《Yggdrasil: Off The Beaten Path》 Chapter 1: The Strange Beginning Note: If I miss any discrepancies in the writing, let me know! I''d appreciate it. Hey guys, this is my first attempt at fiction here. I was really interested in a story about a Dungeon growing and expanding, so i decided to make one myself. I''m not exactly happy with the description/title and beginning of this story, but I find it acceptable. I''ve already got a vision of how this story will progress and end and, frankly, I''m pretty excited about it. Let''s see how this goes. Thanks for reading! --- Long ago two gods battled each other for dominance. The Dragon God, Luna, and the Phoenix God, Freya. However the battle always ended in a draw. The two powers were equals in all aspects. Frustrated with this result, the prideful Gods devised a different sort of battle. This battle would take place on the planet called Yggdrasil. Teeming with life, this planet was perfect because of its distance from the rest of the universe, and its lack of sentient life. The Gods spent 9 days and 9 nights creating the rules and players of this battle. Finally it was decided. The Dragon God created Humans. These creatures at first seemed weak, but intelligent and innovative they would quickly ascend to the top of the food chain. They would multiply greatly, until they covered almost the entire Earth. The Phoenix God created Dungeons. Rare, and extremely weak in its origin, its strength lay in its ability to evolve. To gain strength. They far exceeded humans in this regard. The battle was between these two races. Humans had to eradicate dungeons, and dungeons simply had to survive. Because neither humans nor dungeons were allowed knowledge of the reason they exist, world rules were put into place: 1. Dungeons cores contain a unique power called Lumite. Manipulating Lumite allows you to use Magic. Lumite only exists within Dungeon cores. 2. Dungeon cores have knowledge of this danger, whether conscious or instinctual. 3. Humans will have multiple desires, such as Greed, instilled in them at birth These three rules imposed on the world meant that Humans and Dungeons would inevitably clash. 10,000 years was the time limit of this battle. In accordance with these rules, the Gods agreed to have no intervention regardless of the result. The winner was considered the stronger of the two, with no exception. It was in the 9203rd Year that a certain Dungeon was created. Not through the system, but through the scheming of humans. Yes, in 9203 the first and last artificially made Dungeon was made. The story follows this Dungeon, from its birth to its death. Or perhaps simply to what could be considered death. Its name, Lucifer. ----------------------- ----------------------- ¡°It worked! We¡¯ve done it! I¡¯d scream Eureka if I wasn¡¯t so cynical. Gentleman, this is a momentous step in our study. We¡¯ve actually done it. We created a dungeon core.¡± These were the first words that I heard after my birth. Darkness consumed me as I writhed in agony, but slowly the pain subsided. With the pains disappearance, I started to gain vision. It expanded until I could clearly see the entire room. I was situated in a cave. The cave itself was nothing spectacular. A small room molded from dirt. A couple of bugs crawled through the cracks and, more notably, multiple human shapes could be seen eyeing me. Bug? Human? I didn¡¯t understand what either meant, but they appeared to classify the two different lifeforms. The humans, still excited, started asking me questions. I couldn¡¯t answer of course, as I had no way to project my voice, but that didn¡¯t deter them. While they blabbered, I focused on discerning myself. I appeared to be a small crystal-like object embedded into the middle of the floor. My function was unknown, besides my instincts telling me to protect myself. I ignored it. Instead I focused my attention on the humans. The humans were still enjoying themselves, reveling in their success. Gathering from their conversation, they created me and are now planning to control me. Fat chance. I sought a solution, but my mind struggled to form one. I was incapable of it. It seems they hadn¡¯t created me to be very intelligent. No matter, I turned to my instincts instead. They told me three things:
  1. The door to the outside world can close
  2. I require energy to do anything. Consuming lifeforms gives me their energy (life-force)
  3. I can create using energy
