《Chaos Point》


 Chapter 1

    It''s foggy. Not outside, just in my head. I feel a dense fog filling my skull, my mind slow and crude compared to how it normally is. How is it normally? Fast? I don''t remember. All I can do right now is think. I''m sure that if I try to sleep I won''t wake up. But it''s so cold.


    The frigid cold seeps into my bones, and I feel like I''ll split apart at the joints from how cold it is. Joints? Wait. I don''t have those right now. I can''t move. There''s something nibbling on my ear. Stop. I hate it. Get off. Get off!


    GET OFF


    Oh. It''s gone. I can''t feel it moving. It''s dead. What? What is it? Something I hate. But I feel safer now. I think I can sleep. Good night. What''s night? Night is the time for sleep. Good night.


    _______________________________________


    [A Quiet Island, Day One, Sunrise]


    I groggily try to blink away the blinding rays of the sun as it rises, only to find that I can''t blink. Actually, now that I look closer, I can see in just about every direction at once. I think. Half of me is buried in some kind of black sand. The gentle roaring of the ocean waves lapping at the shores of whatever island I''m on brings me out of the deep confusion I was feeling, reminding me that I need to be doing something.


    Okay, so I''ve got black sand under me, the ocean is¡­ that way. I guess. I don''t have a left and right anymore. In the opposite direction of the ocean, the beach continues for a while until it meets a small cliff of dirt that''s been carved by the waves into a concave shape. Beyond that is a dense jungle, and beyond even that, a smoking mountain peak towers over the rest of the island. A volcano then.


    As for where I am¡­ I turn my attention inwards, or rather, direct it towards myself, and my perspective shifts. I see the black sands of the beach and buried halfway in the sand is a heart sized gleaming obsidian orb, polished to a fine sheen and shining iridescently in the sunlight. When I look at the orb, I get a feeling similar to peering into a mirror, so I''m pretty sure I''m the rock.


    I sigh in exasperation as I realize the situation I''m in, but a sudden flicker of light draws my focus to the sky. It''s suddenly filled with a gentle spattering of glowing blue specks. I spot one nearby slowly inching away from me as I breathe out. I immediately shift to inhaling deeply, and see the small particle float towards me. As I continue inhaling, I remember vaguely that I''ve read a few stories where the protagonist is in a similar situation. Hmmm¡­ I guess that means that whatever I''m pulling towards me is ¡°mana¡± then? It fits the description I''ve always read.


    Ah. The mana particle is almost here. I wait patiently for the particle to touch my surface, and when it does a feeling of ownership overcomes me. The mana is mine now, and I control it. I eject the small particle by exhaling, nothing that it''s a deep glowing purple now, and find myself enraptured by it as I move it around. It moves however I want it to, following my thoughts exactly, drawing a grin across my¡­ mind? I don''t have a mouth anymore. I try using it to bat around another particle, only to find it pass through the unclaimed mana.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    It isn''t like nothing happened though. The unclaimed mana stirs like a fluid, slowly following the claimed mana before losing momentum and slowing to a stop. The fluidity gives me an idea, and my claimed mana immediately begins tracing a small swirl as fast as it can, the unclaimed mana following and being drawn to the space in the center, forming a small ball of mana after a few minutes. I draw it towards me and absorb the ball of mana, finding that it contains nine more particles to control.


    I gather all my particles into a slightly bigger ball of mana and repeat the process, this time tracing a vortex shape around my core. The unclaimed mana begins to follow, and I continue the pattern, eventually seeing the stream of mana gain enough momentum to continue the pattern on its own. By that point, I feel full, as if I''d just eaten a big meal. Okay, now for the next part. I''m pretty sure that I am a ¡°dungeon core¡±, so I should be able to control the land around me to a certain degree.


    I try willing the sand under me to form a pedestal, but nothing happens. Next I try sending a stream of my deep purple mana and trying to push the sand along, which does leave a trail in the sand, but not enough of one to be the way I actually control things. I hope. Next I try pushing my mana into a grain of sand, and feel a faint resistance before I suddenly feel the grain snap into place and become mine. I try moving the grain, and find that I can move it with enough force to drag itself across the sand, but not enough to fly around.


    At this point, I feel even more saturated by mana, the vortex surrounding me refusing to let up, only getting bigger. And I''m certain that when I claimed that sand I didn''t feel my mana return. I think I could pull it out if I want, but I don''t really need to do that. So that''s one way to ¡°spend¡± mana. I try infusing my mana into the beach, feeling more and more sand become a part of me. It only takes a few seconds, and once I collect enough sand to form a large mound that I can move around on, I stop.


    I try melting the sand into a solid stone, and it merges into a roughly human sized slab of obsidian. I try bending it and twisting it, finding that I can shape it freely. Another idea crosses my mind and shape it into a vaguely humanoid form. I leave the hands and feet as giant spikes and bend over, the head of the body wrapping around me and embedding me in the center of its face.


    I can still see though the backside of the head, so I guess that whatever I''ve claimed is something I can use as an extension of my senses. I start walking the stone body towards the jungle, a plan forming in my mind. If I''m going to be a dungeon, then I''m going to be the coolest one. There will be no others like me. The stream of mana follows me into the jungle, but now that I''ve left the center of the vortex I don''t feel as much pressure as I did before. But it''s still a lot. I still feel too full. So I infuse everything around me, using as much mana as I can as the stream continues to grow.


    I leave a trail of purple light behind me as I trudge through the trees, my spiked legs stabbing into the ground to keep me upright. By the time the trees thin out and the land transitions to mountainous rock, it''s noon. This island is small, but even a small island is still an island I guess. I''ve had to use my extended perception to guide my mana to infuse places farther and farther away from me as the stream of unclaimed mana has increased its pressure. The slopes of the volcano are steep, and quickly become steep enough that I can''t climb them, so I claim the rocks around me and create footholds, shaping my vessels limbs to slot into them securely as well.


    I know for certain that nothing would be able to climb this mountain without the proper tools or assistance, closing up the footholds behind me so nothing can follow. Dungeons have to protect their core, right? And given the heat I can sense on the back of my head, the mana stream won''t take kindly to any attempts to block it. Luckily I can absorb it before it does any damage to the obsidian, but I don''t think it''d go very well if I wasn''t doing that. Anyways, that means that a volcano like this would be a great place to hide my core, especially because of how difficult it''d be to climb it and because of the easy access to the sky.


    I just have to keep it from exploding, and I can probably do that by using the magma as a source of building material. I reach the peak of the volcano by the end of the day, and peer over the edge of the crater down at the giant pool of lava hiding a bit deeper inside the mountain. Yes, this''ll do nicely for a base. There are a few problems though. Namely the ever growing pressure of the mana stream behind me.

