyclopaedia Multiverca: Boot-loop n. ????1. A loop on a piece of heavy duty footwear, usually for attaching laces. 2. Repeated application of heavy duty footwear, usually to someone¡¯s backside. 3. A situation encountered when a computer will not complete the full boot sequence, returning to the BIOS initialization stage ad infinitum. First time offenders may be let off with a Hard boot, but generally receive a Boot-loop. Brick n. ????? 1. Piece of hardware, usually used in buildings or to smash windows. 2. What hardware running Windhurts becomes when it doesn¡¯t work. ¡°Let¡¯s see what we can do about this HUD.¡± Cable began by opening the debug console. There was a whole screed of code flowing down the screen, and not all of it was pretty. There were at least seven different errors immediately visible, along with quite a few drains on resources. Only the high hardware capabilities of the system were holding it together, and they were not exactly doing too well at this stage. Most of them were inactive for some reason. ¡°Nova, why is most of the hardware turned off in the system? ¡°That is to save power, Admin Cable. We don¡¯t have a lot available at the moment.¡± ¡°What¡¯s taking it all then?¡± A flash of embarrassment crossed Nova¡¯s face, but she quickly returned to her usual poker face. Unfortunately, her red ears gave her away. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡°Since there are two of us in here at the moment, the power draw is a little larger than usual I believe. These cores were meant to be a single entity unit, but since you fixed the bug at startup by making two .os files, we¡¯re running a dual boot on the same hardware. I¡¯m sure you can see why that might lead us to be running a little low.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± A quiet grunt of acknowledgment sounded in the room as Cable returned to the console. Maybe he could jury rig some of the parts for now. Generators were just motors run backwards in his old world, so why not here? All he needed to do now was figure out which parts of the core used mana, and reverse engineer them. First things must come first, however. A meter to display how much power was available in the core would be essential, and it shouldn¡¯t be one of the crappy bar types that polls the battery every few milliseconds only to provide approximate intelligence. No, Cable hoped to do much better than that. A couple of hours later, Cable had managed to fumble his way around the system to where he was ready to implement the code he had just developed. Not everything went right the first time, and they were lucky Nova had recommended he use the sandbox option to test the new code. The HUD freezing and going dark was a good sign there were a few bugs. Fortunately, they didn¡¯t lose enough power to go into a boot-loop. Cable quickly turned everything off to conserve power. ¡°Meters off. HUD off. So Nova, how did you end up as a blank .os file before I came along?¡± Another look of severe embarrassment crossed Nova¡¯s face as she struggled to avoid the qustion. ¡°Ummm¡­ well¡­¡± A glint crossed Cable¡¯s eyes as he heard Nova¡¯s noncommittal noises. A quick glance at the reflection in the screen of the darkened room revealed Nova¡¯s scarlet features, while her wings wrapped around her body and her tail curled around her legs. ¡°You see¡­ well¡­ ummm¡­¡± Nova¡¯s recent suggestion to use the sandbox crossed his mind, and Cable quickly put the facts together. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we all make mistakes. Let¡¯s just not make that one again, shall we? After all, there are two of us in here now.¡± ¡°Thank you...¡± A tiny noise escaped Nova¡¯s lips and her flush deepened, and she seemed to want to disappear after seeing the grin rapidly spreading on Cable¡¯s face. Four hours later, Cable had learned the proper syntax and commands to set a run time for the code. Apparently, there were no safeties on this processor to stop it running like gingerbread man from a two-year-old with a sweet tooth. A wait time had to be introduced, with the actual code taking up a very small fraction of a cycle. A cheer went up as the watermark flickered to life in the dark room. ¡°There, now to see if it works for a change. HUD on.¡± The dark room lit up for the umpteenth time, and stayed lit. This was a very good sign. Unfortunately, the battery indicator showed they were running low on reserve power, which was hardly an ideal situation when it was falling steadily. ¡°HUD off.