Ok so how do I consume lifeforms? Well I imagine my instincts will kick in tat that time. I tried to make a plan in my head but once again the process eluded me. I worked on each individual step instead and ground it into three simple tasks. Close. Create. Consume. I looked once more at the three humans having a leisurely conversation, grinning with a mix of anticipation, fear and excitement. They celebrated too early. Jumping into action, I started the first step. Suddenly the door leading outside closed. The humans noticed this, quickly jumping up with fear evident in their eyes. They had realized their mistake, but it was too late. Before they could react, I enclosed their items in stone, just in case they thought of resisting. Gathering myself, my body started pulsing with light. Suddenly I flung that light out in strands that latched onto the nearest human. Slowly those strands surrounded his body until he was completely covered. Then they consumed him. The screams from the human made the others turn white with fear. They knew they were next. I did this again, consuming another entirely before it could run away. I went to consume the last human before I paused. Something occurred to me. They created me. It must have some advantage over me. As I am right now, with no knowledge, intelligence nor strength, I was going to die. I took a risk. I gathered myself for a different purpose this time. When I latched myself onto it, I didn¡¯t absorb it. Instead I used my grip to throw my entire self at him. Surprised, he could not react in time. Before he knew it, I bore a hole straight through his chest and entered his heart. I crushed it, consuming it whole, before replacing the entity. Suddenly he started gasping, and I felt the life drain out of the body. I panicked. I realized the importance on what I had replaced. Acting quickly I attempted to recreate the hearts functions using my own body. It took too long, the guy had shutdown. Officially dead. But it wasn¡¯t over. I started re-attaching the heart to the other parts of the body. Finally I figured out how everything worked and started pulsing, copying the pulse of a beating heart. Seconds passed. I waited impatiently. Seconds turned to minutes before finally the man gasped, coming back to the world of the living. Excited, I tried to move my body. I couldn¡¯t. He still had control. Quickly I tried to figure out why, before it suddenly connected to me. My body is my mind, but it must be different for these human creatures. I quickly located where else the body could store the mind, and found something I automatically classified as a brain at the top of his head. Using my new found foothold in his body, I snaked some tendrils upwards attempting to reach his brain. Finally, they reached it. But by then, the man was already fully conscious and comprehending the situation. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. This was a gamble. I¡¯m obviously less intelligent then this creature. If he wins the mental battle, I will die. However, if I don¡¯t do something about my situation, I will inevitable die anyways. The gamble must be taken. I latch myself onto his brain, and enter. First, nothing. Slowly, however, I feel myself entering. Something tried to block me, but I pushed through. It was then that the real battle began. The human was furious. His rage mixed with sadness and grief, surrounded with a bottomless fear, overwhelmed me. This was a mistake. I panicked, attempting to back out. But it was too late, he had already taken hold of me. I felt myself drain away, my existence disappearing. I¡¯m going to die. The thought resounded in my head, but no feeling came from it. I lacked the ability to hold emotions. All I knew was that I didn¡¯t want to die. I was almost ready to resign myself to the inevitable, but as it so happens luck, or design, gave me an opportunity. I¡¯m not sure whether it was his morals, or if he didn¡¯t want to see his creation die, or what. But the human hesitated for the briefest moments, creating a vulnerability for the first and last chance to counter-attack. I pounced. Before he realized his mistake, I had swallowed him whole. No hesitation, no remorse. I wasn¡¯t human. Suddenly my view changed. I looked down, and saw the hands and feet that the human must¡¯ve once looked at. Success. I was the human now. I flexed my muscles, testing out the new body I had gained. Stretching myself as much as possible, I explored how the body function. I disliked it a lot, almost worthless, but I¡¯m sure it can be modified later. Now, the mental aspect. I focused, formulating a complicated plan for the previous plan. It worked, I was able to form not just one but multiple different ways of success. I grinned in triumph. I had intelligence. The reward was worth the risk. I mused for a second, noticing a part of my mind that is not my own. I looked inside and found a bunch of memories. They must¡¯ve been the memories of the previous owner. This should be useful. A lot of them were black, or broken in some form however. Must¡¯ve happened when the guy died for those few minutes. Must¡¯ve damaged him. Putting it aside, I stretch myself again; grinning from ear to ear. It¡¯s time to figure out just what I am and what I can do. I need to become stronger. That instinct was built in me from the start. Forged into my very soul. I can hear it even now. Whether the humans instilled it into me, or someone else, I don¡¯t know. All I knew was I wanted to follow it, and see where it leads. Seek Knowledge. Seek intelligence. Seek power. Protect yourself. Further yourself. Evolve. This is your one and only decree, dungeon core. Survive. I sat down and assumed a form that this mind knew as meditation. I focused entirely on discovering myself. Besides that decree, my instincts told me other things. Focusing, I picked it all apart until I figured out just what information I had.