 Chapter 2

    _______________________________________


    [A Quiet Island, Night 1, Sunset]


    Peering down into the lava filled crater, my mind overflows with ideas for how I should construct my core room. Hmmm¡­ I think I''ve got it. I flood the pit with my mana, claiming the inner walls of the volcano''s crater and the surface layer of the lava. I raise the lava out of the pit and begin using it to form two crude bridges perpendicular to each other. One I make parallel to the path the sun takes each day. Both bridges end up being made of some kind of basalt looking material, solid and unmoving. I made sure to arch them properly so they don''t fall.


    Once I''m finished with that, I begin carving the bridges into a more chiseled form that resembles large stone blocks, carving the top to resemble decorative tiling. The keystone of the bridges where they both meet is made extra large and protrudes from both the top and the bottom of the bridges, forming a central platform for me to rest on. I raise a throne from the center and go to sit down in it, my obsidian body shaping itself into the form of a statue. I shape the head into a bowl, letting my core rest in the center of the divot.


    And now I have to deal with the stream. It''s forming a sort of pillar now, flowing down into the volcano beneath me and saturating it with mana. I should probably try the vortex again. Maybe slower this time. I form a massive ball of mana and float it high into the sky, reaching just below the cloud level, and start swirling it in a whirlpool shape. The mana stream slowly begins getting sucked upwards by the pull, and atmospheric mana begins following the vortex as well. I make sure to slow down the speed of the vortex too once it gains enough pull to continue itself. I let it swirl down in a drill shape to finally meet my core, and by then it''s flowing slowly enough that I won''t have to worry about it anymore as long as I spend mana regularly. Though, it might be a problem if someone else is able to see mana. The giant tornado of mana in the sky would be a pretty obvious pointer to where I am.


    Now then, considering how much mana is floating above me, I think I should try spending a while working on my dungeon before anything else, so I can be prepared for the first visitors if they come earlier than expected. I fully expect that it''ll take a few years to get any, but after that I assume visitors will be coming in droves to loot me. They won¡¯t be getting anything for free though.


    I start digging at the base of the mountain on a cliff that sticks out a bit from the rest of it, carving out a large hole in the cliff by turning the rock into sand. I''d melt it into lava, but the jungle is right next to the cliff and I don''t want to start a fire. I carve an arched doorway about twenty feet tall and ten feet wide at the base, carving out enough space for the door to slide back into the walls. I stylize the rim of the doorway into a Romanesque brick frame, and carve a set of gears and stone bearings into the cutouts I made for the door. The doors themselves I make from two massive interlocking slabs of stone, carving bits out to fit them into the bearings and gears properly.


    I''m left with a sliding door which only opens when the gears are rotated from inside, and I doubt anything could open them without my knowledge, considering I made them two feet thick. I carve a bas-relief into the doors depicting a group of robed humanoids worshipping me, using a bit of obsidian embedded in the doorframe to represent myself, which I make sure to polish to a fine sheen. The carving shows them sending mana into my vortex, which I then use to produce a pyramid. I give the humanoids a couple of non-human features like mouth tentacles and elongated skulls as well. Might as well try to include some ¡°lore¡± behind the dungeon.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Next I focus on the outside of the entrance. I have enough sand left over to make a stone platform in the dirt that''s about 100 feet by 40 feet, adding on a sloped roof held up by pillars protecting my door. I make sure to leave a decent amount of space inside for any future campers, and move on to trying to clear a few trees to make some space around my entrance. I claim the trees with my mana, and I feel something else click into place in my mind. Claiming the trees feels far different than claiming inorganic material or mana. I can feel every part of the tree moving around, instinctually feeling that I can manipulate the tree to grow however I want.


    But that¡¯s not what I¡¯m here for. I just want to politely ask the tree to move. And so after a little fanagling, most of the tree line around me has thickened and receded a bit to leave me with a small dirt clearing, clean of any debris. After that, I start acting out an idea I had when I claimed the tree. If I can claim the tree and feel through it, why couldn¡¯t I claim the whole jungle? Maybe claiming animals will let me control them too.


    _______________________________________


    [A Quiet Island, Day 2, Sunrise]


    The rising of the sun over the horizon surprised me a bit, mainly because I realized that I could still see fine at night. Anyways, I''ve managed to claim the entire forest and every plant in it, but I''d left claiming animals for when I finished. I wanted to familiarize myself with plants first. And familiarize myself I have, but I haven''t changed anything yet. Most of what I claimed was standard jungle flora, a few nice flowers, a couple ferns, grass, a variety of trees, etc. I didn''t want to change anything yet. I''d prefer to have everything else under control first.


    While claiming the jungle I saw a lot of interesting creatures roaming about. The most significant was a species of large ant that I noticed gathering materials while I was claiming a tree on the southern side of the island. At least I think it''s south. The world I''m on could be completely differently oriented than Earth and I wouldn''t be able to tell from here. Anyways, they act like leafcutter ants, but are as big as carpenter ants.


    The first one I claim is one who''d strayed off the trail for some reason, and when I flood it with mana I feel it come under my control. And then something extraordinary happens. I''m suddenly able to feel everything the ant feels, see everything it sees, hear everything it hears. I have become the ant. As disorienting as it is, I withdraw my presence from the ant, noticing that something strange happened. I can see a network of purple mana flowing through its body that I hadn''t noticed before. It follows the nervous system, and I can see it pulsating faintly but not moving.


    I also know that I can change the ant too. But I don''t do anything drastic at this point. I just leave a little indent in its head shaped like a scratch mark to distinguish it from other ants. I let it resume its business, feeling the ant return to the task at hand. It''s good to know that I won''t have to control claimed animals every single action. The ant continues, eventually reaching a recently fallen fruit on the ground. It chews off a piece and begins walking towards my little temple. ¡°Hey! Little guy, that ain''t where you''re supposed to go! Go back to the nest!¡± I feel a sense of confusion coming from the ant before it turns around and begins walking back to the nest.


    I watch it return to the nest and enter. I take advantage of my new abilities and watch it through its eyes. It''s dark in the ant nest, and the tiny ant follows a tunnel into a storage room filled with other pieces of food. I stop there, and flood every corner of the nest with my mana, claiming every single ant I can find. I make them all stay in the nest until every single ant has returned and been claimed, and then begin a colony migration towards my dungeon. These ants shall be my first dungeon monsters.

 Chapter 3

    _______________________________________


    [A Quiet Island, Day 3, Sunrise]


    It took a while for the ants to move, but with my help they were able to pack everything necessary onto leaves and then drag those with them. Luckily this colony is pretty small, only about a million individuals, so I don''t have to worry as much about space. While they were walking to the dungeon, I prepared a bit for them. At the end of the entry hall I carved a large round room with two pillars in the middle on a small raised area. There are four doors arranged like a compass¡¯s face, and two of them are ¡°collapsed¡±. I kept the Roman arch aesthetic, and left the walls of the entry hall flat and smooth so I could carve more bas-reliefs into them.