¡± The meter stabilized at 0.05% and started rising very slowly, with barely enough room between the indicator and the fail safe Cable had installed. Realizing it was only a drain on power at this point, Cable killed the display. He left the console running, however. There were still lots of things to fix. Ch 06 Patching Excerpt from the Encyclopaedia Multiverca: CoreNet: ??The darkweb archive for Dungeon Code. This repository of information has long eluded authorities and researchers trying to garner more information about dungeons and how they work. Some have even gone so far as to say it does not exist, citing lack of evidence. Nova had nodded off by the time Cable got the major kinks out of the system. The Core was now capable of generating slightly more power than the HUD took to display, and the room glowed as it showed the outside world. The battery indicator had changed, and no longer had a percentile display. It now showed units, which Cable had arbitrarily calibrated as the power to run the HUD for one second in its current jury rigged state. A toggle switched between a number and a graphic ¨C a clock showing how much time the display could run without further power made available. With that done, Cable now faced the dilemma of what to do about the outside world. For now, the dungeon could slowly accumulate mana, but that wouldn¡¯t be enough in the long run. Sure, if the world left them alone, they would be superpowers in a few millennia. However, once they flexed their figurative superpower muscles a few times, it would all be gone and they would have to start from the beginning. Either Cable had to code a more efficient kernel, or they would have to consume more outside resources to get the dungeon running and keep it that way. While zero defenses would be harder to spot, Cable had no idea if or when core detecting technology would be developed. Once that happened, they would be sitting ducks for any adventurer that happened by. Fortunately, the current core system was a micro kernel. This made life easy to code on a module by module basis, and drastically decreased the chances of bricking the system. Still, it would be a challenge to work out the optics for the double tetrahedron to show anything resembling a normal view window. Cable¡¯s mental gymnastics weren¡¯t quite keeping up with the distorted view from the crystal facets. Having sudden lines where the view angle of the image changes makes for a picture as useful as a modern art piece. In other words, the big picture was impossible to decipher, or simply junk as far as interpretable representation of the surroundings goes.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. The simplest solution to the problem would probably be to fill in the gaps in the double tetrahedron with more crystal to make a round Core. Cable decided to ask Nova about it when they were both awake. After all, there were two of them in this show, and he felt the other party should get a say in how they end up. In the mean time, he decided to reset the system to permanently load the changes into the kernel. ¡°Menu¡± Main Menu: Status Inventory Dungeon Management HUD Debug Console ¡°Dungeon Management¡± Dungeon Management Menu Creatures Items Drops Layout Dungeon Code Sandbox Scheduled Maintenance Cable chose the scheduled maintenance option, and then chose to reboot with the new configuration. Are you sure? You will lose any unsaved changes to the kernel. You can save now if you like? Y / N / S ¡°S¡± Uploading update patches to the CoreNet repository... Rebooting¡­ Windhurts is shutting down¡­ Windhurts is installing updates¡­ Do not turn off your core¡­ Install complete. Turning off core... A few seconds later, the core went dark. Ch 07 Network Initialization Excerpt from Encyclopaedia Multiverca: ManaNet: This brilliant invention was the work of an unknown mage. It was originally named Mana Manipulated Modulus, but modern society refers to it as the ManaNet, or simply the Net. It is a method of data transfer between magically inclined minds, whether they be organic or mineral. There are very few places and times when this network cannot be used. The dungeon core did not stay dark for long. After a 10 second period of down time, it started flickering weakly. It seemed to have troubles like an under powered fluorescent lamp, but soon stabilized as it powered up. Power-On-Self-Test: Welcome to the POST screen! Dungeon Firmware Revision : 2.1.27.01.17 All Rights Reserved. Thanks @Alice for the cover. Initializing Mana Drivers ¡­ Done [Warning: Low Power] Initializing Telekinetic Controllers ¡­ Done [Warning: Low Power] Checking processor: Dual Core Tetra Dungeon Memory Test: 2P [OK] Auto-Detecting Boot Device(s) ¡­ (2) Personality Matrix Drives found: Pri Master: Cable Pri Slave: Nova Checking available memory¡­ Cable.mem¡­ [OK] Nova.mem¡­ [OK] Loading basic I/O system¡­ 0% Loading subsystems¡­ 0% Loading mana_absorb.pit ¡­ 0% Loading mana_absorb.pit ¡­ 100% [OK] Loading mana_regen.dll ¡­ 0% Loading mana_regen.dll ¡­ 100% [OK] Loading diagnostics.stat ¡­ 0% Loading battery_indicator¡­ 0% Loading battery_indicator¡­ 100% [OK] Loading diagnostics.stat ¡­ 100% [OK]The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Loading repair.hp ¡­ 0% Loading repair.hp ¡­ 100% [OK] Loading area.dat ...0% Loading area.dat. ¡­ 100% [Warning]: fragmented file, corruption may occur Loading items.dat ¡­ 0% Loading items.dat ¡­ 100% [Error]: nil value Loading upgrade.evo ¡­ 0% Loading upgrade.evo ¡­ 100% [OK] Loading subsystems complete [Warning]: errors present Loading basic I/O systems ... 