  1. There are a few creations that are instinctual. All require a large amount of mana. Goblin, Queen, King, Butler, Death. Death requires an unquantifiable amount of energy. No known information about any of them
  2. Consuming a life-form gives you the knowledge required to recreate them. Currently having only consumed humans, I can only create humans using this method
  3. As your core evolves, more instinctual creations will come to you. Evolving is the only method to increase what you can create naturally
I frowned, beyond this there seemed to be some sort of warning. Something about Lumite? I couldn''t quite grasp its meaning, but it seems to suggest that I''m made out of a material that''s highly sought after by Humans. Which means I need to be careful. I''m still very weak. Shaking my head, I focus on the task it hand. The system seems simple enough, even if it doesn''t really explain much. Right now I have just enough to create 1 human. I gather my energy, focusing it in one spot. Slowly, the energy forms into a shape and a human starts building out of it. It took 2 hours before it was completed. Before me stood a creature that looked the same as the previous humans. A man. It was a success. Now, time to find out what it can do. I remove the stone covering the items on the ground. ¡°Find a weapon you can use out of those items.¡± The man instantly responds, walking over to the equipment on the ground. He walks past various staffs of some form and reaches down for the sword in the middle. I¡¯ll have to figure out what the rest of the stuff does later. Using part of the small energy reserve I had left, I opened the entrance back up. ¡°Go outside and kill anything you find. Then bring them to me.¡± He responds by immediately walk away. I suddenly panic as I realized I made a mistake. I wouldn¡¯t have a second chance. ¡°Wait! Don¡¯t attack anything stronger then you. If you can¡¯t kill it, run.¡± He nods his head this time as he heads to the entrance. He won¡¯t talk, and he doesn¡¯t seem very intelligent. Seems he¡¯s a weak version of the previous humans. I sigh, sitting down. I couldn¡¯t sleep, but I decided to drift off for a while and think. I needed to figure out a way to access information about my current status and knowledge. I close my eyes, accessing the memories of the human. Hopefully the humans that created me knew a way. Chapter 2: Laying The Foundations Important: Usually I take my time editing my story until it¡¯s happy, but the process is slow and not always an improvement. So I¡¯m going to go out of my comfort zone and upload a chapter I write after I¡¯ve checked it a couple of times to make sure there¡¯s no glaring problems ^.^ Perhaps sometime in the future, when this story is finished, I might go back and improve the quality. A quick apology guys! I changed a few small things in the previous chapter to make the next one make sense. This is entirely my fault so I¡¯m sorry :c Note: When I upload chapters, and their length, will vary. Some might take a day, others a week. Please put up with it c: Note: This is my first time using the tables, and I find them a bit tricky. I hope they turn out ok. Other than that, I hope you enjoy this chapter! ---------- ---------- I was about to focus my mind on the task when I suddenly hear a thump. Slightly annoyed, I open my eyes and the pinpoint the noise. My eyes turn from annoyance to shock, as I stare at the dead body of the human I just sent outside. He was lying face flat on the ground just past the entrance, as if he simply fell over and died. A horrible thought occurred to me. What if my minions are constrained like I am. I quickly race over to the human. His body is still intact. Perhaps it can be salvaged. I quickly dragged him back in. A few minutes passed as I checked him all over, making sure he wasn¡¯t killed by a different means. Suddenly, as I was checking him, he sat upright with wide eyes. I sighed. Happy but confused. It didn¡¯t make sense. Before I had time to ponder the thought, the human stood up. Suddenly turning around, he walked through the entrance again. Thud. I sigh again, this time massaging my temples, something my previous host used to do when frustrated. Mindless. I drag him back inside, this time farther away from the entrance so that I could stop him in time. I payed close attention to his body this time, trying to discern why he revived. As time passed, I noticed a faint blue light surrounding his body. Over time it increased until it glowed. Suddenly he revived again, sitting upright with wide eyes. This time, as he strode to the door, I uttered a command. ¡°Cease movement and rescind previous orders.