    Behind one of the collapsed hallways, I make another room that''s around the same size, leaving that one empty. That room shall be the one the ants live in. Well¡­ start in, more like. Outside, I modify a nearby species of vine, creating my first modified plant. I make it curl around the pillars and cover the roof of the temple. The leaves are smaller and denser, with a higher amount of chlorophyll, and I make the vine itself very thick and succulent. Every foot or so I make the vine grow flowers, which grow into large, nutrient dense fruit within a day. I try to make sure it tastes good, but I won''t know until the ants taste it for me. The whole process takes an hour or two, and by the time I''m done the ants have arrived.


    I order them to drag their leaves over to the door and then to group up into a circle. I form a pillar underneath the entire patch of ants and raise them to the roof of the temple, letting them free of my control to eat as they wish. I''ve noticed that the ants are a bit smarter and more self aware than before, so I leave them to eat while I transport their leaves inside. Once I''m done with that I carve a small tunnel where the temple meets the cliff, leading into the dungeon room where I''ll have them start their new nest.


    As the ants slowly make their way down the small tunnel, I think of how to modify them. Eventually the whole colony has made its way into the room, ants covering the walls, ceiling and floor to the point where I can''t see the stone underneath. I decide to take the one I originally claimed outside, and single it out from the crowd. This ant I make into a door guard, for now. I saturate the ant¡¯s body with mana and begin shaping it. The ant grows to the size of a large dog, the carapace thickens and the muscles strengthen. I grow a pair of lungs and extend the leg carapace to cover the ant¡¯s joints, but it¡¯s the final addition I¡¯m the most proud of.


    You see, some leafcutter ants of a specific genera have an adaptation which causes them to grow a thin coating of minerals on their exoskeleton. Also, unrelated observation, I¡¯ve noticed that the basalt making up my temple, which is mostly infused with my mana, is ever so slightly tougher than regular basalt. I noticed this when I grew the vines on top of the temple. It was a bit harder for them to take root in the temple basalt than the basalt cliff the dungeon is embedded in. Now then, I wonder how I could utilize this knowledge. If you were thinking what I was thinking, you¡¯d think that I thought that we thought that I was very smart.


    I modified the guard ant¡¯s carapace to be covered in tiny pores, from which I grew small filaments of obsidian I¡¯d overcharged with mana. The obsidian¡¯s properties changed a bit, the volcanic glass growing tougher and harder, and much less brittle than before. It also gained a bit of a purplish sheen. I also made the pores secrete a thin coating of oil that the ant could use to prevent the obsidian from catching on their body. The final additions I make are to the ant¡¯s jaws, which I modify the bits closer to the mouth to be flat and designed to crush, and the parts further away are sharpened to a point supplemented by a modification to the obsidian hair that makes it all come out as a thin shard that hangs over the edges of the jaws.


    I add more power to the ant¡¯s jaws, and make a few changes that are mostly just sizing and intelligence tweaks. Once I¡¯m done, I see the excess mana left over in the ant begin to gather around one point, swirling into a small ball right next to the heart. Not sure what that means, but it¡¯s surely important. I feel a sense of awe and gratitude flow up to me through the mana tendril I used to connect to the ant, which I return with a sense of pride and care. Didn¡¯t know I could send emotions, but I guess that¡¯s a thing. Your job is now to guard my temple. Do not let any intruders in without my express permission. The last thing it¡­ wait. She needs, is a name. Hmm¡­ I think I¡¯ll name her Alectryon.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    _______________________________________


    [A Quiet Island, Day 3, Evening]


    Now that I¡¯m done with Alectryon¡¯s changes, I leave her to her duties and return my focus to the ants inside the dungeon. They¡¯re still waiting patiently, in the exact same places as I left them. The first thing I do is add a carved out ring around the top of the room for the ants to gather in instead of covering the walls and floor. I then call forth the ant queen and ten majors, the warriors and protectors of the nest. I make the queen about the size of a small pony, adding lungs and wings, but mostly focusing on the size. Her carapace goes from a dull red-brown color to a regal deep red, her wings getting a golden sheen and a formatting of spikes jutting from her head in the shape of a crown. Her egg laying rate is decreased so I don¡¯t have to worry about overpopulation as well. I spend a lot of mana enlarging her brain too, and I let the excess mana coalesce into another sphere like the one I saw Alectryon make.


    The majors I modify to be the size of a large dog, like Alectryon, and they get stronger muscles and thicker carapaces that resemble plate armor. Their carapaces gain a blood red coloring, lighter in shade than the queens but still imposing. The biggest change I make is again their jaws, which I modify to be made specifically for cutting, shaped similarly to side cutters. I give them much stronger jaw muscles, and mimic the mechanism used by trap-jaw ants to let them hold their jaws open like bear traps. I make sure to make the carapace that acts as a spring to close the jaws as strong as I can without being impossible to open the jaws, and I add lungs as a given.


    I move the queen and her guards into the rooms with the pillars, and then call forward one hundred workers. I make them the size of a large cat, but only change their muscles to be stronger and more enduring, as well as modifying their jaws a bit to be tougher so they can cut through the rock of the mountain when making their new nest. Lungs again, and I make them a lighter shade of red than the guards, approaching more vibrant, brighter reds. The smallest workers are then modified, another hundred of them being called forth. These ones are a lot smaller than the other ants, and I only ever saw them inside the nest doing chores, so I make them the size of a large kitten, and a pale pink color. No changes other than that though. And lungs. Again. Because I don¡¯t want to take the chance that the ants might suffocate from having too big a body.


    I should probably make a first floor now so the ants have somewhere to live. I move the rest outside, setting the larger ones to guard the smaller ones, and apply the changes I made to the first batches to every single ant from the colony, and then I begin carving out the first floor.


    I carve out a large labyrinth as quickly as I can, adding in stone bricks to the walls and making the corridors 10 feet tall and ten feet across. I add a few bigger rooms where I could place loot later, and then let the ants in to colonize the hurriedly constructed labyrinth. The whole thing is massive, nearly 20 acres, and the maze is as complicated as I could make it in the time I was building it. Hopefully the ants already being familiar with winding tunnels lets them not get lost. I don¡¯t make any rules for their new nest, other than it has to include the labyrinth as a main feature, though they can have as many side rooms as they want to keep the queen in and lay their eggs and store food and such.


    A sense of worry reaches me through my connection to the queen ant, drawing my attention, and I realize that their planned food source of fungus isn¡¯t enough to feed their colony anymore. So I modify the fungus a bit to glow faintly and grow quicker and bigger, making sure that the form the fungus¡¯s growths assume is an easy to harvest tube of mushroom stalk. I also add antimicrobial properties and make the fungus as nutritious as possible. Very refreshing. I leave the doors open for now, since the ants haven¡¯t made any of their own exits yet. I leave the labyrinth saturated with mana and try to think of what I should make next.


    Oh yeah, I was gonna claim every animal on the island. And then claim the island.