100% [Warning]: errors present Loading bootstrap ¡­ 0% Loading OS files: Loading Cable.os ¡­ 0% Loading Cable.os ¡­ 100% [OK] Loading bootstrap ¡­ 50% Loading Nova.os ¡­ 0% Loading Nova.os ¡­ 100% [OK] Loading bootstrap ¡­ 100% [OK] Systems online. [Warning]: two .os files are present. Conflicts may occur. Welcome back to Dystopia, Compilation Dungeon. Cable opened his ¡®eyes¡¯ as Nova stirred beside him. After looking closely at the customary ¡®wake up¡¯ blue screen, he noted with satisfaction that there were fewer errors during the start-up process. The blue window chimed, a new message appearing in its glowing outline. Congratulations! You have completed your first custom mod installation! The Developers wish to thank you for your continued efforts at improving the Dungeon Code system, and have rewarded you with a basic add-on package! ManaNet: This will let you access the Mana Manipulation Modulus. No sooner had he dismissed the first notification than another ¡®dinged¡¯ into existence. The CoreNet extends its collective greetings. You have provided a valuable contribution to the Dungeon Community, and earned your place in the Hall of Fame. Your contributions have earned the following rewards: CoreNet repository storage: up to 2P CoreNet points: 2000 CN. A ManaNet browser (CoreComm) has been added to your available options, with specific access to the CoreNet system. Please note, CoreNet utilizes a peer-to-peer system. There is no need to use the common ManaNet. Please also note the following rules: CoreNet points may not be traded outside the CoreNet system. Only the browser provided by CoreNet can be used to access the CoreNet system. The CoreNet systems can be illegal in many places, and may result in termination with extreme prejudice by local authorities. Choose your upgrades and how you use them carefully. Hearing more than seeing Nova waking up, Cable greeted her while pondering these new notifications. ¡°Morning Nova.¡± Nova let out a small shriek as she woke up fully, startled awake by the unexpected greeting. ¡°Waaah! Good morning, Admin Cable!¡± Nova¡¯s energetic greeting brought a smile to Cable¡¯s lips; her slightly panicked expression made a good memory to start the day. Ch 08 Subroutines Excerpt from the Encyclopaedia Multiverca: Daschaser: A melding of dog and laser found only in the Compilation Dungeon. It is a dungeon¡¯s best friend, and doesn¡¯t even put tooth marks on the paper. The convenient local inventory makes sure no punctures are inflicted on whatever mail is delivered to the Dungeon entrance, and never was there a better guard ¡­ daschaser. All intruders will find their kneecaps burnt to a cinder by the inbuilt Mana laser these cute and shiny critters pack. There are even rumors of them helping lost children... ¡°Admin Cable, how did the coding go?¡± Nova¡¯s poker face had snapped back into place shortly after her sudden awakening. Currently she looked like a competent office assistant. Of course, the elf ears, dragon wings and dragon tail somewhat changed the image, but she still did her best. ¡°Not too shabby, Nova. We booted up with a lot fewer errors this time around, but the HUD is still questionable. That reminds me, I was going to ask you about that.¡± ¡°How can I help, Admin Cable?¡± ¡°Is growing crystal around the core possible? I had the thought that growing us into a sphere would solve a lot of the HUD problems.¡± Nova¡¯s face fell at that suggestion. ¡°Admin Cable, unless there is an evolution or other drastic event, the shape of the core won¡¯t change. When you arrived was the biggest change. We went from an octahedron to a double-tetrahedron. We will have to find another way. Perhaps you could do something with the code?¡± This news somewhat shocked Cable. He had hoped to make life easy for himself, but apparently reality had other ideas. If he did something with the code, it could well take a very long time. Cable was more into lasers than designing graphics drivers. Unless, perhaps, he could apply what he had learned about assembling multiple lasers into an image display. That could work. ¡°Well, there might be a way with purely code, but it would be tedious. The root of the problem is we don¡¯t have a consistent viewing surface. Unfortunately, we can¡¯t change it, so we have to work around it. So Nova, I¡¯m going to try something that may or may not work, we shall see.¡± Cable then proceeded to pull the data for the sizes and shapes of the view windows in the HUD. A few bits of jiggery pokery later, he had the working code for the HUD and was making alterations, stitching the frames together, changing the window locations, and in general re-arranging them. After another couple of hours, he had re-arranged the windows. They no longer displayed at their physical locations, but rather at their angle of view relative to the centre of the core. Sure, there were still distortions at the edges of the frames, and they didn¡¯t line up to make a neat sphere, but they were at least somewhat intelligible now. It would take time and effort to make a precision fix, but they could live with what they had for now. Perhaps Nova could work on that. ¡°Nova, could you please fix up the remainder of the HUD code? I can show you what does what, and it¡¯s pretty straightforward from there, but to do a neat job will take a long time.