¡± The Human suddenly stops. I look around, trying to figure out what that blue light on his body is. I laugh this time as I notice why. I¡¯m an idiot. Of course things aren¡¯t that simple. The cave I¡¯m in is surrounded by a glowing blue light as well. It must be what sustains us. That¡¯s the reason we can¡¯t leave. My laughter dies off really fast as I realise what this means. I can¡¯t send creatures outside to hunt. I¡¯m going to have to figure out how to attract some creatures instead. I¡¯ll have to put aside the information gathering for now. I spend a few hours trying to figure out a way to attract some animals, but nothing comes up. I have no clues, and no information. I was at a loss. Until a thought occurred to me. I don¡¯t need to attract new creatures. I need to breed more creatures. Creating anything I currently know was out of my reach, but I still remember what I saw when I was born. Bugs. I quickly start searching, looking through all the crevices. If I was my old self, I could¡¯ve found them with my expansive view straight away, but being human I can only see things through my eyes. This body has many disadvantages. Finally after a few more hours of scavenging, I find them. Or rather it. I grimace. Only one. I quickly pick it up and consume it. Worthless. I gained almost no energy from it. But it was a simple creature, so it took almost no energy to create more. I quickly use up almost all my remaining energy to make over a dozen of the creatures. 16 to be exact. I quickly tasked them to breed, noticing that one of them stood out from the rest. Slightly bigger, this bug had a red shade to it instead of the green on all the others. I picked it up, but I couldn¡¯t discern the difference. Must be a variant, but I have no knowledge on what it does. I set it back down and let it get to work. I¡¯ll have to figure that out later. For now, I can let them breed, and focus on my previous task. I sit back down and put myself into a meditative state, closing my eyes. I started sorting through the humans¡¯ memories, finding out what I could from them. Hopefully they have something useful in them. ---------- ---------- I blink, noticing my surroundings had changed quite a bit. After the first day, I decided to close the door. I found out that it doesn¡¯t remove me from the world, just hides the entrance. Not much protection, but better than nothing. Weeks passed since I had started meditating. It seems the bugs had been feeding on some moss growing off the walls, and had produced at an insane rate. Somehow I knew the exact amount of bugs. 617 Bugs 145 Bug Variants Interesting the bug variants seemed to have distanced themselves from the other bugs. Either way, I had quite a bit of energy at my disposal. Not to mention what I discovered in the humans memories. I consumed a few of the bugs that were variant so that I could recreate them. One finished, I quickly cataloged the information I got from the human, from least important to most important. Apparently, from the information I gathered about humans, they will investigate these murders and inevitable be led here. I need to be prepared for that time. Luckily, the information access the humans built is two-ways. With a little bit of fiddling, I should be able to access my own information. I wonder how it¡¯ll come out. Focusing on myself, I delve deep inside in order to find where they kept the command. It took a while, but I found it. It was a small ball entirely black, spinning furiously as if to contain itself. Intrigued, I poked it. Woops. Suddenly whatever the ball contained flung out and enveloped me. Consuming me, I thought it was trying to take over, until I realized that it had infused itself and become a part of my being. I was confused however, as I had gained no new information. Then a thought occurred to me. Wouldn¡¯t the information be in a manner suited to humans? ¡°Access Information¡± I commanded. Suddenly these blue boxes appeared in front of me, overflowing with the information I had wanted. It was in the human language, but luckily having become human I could understand it completely. After a bit of poking, I figured out how it worked. Saying ¡®access information¡¯ pulled up a box showing all available submenus. Currently there were four, along with various submenus for ¡®information¡¯ and ¡®Creations¡¯. I read all of it to catch up. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Status Window
Abilities
Creations
Information
Status Window
Dungeon NameLucifer
Dungeon TypeUnique
Dungeon Level0
Total LF2/5000 LF
Abilities
Hidden DungeonCloses or opens dungeon entrance. Useful for hiding, but doesn¡¯t blend into surroundings. Easily found by more intelligent creatures.