    _______________________________________


    [A Quiet Island, Day 4, Sunrise]


    Oh look, the sun¡¯s rising again! At this point I¡¯ve claimed every animal on the island, but I haven¡¯t done anything with them yet. I already have my ants, and I won¡¯t need much else until the first visitors leave and send back an exploration team. Unless I get a military vessel as the first visit. I really hope someone visits soon. The next thing I do is get to work claiming every part of the island which isn¡¯t alive. It¡¯s a bit difficult for some reason. It feels¡­ wrong somehow to claim land which isn¡¯t inside. Oh well. Instincts can be crazy sometimes, and I guess I got some new ones since I reincarnated. Explains how I know how to change animals and plants to my whims. I continue claiming parts of the island, focusing mainly on the mountain and spreading out in a circle from there.


    _______________________________________


    [A Quiet Island, Day 5, Evening]


    It took me a while, two days I think, and I¡¯ve managed to claim the entire island. That feeling of wrongness only increased as I claimed the land, but it went away after I made it clear that I won¡¯t listen to it. Hmmm¡­ Maybe enlarging my core next? I¡¯m pretty sure I should be able to do that. I return my focus to the peak of the volcano, and try forcing a mana particle into my core without absorbing it. I¡¯ve already noticed that I gained a quarter of an inch in diameter, presumably from the amount of mana I¡¯ve been pushing around, but it isn¡¯t enough. I feel a bit of resistance at first, but eventually the mana particle snaps into place and¡­ no visible difference. But I did feel something happen, even though it was accompanied by the feeling of wrongness, and I do feel a bit emptier than I just was, even though I was just at the maximum mana I can store without feeling oversaturated. I¡¯m gonna do it again.

 Chapter 4

    _______________________________________


    [A Quiet Island, Night 5, Midnight]


    I¡¯ve finished with my core. It¡¯s grown to about a foot in diameter, and I gained mana capacity exponentially. Probably. I felt the same wrongness I felt claiming the island for a while, but after ignoring it enough it went away. There isn¡¯t a lot to do on this island, is there? I could work on my dungeon, I guess. I return to the dungeon and look at what the ants have done in the time I was gone. Goodness Gracious! There¡¯s an entire tunnel network going up the mountain! It¡¯s not gone very far, but I can see them trying to work their way up in my direction, even now digging. I quickly contact every one of them at once, and ask them why they¡¯re digging towards me. There¡¯s enough ants here that I can make out a few solidified concepts, and most of their reasoning is because they want to be closer to me in order to protect me. I politely ask them to stop, because most threats won¡¯t be able to reach me, and any that do, I can deal with. They seem a bit sad, but I assure them that the best way to protect me is to act like I¡¯m inside the dungeon instead of at the top of the volcano.


    Most seem confused, but some of the smarter ones seem to realize what I mean, and their belief is enough to sway the rest of the ants. I check in on Alectryon next, and she¡¯s doing fine. She¡¯s valiantly defending the temple, as I instructed. I praise her for her efforts and return to the colony. Let''s see here¡­ Egg room¡­ Waste storage¡­ Food storage¡­ Queen room¡­ Farming room¡­ Yup! Everything that seems necessary is here. Something I do notice in the waste room though is that the ant¡¯s poop seems to be full of what the fungus would consider a good meal, so I advise the smaller workers to try mixing ant poo into the food they use for fertilizer.


    Most of the food the ants eat is the vine fruit I made earlier, so I decide to make a few more changes to one vine and bring it into the farming cavern to grow. The first change I make is that the plant no longer produces chlorophyll. Instead, it grows a big pitcher that acts like a stomach, allowing the plant to eat without light. I don¡¯t make the pitcher hard to get out of, not wanting any unlucky ants to get eaten, but I do leave the top slightly open so that they can put food in there. The fruits grow around the rim of the pitcher, hanging down a bit on cherry like stems allowing for easy access to the bounty. The fruits remain the same, still as edible as before, and I move the vine into the farm room before instructing the farmer ants what they need to do.


    As I¡¯m about to leave, I have an idea. These workers specifically only ever work on farming. They¡¯re the pale pink smaller ones, and they use that size to step around the fungus¡¯s stalks. Hmm¡­ I decide to change them again. I order every farmer ant into the farm and start changing them. The legs I make longer and more flexible so they can move easier within the fungus. I change their mandibles into sharpened scythes. The outer edge is sharpened, requiring a side to side motion to cut, and the inner edge is dulled for grasping food. I add a second, closed off stomach to their abdomen which runs along the bottom of their bodies, making sure that it¡¯s elastic enough to expand and carry about a cubic foot of food. I leave it at that, and feel curiosity bloom from the farmer ants at the sight of their new bodies. I tell them how to use their new parts and then leave them to it.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    Hmm¡­ what now?


    _______________________________________


    [A Quiet Island, Day 6, Sunrise]


    Well, tomorrow will mark the first week since I''ve gotten here. I think I''m just going to build. There''s a small bay on the island, so I start solidifying sand into obsidian in the very center. What will I use it for? I don''t know yet. I play around with the growing chunk of obsidian, stopping once I notice that it''s gotten to the size of a house while I was zoning out and shaping different designs. Ah. Oh! I had an idea!


    I start shaping the house sized chunk of obsidian into a cube shape before carving it into the shape of a head, blocky and very stylized. I shape it into a realistic enough shape, making sure the eyes and jaw have joints to move. Next I tilt it a bit and then start working on making a body underground, buried beneath the sand. I make it as proportional as I can, eventually ending up with a bunch of jointed obsidian blocks arranged like a human torso.


    The arms and legs are next, and I make sure to keep the same trend of making joints wherever I need them. I take a step back from my creation, using my altered awareness to observe the entire obsidian golem. As far as I can tell it''s about 1000 feet tall, but the majority is buried underground, only the head sticking out above the water. Next I take a species of mold I found on the island and began modifying it. The mold would form into extremely tough and strong filaments, each cell able to shorten and lengthen itself as it wants. I also make sure that it conducts mana very well, and place the new mold in the brain cavity within the head.


    I carve channels in the stone and shape it to have space for the mold to grow into as muscles. I direct the mana vortex above me to swirl faster, feeling oversaturated once again, and shoot out a river of mana from my core, aiming it to directly impact the head from above. The river of mana slams into the obsidian skull, and the thing begins glowing! I channel the mana to spread evenly throughout the whole body, and the entire statue begins glowing so brightly that the light is diffusing through the sand burying it. The ground cracks as the altered mold bursts from the channels I created and darts underground, filling up every empty piece of the statue. The eyes of the statue light up like spotlights, and the mold digs into the statue, reinforcing the empowered obsidian and forming a net to hold everything together.


    It''s at this point that I notice the mana vortex has disappeared and my own mana is draining rapidly, so I stop channeling mana immediately. The glow dies down after a few minutes and the statue falls silent again. It''s still saturated with an immense amount of mana, which begins swirling and coalescing into a sphere before bursting and spreading through the whole body of the statue. Did every cell form one of those balls? I really need to investigate those things at some point.


    Suddenly, I feel a loud booming voice that resembles the roar of a crowd echo through my mind, as the statue begins talking to me.