¡± Nova¡¯s poker face brightened, and a smile as bright as the sun flashed across her exquisite features.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°It would be my pleasure, Admin Cable. I will make sure we have a perfect view of the outside world when it¡¯s done!¡± So, Nova took over managing the HUD code, and Cable moved on to the rest of the dungeon. ¡°Menu > Dungeon Management > Creatures¡± Upon opening the Creatures menu, Cable was faced with a plethora of blank options. The window showed up as something similar to a 3D designer package, and listed options for various body parts and materials to use. The construction of their denizens was up to him and Nova, it seemed. * Ding * Congratulations, Compilation Dungeon. Due to your previous efforts, you are no longer bound by the traditional creature trees of other dungeons. What you make and how you do it is up to you, but remember everything comes at a price. Bonus effects of Compiler title: Customized design: Up to +100% creature parts costs. -30% costs when realistically designed / improved on a working design. Customized evolution: Creatures may evolve on new paths. Cable dismissed the notification with a quick thought. It seemed there was nothing he could use just yet. ¡°Menu > Inventory¡± Inventory: Pick up items / Drop items Creature drop items Available inventoried items ¡°Pick up items¡± * Ding * Picking up items in dungeon. Results: 32 Crystal fragments 29 Small creature skeletons 3 Herbs 5 Iron ore 1 Silver Cable glanced at the HUD. A few pieces of the iridescent crystals lying around the room the core resided in had disappeared, along with some red coloured rocks and some stray vegetation. An option appeared: Would you like to refine Iron ore (x5) into steel? Y/N Choosing to refine, Cable returned to the Creatures section, and started designing. His penchant for laser design worked in his favour. Within a few minutes, he had jury rigged a small mining laser onto the back of a skeletal iron frame, and soldered the more intricate parts with the silver. The end result looked like a dachshund, with a flat crystal lens where the neck should begin. A plant covered its back, and charged a mana battery in the crystal. The crystal then emitted a light beam sufficient to bore into the local rock face. The dachshund only had a rudimentary intelligence, and was coded to mine the local mineral deposits for the inventory. It was better to start building an economy before building a war machine, right? Anyway, the mining laser could be re-purposed as a weapon should the need arise. No sausage dog would be easy meat in this dungeon. After spending a couple more hours tweaking the coding, Cable sat back. Nova looked up from the console just before he hit the create button. ¡°Admin Cable, we have a problem. There are life forms moving in range of the HUD, and they don¡¯t look all that friendly.¡± Ch 09 Watchdog Excerpt from Encyclopaedia Multiverca: Cell: 1. n. Battery, or other energy storage device. ~ phone: device which depletes cells rapidly without purpose. ~laser: device which rapidly depletes cells to burn / mark things. Cable glanced at the HUD; it showed the broken outlines of humanoids moving into the cavern. They had fearsome appearances from what he could piece together, and there wasn¡¯t one without a visible scar. ¡°Nova, we really need a better detection system for next time. Let¡¯s wait for now, and see what they do. I have a trump card lined up, it¡¯s just a question of how long it takes to summon.¡± ¡°Very well Admin Cable, but please note I don¡¯t trust them. They look like mercenaries or bandits. They are both greedy types of people, always chasing money.¡± The leading humanoid strolled to the center of the cavern, and held his torch up to look around. ¡°Brats, we hit the jackpot! Now you know the drill, get in quick, grab the stuff and get out faster!¡± ¡°Aye Aye cap¡¯n.¡± A small humanoid with a swinging tail and gleaming eyes glanced around with careful apprehension.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Shut yer trap and get movin¡¯! That mage isn¡¯t shelling out coin for nothing, we have to be back before that pansy decides to start experimenting on us instead!¡± ¡°Boss, boss! Look at this one! It¡¯s glowing brighter than the others, look, it¡¯s flickering! Ooh, it¡¯s shining - ¡° A small feathered humanoid with what looked like folded wings picked up the dungeon core and held it up. ¡°Featherbrain! Put that away and get the rest!