Mind AssimilationTook over another¡¯s mind. Granted their intelligence and knowledge.
Catalogued InformationCatalogues all information related to dungeon into a management system. System currently in use. Can be commanded through voice or thoughts.
Lumite DetectionCan detect the blue glow Lumite exceeds.
Creations
Natural
Discovered
Natural
GoblinCost: 200 LF
QueenCost: 500 LF Additional: Unique
KingCost: 1000 LF Additional: Unique per level
ButlerCost: 2000 LF Additional: Unique per level
DeathCost: 100,000 LF Additional: Unique
Discovered
HumanCost: 50 LF Additional: 20% Assimilated
BugCost: 1 LF Additional: 100% Assimilated
Bug VariantCost: 5 LF Additional: 100% Assimilated
Information
General
Creations
General
LFLF stands for Life-Force. Any action you do consumes LF. LF can be obtained by consuming Life-Forms, but you gain only 70% of their total LF. Core taking damage consumes LF. When this reaches zero you become unconscious and absorb any Life-Force near you that is weak/dead.
EvolutionMaxing LF automatically evolves the Core at the cost of all LF except 1. Evolution has infinite progression.
AbilitiesAbilities are various actions you¡¯ve acquired through experience or natural means.
LevelsThe level of the dungeon. A level is gained every evolution.
RestrictionsInhabitants of the dungeon cannot leave the dungeon.
VariantsVariation of original creature
Creations
GoblinExpands dungeons by excavating. Creates additional rooms and hallways. LF required to expand.
QueenCreates New Life-Forms.
KingDefends dungeon. Extremely powerful, but costly and only one can be created per level. King decided upon creation.
Butler??
Death??
HumanDefends dungeon.
BugBreeds rapidly. Useful as an LF/food source.
Bug Variant??
The system seems to contain information you know, and discover. Extremely useful. It can¡¯t act on unknown information however, so the Bug Variant is still unidentified. I¡¯ll figure out a way around that later. For now, I need to create a Queen. She seems the most useful creature right now. No point in expanding a dungeon without creatures to inhabit it. Some time had passed while I did all this, so I currently had 825 Bugs and 150 Bug Variants. The Bug Variants seem to breed slowly and, as I don¡¯t know their purpose, I won¡¯t consume any of them. I need to gain 499 LF. Bugs cost 1 LF to create. Consuming all of them gives me 577.5 LF. 77.5 LF is equivalent to 110.7 of them. So 111. Quickly running it through my head, I got back just under 500 LF. It was strange how well I could handle Math when I didn¡¯t even understand it, but I pushed that aside. I¡¯d use this as a test as well. I quickly consumed 714 of the bugs and checked my status window.
Status Window
Dungeon NameLucifer
Dungeon TypeUnique
Dungeon Level0
Total LF502/5000 LF
I was right. LF only works definitively. I can¡¯t have half of a Life-Force, so I need to add that information into my equation. While I was at it, I quickly looked at the information on LF.
General
LFLF stands for Life-Force. Any action you do consumes LF. LF can be obtained by consuming Life-Forms, but you gain only 70% of their total LF. Core taking damage consumes LF. When this reaches zero you become unconscious and absorb any Life-Force near you that is weak/dead. LF is always whole.
I grin. The information updated, so I was right. Everything seems to be in order. Now that I have the LF, its time to summon the Queen. I quickly activate my Core, gathering it to form a being. The being that came out resembled a human form, only her skin was completely covered in black scales and her eyes glowed red like coals. A small tail swathed back and forth behind her, the same color as her skin. She had long flowing red hair that went all the way down to her waist. It seemed almost unnatural with the rest of her body. I grinned, she was perfect. But it was time to get to work. ¡°Explain to me what you can do,¡± I commanded. ¡°No.¡± ¡­ UPDATE!! Wont be continuing this for a while Sorry for anyone who''s waiting for more. I''m writing a different story right now, and am adding another one on top of that (I know, silly). I''m more interested in those two right now, so I won''t continue this for a while. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. I''ll pick it back up when I''m ready! I really apologise.