    ¡°FATHER¡­¡±


    Oh. At least it didn''t rebel. Erm¡­ ¡°Yes my son?¡± A feeling of happiness flows over out connection as I speak.


    ¡°WHAT IS MY PURPOSE, FATHER?¡±


    ¡°To protect the island. You shall strike down any threats to this island and those inhabiting it. Do take caution when defending though. Do not attack unprovoked, the peace must be upheld.¡±


    ¡°I SEE. AND MY NAME?¡±


    ¡°Your name shall be Sentinel, an unwavering bulwark that deflects any attempts to harm our homeland.¡±


    ¡°SENTINEL¡­ I LIKE IT.¡±


    ¡°You should rest for now my son. Conserve your energy until it is needed.¡±


    ¡°I SHALL.¡±


    I watch the giant¡¯s eyes dim as it goes to sleep, the bright purple spotlights turning off as it tries to conserve mana. I hope I didn''t come off badly. I''ve never been very good at conversations.

 Chapter 5

    _______________________________________


    [A Small Boat, Day 7, Just Before Sunrise]


    Anya peered out over the open ocean, her eyes tracing the massive rivers of water mana running below their ship and off into the horizon, her sightless eyes unable to see the sun peeking over the waves as the day began. The journey to even get here was a long, boring process that she had never wanted any part in anyways. Confirming dungeon reports should be done by regular guilders, the ones who were more powerful than her and wouldn''t die when faced with a monster. But her grandmother had insisted that she go because of some stupid problems with the mana compass those merchants were using to get around.


    Of course a dungeon''s mana stream would interfere with mana compasses, that was normal, but those sailors wouldn¡¯t shut up about how the compass ¡°just kept spinning, faster and faster¡±, as if that was something that could actually happen. They were probably just drunk and couldn''t keep a proper eye on the compass. Ugh. Despite all the advantages mana compasses held over regular ones, they were still useless if you brought them too close to someplace like a dungeon.


    She huffed and turned away from the railing, heading back into the cabin to eat breakfast. The rest of the day was uneventful, but there was only a day left before they''d reach the coordinates the sailors had written in the report.


    _______________________________________


    [A Quiet Island, Day 7, Just Before Noon]


    Well I''m pretty much done with everything on the surface, so I decide to carve out the loot room for the first floor, placing it right after the exit. Trouble is, I don''t exactly know what to make for loot. Well, I did just get a super strong fiber from the fungi. I should probably name it. Meh, Silkshroom works. The fibers are made up of individual cells, so they''re really fine, like silk, and it''s a fungus so shroom. I grow a large enough patch of Silkshroom that I can use it to weave cloth from the fibers. I start weaving, intending to have a full bolt of cloth by the end of the day.


    _______________________________________


    [A Quiet Island, Day 7, Sunset]


    Alright. I''m done with the cloth. It''s extremely thin, but very strong. Even Alectryon wasn''t able to cut it with her jaws. I wrapped it around a dowel and placed it on a pedestal in the loot room. I haven''t figured out much else, but I''m sure the cloth will be enough. It has very high mana conductivity too. I just hope visitors come soon. I start working on digging out the second floor now. I have a good idea for this one. The second floor is deeper into the volcano, but still not close enough to the magma chamber to be in danger.


    _______________________________________


    [A Small Boat, Day 8, Just Before Sunrise]


    Anya was out on deck early again today. She liked watching the ocean currents swirling around below the water. Although, there was a weird curve in most of the smaller ones she''d seen recently. They were all curved the same way and all flowing in the same direction. Weird. The captain was complaining about the mana compass acting up too, which meant that they must be getting close to the dungeon. She sighed and went to eat breakfast again. Anya hated the food on this boat. It was too salty and hard, and it never filled her up enough.


    After eating, Anya went back out on deck. Today was the day they reached the coordinates they were going to. Hopefully those sailors had marked an area near the island. But as they got closer, Anya felt an increasing tension begin to build up, as if fate was telling her that she shouldn''t be here. It was after the tension had reached its peak that she finally saw IT. That horrible storm. It was as if the gods themselves had thrown a spear from the heavens to end some ancient battle. Swirling and circling, the eye of the storm was centered directly above a smoking volcano.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    Anya lost balance, her legs becoming dead weight as she collapsed to the floor. ¡°Anya? What''s wrong?¡± ¡°Someone get the doctor!¡± ¡°Anya? Anya!? Are you okay!?¡± Voices cried out around the ship as she fell to the deck, unable to tear her eyes away from the gargantuan cone of pure mana, all coming down on one point. It could be a dungeon, but dungeons are always found underground, hidden away from the world at the bottom of a maze. There isn''t a good way to channel that much mana through the earth and into a core without significant loss. Even weirder, as it got closer and closer to the peak, a gradient formed of purple colored mana, a color that she''d never seen before.


    Eventually Anya was able to pull herself away from the storm, one of her party members, Freddy, dragging her back into the hold and blocking her view of the supernatural phenomenon. She quickly stood up, clinging to Freddy for support for a bit before standing up on her own. ¡°I- I''m fine, Freddy. I just got a little lightheaded.¡± At this point, one of the other guilders, Eva, chimed in. ¡°Fine!? You call collapsing so suddenly like that fine!?¡±


    ¡°It wasn''t because I''m injured! I was just startled.¡± Anya stated indignantly.


    ¡°Startled by what?¡±


    ¡°Well, there''s definitely something here, though I''m not sure it''s a dungeon. I''ve never seen mana do something like that.¡± She said, slowly gaining her confidence back. There''s a tone of unease in Anya¡¯s voice, as though she isn''t as confident about her answer as she seems. Suddenly, a voice rings out from above, belonging to the ship¡¯s navigator. The three guilders hurry up to the deck again, Anya making sure to ready herself for the sight of the storm again.


    ¡°Confound it all!¡± Yelled the navigator, frustrated by something as Anya rushed over. ¡°There an issue here?¡±


    ¡°This damned compass won''t stop spinning! It''s never done this before, and no matter what I do it won''t stop! Should''ve listened to gramps and brought a magnetic one too¡­¡± he muttered under his breath as he turned back to the map. ¡°Well, at least we can see the island. I should be able to pinpoint the location once we land.¡± the navigator rolls up his map and walks off towards the captain''s quarters.


    Anya shudders at the thought of landing directly under that whirlwind of mana, but she can''t deny that burning curiosity it awakened. At least nobody seems upset by her news, but she decides to keep it to herself for now, just in case.


    _______________________________________


    [A Quiet Island, Day 8, Just After Sunrise]


    The sight of white sails on the horizon makes me feel both excited and anxious. On one hand, it means that there''s a species out there intelligent enough to craft boats. On the other hand, intelligent species might not be the friendliest towards entities such as myself. Maybe I should fortify my platform a bit. I lower the bridges to be closer to the lava, raising a wall around the edge of the central platform. I carve it into more bricks, and the doorways leading to each bridge have symbols engraved into them in the same style as my doors, polished obsidian circles embedded in the keystone and fancy geometric lines circling the rest of the way.