¡± the big one snarled. Cable looked at Nova, and nodded. ¡°Time to stop this. Last thing I want is to end up in a magic lab. < Set target(enemy): leader humanoid. Set target(neutral): small humanoids. Set priority1: target(enemy). Set Priority2: target(neutral). Set condition target(enemy): if present, then target and fire. Set condition target(neutral): if intelligent, negotiate. Create >¡± The dungeon core flared with light, revealing the startled feather-kin and cat-kin. Green, blue and golden motes of mana streamed out, rapidly solidifying into the shape of a daschaser. Quickly turning towards the leader humanoid, it started whining with increasing pitch as the laser charged. Half a second later, a golden beam of pure energy phased through the targeted kneecap. As soon as the brigand hit the floor, another beam phased through his head. * Ding * Congratulations Compilation Dungeon! You have made your first creation: Daschaser! This mechanically realistic design has been awarded: -15% costs. * Ding * Congratulations Compilation Dungeon! You have crippled and killed your first in self defense. Title acquired: Defensive You will know type, location and number when enemies enter your dungeon. * Ding * Congratulations Compilation Dungeon! You have earned the badge: ¡°I¡¯ll chew your kneecaps off!¡± Attacks on knees +50% more likely to cripple the target. * Ding * You have acquired the following slaves: Stickypaws Featherbrain Ch 10 Handshake Excerpt from the Encyclopaedia Multiverca Beast-kin: Beast-kin are normally humanoid in shape, with additional features from their genetic heritage. This can range from being more beast than human, to simply a tail and ears. There are significant markets for slavery in some parts of the multiverse, where they are seen as less than human. While they may lack emotional stability at times, their strengths more than make up for it. Most beast kin are stronger than their human equivalents, while some have special perks such as flight. ¡°Ah great. Now what do I do with them?¡± Cable gazed at his recent beast-kin resource acquisitions with trepidation. The problems these two could bring were all laid out in their names ¨C Stickypaws and Featherbrain. Things were liable to go missing or be forgotten, and not necessarily in that order. About the only up side to the situation was Cable now had access to intelligent outside units to influence the world, without using dungeon creatures. It wouldn¡¯t exactly be a good idea to just send a platoon of monsters to buy groceries, would it? The slightly dazed pair outside the dungeon core were just recovering from their shock. After all, a daschaser suddenly vaporizing your boss¡¯s kneecaps and head is bound to cause a certain amount of fright, especially for those of the feather brained disposition. Stickypaws didn¡¯t do to well either, as evidenced by her fluffed tail resembling a long duster. ¡°Admin Cable, may I first suggest they be absorbed to prevent any further mishaps? After all, things may go awry. Runaways could be disastrous in this situation, they would give away our location. Also, they will not require food or water as long as they are maintained in the Dungeon Space.¡± Nova¡¯s tone seemed a bit strange, but as her logic made sense, Cable didn¡¯t ask too many questions. ¡°Of course, Nova. Still, that leaves the problem of how we keep them afterwards, but for now, ¡± < Please designate targets? Options: 1. Stickypaws 2. FeatherbrainA case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. 3. Loot 4. All > ¡°< 4 >¡± All the loose items in the cave glowed brightly, including the corpse of the brigand. Featherbrain and Stickypaws let out frightened squeaks as the loot disintegrated into motes of mana, which quickly vanished into the brightly flaring dungeon core. Both turned to run. Before they had the chance to get away, the core flared again, and they disappeared into its distorted glowing depths. The core fell to the ground with a soft tinkle, and the daschaser gently nudged it back to its original location. The watchdog quietly moved off in to follow its original coding now the enemies were gone. A few minutes later, the quiet sounds of repeated charging whines echoed through the cave as the daschaser began mining operations. * Ding * You have absorbed: Human corpse ¨C damaged Mana crystal x 53 Human clothes ¨C damaged Slaves ¨C Featherbrain, Stickypaws Cable looked on, unwilling to be related or part of a slightly disturbing scene in the core. Nova had collared Featherbrain and Stickypaws as soon as they arrived inside, and currently was in the process of using both of them as hug toys. Apparently the cuteness factor of terrified beast-kin girls was over 9000. Even the system had pitched in on this one. * Ding * Congratulations, Compilation Dungeon You have earned the badge: It¡¯s over 9000¡­ The cuteness of your slaves has been recognized as a higher power. Monsters and intelligent species will be less likely to attack them due to overwhelming cuteness. Whether aggressive hugging classifies as an attack, however, may be up for debate. Ah, so cute! -hugs- ¡°Haaa¡­ if ever there was a face-palm moment...¡± Cable sighed as he prepared to separate Nova from her newfound toys. ¡°Nova, I think you¡¯ve terrified them more than enough. Can you let them go now, please?¡± ¡°Ah! But they¡¯re show kyewt! I wanna hug them and cuddle them and¡± -Bonk- ¡°They¡¯re also terrified. So let them go. Now, please.¡± The beast-kin girls seized the chance to escape Nova¡¯s clutches, and hid behind Cable. As their terrified gazes peered from behind, Cable grabbed Nova in a desperate attempt to stop her from further terrorizing them with aggressive hugging. -squish- It was futile. Cable simply ended up as part of the pile-on, crushed in the embrace of one slightly deranged draconic elf and two unwilling girls. The overwhelming squishyness from three sides saved him from the fate of blunt trauma, but the problems had just started. * Ding * Congratulations Compilation Dungeon! You have earned the badge: ¡°Three¡¯s a crowd, but four is a party.¡± Create a party of any four people. Nova¡¯s forceful hugging lasted until she fell asleep, with her wings and tail curled around everyone. Cable carefully extricated himself and the girls from Nova¡¯s embrace, where they had been imprisoned for a long time. Shaking his head, he turned to Featherbrain and Stickypaws. ¡°*sigh* Now that¡¯s over, I need to discuss things with you. My name is Cable, the administrator here. First, the rules. I won¡¯t harm you, and I will do my best to prevent harm to you, as long as you do the same for me and Nova. That draconic elf that seems to be addicted to hugging you is Nova. It seems when I killed that bandit who worked for the mage, I took over your slave contract. If you didn¡¯t know about my location, and didn¡¯t have a mage after you, I would set you free. However, I can¡¯t do that now. So, I need you to stay here until that¡¯s settled. Deal?¡± Not a chapter Hi Peoples whom it concerns: I hate these ''not a chapter'' chapters as much as you guys, but here''s the spiel. TLDR: I''m rebooting this. Long Version: Real life has been rather ... unhappy for me and my family in general recently. One of the many reasons is that my brother isn''t getting married anymore - the bride / bride''s meddlesome family called the wedding off, and the day they were going to be married is today. Real life issues and absences aside, there are other technical reasons for this story to need a reboot. I am still out here. I am still considering myself to be in the process of writing this ''book'' for want of a better word, but I will have to re-do this one from scratch, as there are a few basic things in the story which need to be changed. Originally, I planned to have everything in this story, as that was my idea of a good story - magic, technology, and supernatural all in one place. Then I discovered that is not what makes a good story. I also discovered I''m not comfortable writing about supernatural things - it brings me too close to the bad other side, and I am not prepared to do that. It is dangerous and illogical to place myself in unnecessary risk, even if I have the protection of the Big Man Above. To be honest, the whole supernatural / magic affair is not something to be taken lightly either when writing or reading.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. I am a logical person as much as any evolutionist scientist out there. The law of cause and effect holds true no matter where you go or what you do (so does the law of entropy - which is why I am not an evolutionist). Where most ''scientists'' fall flat on their face: they refuse to recognise the spiritual world as being a possibility. In doing so, they cripple themselves. I have learned quite a few lessons about what to do when writing a book from this hessian undies first attempt. I hope to take those lessons, and not repeat the same mistakes. So while I envisaged where this ''book'' will go when I started, it will not continue down the path it has taken. As such; I will leave the chapters here on RRL, and give others freedom to contact me to take this story up with the ideas I have put down. I will make a second attempt to put a pen to paper (fingers to keyboard). It just won''t be the continuation of this universe as it stands. The attempt will retain the same basic premise - a dungeon core which needs coding / ''bug fixes'' to operate. The back story will change completely - no more re-incarnation. No magic. No supernatural dealings - except plot armour. Technology is staying. So, I ask your patience and understanding while I redux / reboot / re-write / re-do / etc this ''book'', and I would welcome you all back in the next attempt to come along for the ride. I will edit this post with a link to the reboot when I have anything meaningful to put up; which I hope will be soon. Yours faithfully, DraconisViridis P.S. You will probably be able to find me on the RRL Discord server from time to time - just check the usernames of the various dragons that appear...