    Next I add a dome over the top, adding a few portholes to allow mana to flow into the room. With that, my new house is complete. Not much, but it''s better than being exposed and out in the open. I ask Alectryon to move into the boss room, not wanting her to die as soon as the people find my dungeon. I do a once over of the island to make sure everything is normal before the boat gets here. Odd. Everything is a bit bigger, and some of the animals are slightly different. Well, it shouldn''t be a problem. Probably.


    Now I just need to sit and wait.


    _______________________________________


    [A Quiet Island, Day 8, Mid Morning]


    The sailors landed just a few minutes ago, and I can already tell that I''m not on Earth anymore. They''re human, but the language they speak is very melodical. The closest analogue I can think of is Simlish, as ridiculous as it sounds. Honestly though, I''m a bit disappointed that they''re human. Like, I''m not as surprised, because of the similarity between the life on Earth and the life here, but I was still hoping for a non-human sapient species.


    Notably, the boat and style of these people is reminiscent of fantasy Europe as it''s often portrayed in media. The most surprising thing though, is the amount of mana they store in their bodies. They only have a small amount of mana in their body, flowing through a point which looks like one of the little balls I see in more mana-saturated animals, but the human¡¯s core is more angular and edged. I''m pretty sure that these points could be called cores, and there would definitely be something there if I cut them open. I haven''t, and won''t, of course. Every creature with a core seems to have some kind of heightened intelligence, though I''m not sure to what extent.


    However, there is a group that''s different. They have more mana than the other humans, their cores are more defined, and what they''re wearing differentiates them even further. One of them, a unit of a man, is wearing a set of plate armor and carrying a longsword. Another one, a woman, is wearing light leather armor and form fitting clothing, carrying a set of daggers with her. The third, also a man, is regular sized and is wearing what looks like a set of scholar¡¯s robes and because he''s vigorously scribbling away in a notebook with a piece of charcoal, I''d assume that he''s a scholar. He even has a pair of glasses.


    The most interesting one, though, is a woman with pure white skin, wearing a fancy blue robe that''s suspiciously close to the shade of unclaimed mana and a black blindfold. She''s got a lot of jewelry too, and the hood of her robe is pulled up to shield her from the sun. That''s not the interesting part though. The interesting part is that she''s walking around normally despite wearing a blindfold. And, she keeps glancing up at my mana vortex. She looks like she''s trying not to worry, but I can tell that she feels uncomfortable being here. Maybe I''ll mess with her a bit.

 Chapter 6

    _______________________________________


    [A Quiet Island, Day 8, Late Morning]


    So, something about the ambient mana on this island that I''ve noticed is that it''s a lot denser than it used to be. Also I''ve claimed it all. But that leaves a lot of room for me to make cool shapes in the mana to test if the lady can actually see mana or if she''s just faking being blind for some reason. Something I noticed is that I can''t move the mana near them, but it doesn''t stop being mine. It''s just that the closer my mana gets to the humans, the less control I have over it. I''ve noticed it begins about 100 feet away, and by the time I''m at 10 feet I have barely any control, only able to make the mana float gently towards them.


    I can still move mana underground and through animals, even able to shape stuff underground, but I can''t move it around in the air. Good thing to know that I''m defenseless against the biggest threat to my safety and wellbeing. Either way, I''ll wait until after these guys eat lunch to mess with them. For now, I''m just going to tell my ants to get ready for potential intruders. Ooo, they''re quick! I''ll have to tell them not to take first blood though. I don''t want a reputation as a dangerous dungeon. I take a peek back at the special group, and they seem to have finished early and started gearing up to explore. I still can''t understand them, so I''ll have to name them myself.


    Hmmm¡­ Armored guy will be Tank, rogue lady will be Perry, scholar nerd is Johmmy with two M¡¯s, and the mana sight lady will be Miss Witch. Yeah, that''ll work. Oh look, they''re already walking towards the mountain. Quite quickly. But they aren''t heading in my direction. Alright, now the fun begins.


    _______________________________________


    [A Quiet Island, Day 8, Just After Noon]


    Anya was still uncomfortable as the group walked through the dense jungle. The dense mana in the air made it a bit harder to breathe, and it also limited the range of her vision by creating a hellish purple fog covering the whole island. She couldn''t escape the color, even looking to the sky, and every time she looked up she felt woozy again at the sight of the mana tornado.


    Hopefully they''ll be able to find out what''s causing it. Suddenly, she notices some movement in the corner of her eye, but it quickly disappears. There''s nothing but a tree, filled with that odd purple. She can''t even see through it. Then again, in the corner of her other eye. Anya¡¯s head whips around, trying to catch whatever''s moving but finding nothing.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    ¡°Anya? What''s wrong?¡±


    ¡°Well, I just thought I saw something, but¡­ I guess it''s nothing.¡±


    Eva paused for a second at Anya''s words. ¡°Maybe it''s a wild animal or something. The air here is full of mana, so everything is bigger than normal.¡± Another flash of movement, this time a bit more visible.


    ¡°Ok, there''s definitely something here.¡± Anya says in a hushed voice. She grabs Freddy and Harold''s arms, causing them to stumble a bit before turning around. Well, Harold stumbled. Freddy was fine. ¡°Wh-¡± Harold almost says before Anya puts her finger to her lips.


    ¡°We''re being followed.¡± Silence falls over the group as they realize why Anya stopped them. ¡°Let''s just continue for now. I''ll pretend I can''t see anything, and you all just act normal.¡± With that, the group starts walking again, this time with a tense atmosphere surrounding them.


    Nothing happens for a good while after that. The suspense grows as they walk through the jungle, until Anya sees another movement. But this one is slow. Anya¡¯s eyes widen under her blindfold as she stops, barely able to believe what she was seeing. A robed figure made entirely out of mana stood a small distance from her, its face and body hidden from her. Its arms met in the middle of its chest, hands hidden under the robes sleeves.


    The figure raised its arms in a beckoning motion, still not allowing anything to be revealed under the robes, and then began briskly walking away from Anya in a different direction. She couldn''t believe what she was seeing. Something like that shouldn''t exist. There were such things as mana beings, like spirits and sprites, but nothing like this. The others in the group couldn''t see it, and the figure didn''t seem to have a physical form, nor did it resemble anything Anya could remember reading about during her studies.


    She darted after the thing, running as fast as she could to follow it but never seeming to get any closer. ¡°W- Anya!¡± Freddy cried out before gritting his teeth and chasing after her. The other two follow quickly, and the group run through the dense jungle as fast as they can, following right behind Anya.


    The figure is too fast for Anya to catch up, and it bobs and weaves through the trees like second nature. The rest of the forest becomes a blur as Anya sped up, trying harder to close the gap between her and the figure. But it matched her pace and after a while running, the figure started moving even faster. It ran faster and faster until it finally disappeared past the point where Anya could see, but she kept running. The trees started getting even denser before suddenly disappearing and opening into a clearing.


    A second after Anya, the rest of the group bursts through the foliage behind her. ¡°Anya, what¡­¡± Freddy trails off as he slows down and looks around the clearing. He often remained silent because it was too much of a bother to talk, but this time it was because of the awe he felt at the scene before him.


    A crumbling building covered in vines was pushed up against a cliff, and though he couldn''t see very far into it, he knew the construct was hiding something. The building resembled some kind of antiquated temple, large pillars holding up a massive stone roof to shield any idols or statues from the elements. There were stone walls a bit behind the pillars, cutting off the light and sound of the jungle.


    Anya stepped forward, her blind eyes unhampered by the darkness inside the temple. Eva, as just in awe of the ancient temple as everyone else, was the first to break the silence. ¡°W- Wait, Anya! How did you find this place?¡± Anya turned to face Eva, a wide grin on her face.


    ¡°Eva. There''s a door in there. I think we found our dungeon.¡±

 Chapter 7

    _______________________________________


    [A Quiet Island, Day 8, Mid Afternoon]


    A feeling of nervous excitement comes over me as the four delvers stand right outside my dungeon''s entrance. My mind is racing, wondering if I''ve made the dungeon immersive enough, whether they''ll enjoy the fights or how they''ll deal with the maze. Oh, I''m so excited!


    Miss Witch approaches my entrance carefully as Tank guy pulls out a torch from his bag. He lights it and holds it aloft, Johmmy and Perry standing next to him as they advance into the dark temple after Miss Witch. They quickly catch up to her, Miss Witch stuck investigating the front door since I haven''t opened it yet. As soon as the torchlight illuminates the door, Johmmy rushes over to it and begins scribbling in his notebook again and speaking so rapidly that the others can''t keep up. Given the eye rolls and facepalm on Miss Witch¡¯s part, I assume that this is pretty normal.


    Eventually Johmmy calms down and the group starts trying to figure out how to open the door. Oh wait. I didn''t make a way for them to do that. Actually, I don''t recall making a lever to trigger the opening mechanism at all. Oh well. I just rotate the gears manually, watching the group jump as they''re startled by the sudden noise of stone grinding against stone. The group looks on nervously as they consider whether or not to go- God dammit Johmmy!


    He rushed in there all by himself! There aren''t any traps or anything, but he got lured in by the Torchlight shining on the bas-reliefs I put in the walls of the first tunnel. They''re meant to illustrate the history of the octopus people who are on the dungeon door. It''s all the basic stuff. A disaster happened on the mainland which led to these people fleeing on a boat and landing here, finding me and then worshipping me after I built them houses and stuff. I add in a few other things, like references to a couple things I plan to make in the future, but I won''t go into that yet. I need to get metal first to even be able to build those. I made sure to include a fight between Sentinel and an equally large creature that came from the ocean, where Sentinel wins by cutting its head off with his eye beams. Need to make sure people are afraid of him after all. He wouldn''t be very effective if people weren''t.Stolen novel; please report.


    I enjoy the look on Johmmy¡¯s face as he records everything, happy that at least someone enjoys my work. Unlike the rest of the group who just drag him along with them as they advance deeper into the dungeon. After a short walk they reach the pillar room. Again, Johmmy freaks out, doing his scholar things with the biggest grin on his face. I''m liking this guy more and more. If he comes back I might make him a floor pass. Eventually the group decided to leave the pillar room, finding the other two doors blocked by rubble, the only other exit being the entrance to the first floor.


    They seem to notice the shift in atmosphere as they walk down the entryway to the labyrinth. I told the ants that one of them can see mana, so even though the next room is filled to the brim with majors, Miss Witch won''t be able to see them coming because they''re hiding out of sight. It''s mostly a consequence of my presence that makes her mana vision useless, because wherever I go there tends to be an increase in ambient mana density, so I don''t have to change anything to blind her.


    Right as the group enters the first room of the labyrinth, the majors pull back their jaws, the room filling with the ¡°snick-SNACK¡± of their jaws locking open. Everyone in the group freezes for just enough time to realize that they''re surrounded, and then they realize that they aren''t being attacked. Johmmy is the first to move, his immediate reaction being to lean closer to the massive, razor sharp, mandibles of the abnormally sized ant to see what''s holding them open. The entire room fills with shock at his audacity before Tank yanks him by the collar back to the rest of the group.


    A tense silence falls over the room as the two groups stare at each other. Johmmy, once again, is the first to speak. Given his tone, he''s complaining about something to Tank. He pulls himself free, much to Tank¡¯s chagrin given his glare, and crouches down in front of one of the majors. He starts scribbling in his notebook again and, peeking over his shoulder, it looks like he''s drawing the major¡¯s mandibles. He''s pretty talented too. I feel confusion from the major, and it''s clear that the rest of the room is just as confused at Johmmy¡¯s brazen confidence.


    The major moves forward a bit, prompting the rest of the group to tense up as it nudges Johmmy with its mandibles. He doesn''t seem to care, just taking the opportunity to get a closer look at the ant''s features. He starts muttering under his breath before shouting something at the rest of the group. They consider his statement before lowering their weapons. The majors seem to discuss something using their pheromones, Perry the rogue wrinkling her nose at the smell, which the others don''t seem to notice.


    The majors all let their jaws snap closed, save the one Johmmy is studying. The group all jump at the noise as the majors file out of the room to return to their posts. The one Johmmy is studying steps back and closes its jaws, before following the rest. I guess I''m a peaceful dungeon now.

 Chapter 8

    _______________________________________


    [An Underground Labyrinth, Day 8, Late Afternoon]


    Anya watches Harold do what is possibly the dumbest thing she''s ever seen anyone do, walking right up to the giant ant with jaws that are big enough to cut him in two, and then bending even closer to put his head right between them. Freddy quickly grabs the back of his robe and yanks him back towards him, prompting Harold to start talking.


    ¡°What are you doing!? Look, they''re friendly! They should''ve attacked us by now, but they haven''t! And it didn''t when I got in its face either! They''re peaceful!¡± He wrenches himself free and returns to the ant, Freddy giving him a nasty glare as he begins drawing the Ant''s jaws in his notebook.


    And then the ant steps forwards, everyone tensing as they watch. But Harold doesn''t get chopped in two. The ant just nudges him curiously with its jaws. Harold doesn''t care. ¡°Fascinating¡­¡± he mumbles under his breath before turning his head to the rest of the group. ¡°Well? Lower your weapons, we''re fine.¡±


    Anya wonders why they even brought him on this trip as she watches the others sheath their weapons. She sighs as she looks around and realizes that the purple mana in here is just as dense as it is outside, and she''ll be useless here too. At the very least she can see everything in here with great detail, what with how dense the mana is. It''s an interesting sight.


    As Anya looks at the surrounding bricks, and Harold scribbles in his book, Eva wrinkles her nose as she smells an extremely strong cocktail of scents fill the room. There''s orange, lemon, lime, vinegar, and a bunch of other scents that she can''t even go about naming. Nobody else seems to notice, but given that she''s the scout of the group that''s normal. She¡¯s supposed to have the strongest senses, after all. Wouldn''t be much of a scout if she didn''t.


    As the smells dissipate, the ants seem to change, and all of their jaws start closing with loud clacks. It''s clear from the sight of them closing that the ant''s jaws would be able to crush the group''s bones, even with their high rank within the guild. It looks like the dungeon''s gathered its strongest monsters to stop them. Anya eyes Harold with worry as she waits for the ant''s jaws to snap shut around his head, but it keeps them open for a second before stepping back and closing them just out of reach of his head.


    ¡°Tch.¡±


    Harold stands up and gathers his things, strapping his notebook into his belt as he turns to return to the group. ¡°Suppose we should get going then. It looks like the dungeon''s friendly for some reason.¡± Oh yeah. Anya had completely forgotten that the whole reason for them coming here had been to find the supposed dungeon.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    She looks up to find the mana stream that every dungeon has. It''s a necessity if it wants to have a supply of mana that can keep up with the dungeon''s needs, and it also leads directly to the core, so it''s really usef¡­


    Where is it?


    There isn''t a mana stream in here. Actually, now that she thinks about it, Anya hadn''t seen one on the way in either. But that isn''t how dungeons work. They have to have one, otherwise they would just run out. Even the biggest dungeons have one running right through the front door, and there''s no way that storm outside could be the stream, it''s moving way too fast! The core would''ve exploded by now if it was! Besides, dungeon cores don''t even put themselves inside volcanoes, it''s too dangerous!


    Anya feels herself freeze up again, the sounds around her getting muffled by the blood rushing to her head as she struggles to think about what alternative this dungeon core figured out that no other core in history has been able to. She''s pulled back to her friends by a hand on the shoulder and an aggressive shaking from Eva


    ¡°-nya! ANYA! Are you okay!? You were doing the same thing you did back on the boat when you fainted!¡± She shook her head as Eva stared her in the eye, clearing her mind.


    ¡°This dungeon doesn''t have a mana stream.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°It doesn''t have a mana stream!¡±


    Eva froze too, the gears in her head visibly turning as she struggled to comprehend the statement. Harold and Freddy paused in the same way, just as shook.


    ¡°But¡­ that''s not how that works! What do you mean it doesn''t have one, every dungeon has a mana stream!¡± Eva shouted, freeing herself from her stupor.


    ¡°Apparently this one doesn''t! I don''t know why either!¡± Anya shouted back, raising her voice alongside Eva.


    Freddy steps between the two, pushing them back a little to ease the situation. ¡°If you''re going to argue, do it later.¡± With that, he raises the torch again and walks back over to Harold.


    _______________________________________


    [A Quiet Island, Day 8, Late Afternoon]


    Looks like the group (party? Probably party.) The two women of the party were panicking about something, but Tank shut them up pretty quickly. A few minutes after Tank stepped in they all got their stuff together and started walking down one of the hallways. The one that leads to the farm. They walk slowly, and as the party turns a corner Johmmy sees the gentle blue glow of the mushroom farm up ahead, rushing forward to investigate.


    As he turns the corner to the farm room, the rest of the party run after him to make sure he doesn''t die. When they reach the entrance, they see him staring at one of the farmer ants harvesting mushroom stalks and storing them away in its stomach pouch. He''s already gotten his notebook out again. As he''s scribbling away again, I notice an ant on the ceiling acting strange.


    It''s one of the small pink ones, and it seems to be readying itself for something. With a great leap, it begins tumbling through the air, falling towards Johmmy and apparently aiming for his shoulder. And it sticks the landing! Johmmy jumps, scared out of his boots, but the little feller doesn''t let go! He holds on with all his might, and scrambles up onto Johmmy''s shoulder.


    Anyways, Johmmy seems pretty interested in the little guy, flipping to a new page as the tiny pink ant stares him in the eye. It sits still for a second before looking down, noticing the leather strap of his satchel slung over Johmmy''s shoulder. It leans its head down and takes a nibble of the leather, and I see the ant¡¯s brain light up. I feel an emotion radiating off the small ant, one that I can best describe as ¡°Delicious¡± or ¡°Mmm Yummy¡±.


    The ant slips its jaws under the strap and jumps off Johmmy''s shoulder before he can react, bolting towards the nearest exit as it steals the satchel. It quickly makes its way over to a tunnel in the wall that is too small for any of the humans to fit through, and drags the satchel up behind it. All this happens in the course of a few seconds, the group too shocked to react normally. Miss Witch is the first to laugh, and the other two join in, much to Johmmy''s chagrin. He doesn''t seem very happy. I suppose I''ll have to return the bag.


    Hey, little guy¡­ I know that leather tastes pretty good, but I need the bag back. Although, if it happened to flip open and gave me a good look at its contents, I wouldn''t mind.

 Chapter 9

    _______________________________________


    [A Quiet Island, Day 8, Early Evening]


    Well, given that Johmmy''s satchel has fallen into my hands, I''m sure he wouldn''t mind if I took a look inside. I can smell mana inside of it. I transport the bag to the loot room and form a few tendrils from the stone to manipulate the satchel.


    I open it quickly, dumping out the contents into a small pile. I quickly organize everything, and the two things that stand out to me the most are a glass bottle full of some kind of red liquid, and a compass that seems to be broken. It won''t stop spinning for some reason.


    As I look closer and investigate the mana these objects are holding, I notice a few differences from the unclaimed mana I collect and the claimed mana I have. First off, the mana in the potion is differently colored. It glows a gentle green color, similar to a fresh blade of grass. I can feel a specific intent radiating off of it as well, one that tells the mana to heal and wounds to close.


    The compass has the light blue of unclaimed mana embedded into its needle, and an intent to lock on to the biggest source of mana nearby. I guess that''s why it''s spinning. The mana vortex is kinda getting out of hand. I''ve upgraded my capacity a lot, but there''s still an insane amount of mana still swirling around up there. I''ve had to arrange multiple vortexes inside each other that swirl up and down in order to make the mana lose enough momentum that I can claim it properly.


    Anyways, I''m kind of upset about the potion and compass. Is enchanting or infusing entirely based on intent? Does that mean I can just do whatever I want? That''s kinda boring. I had a suspicion that it worked that way while I was making the ants and Sentinel, but I''d thought that I was just brute forcing the enchantment with copious amounts of mana. Oh well. At least I know enchantment and spells should be pretty simple.


    I feel like I''m forgetting something.


    OH! The delvers! I forgot about them!


    I hastily return the potion and compass to the satchel, and lean it up against the pedestal that the bolt of Silkshroom cloth is resting on top of. My perspective changes to fill the dungeon, and I find the group pretty quickly. They''re almost to the boss room, and Alectryon is getting a bit antsy.


    It looks like the majors helped guide them by blocking off the tunnels to important rooms, indirectly leading them to the boss room. As they walk over the threshold between the tunnel and the boss room, the group notices that something''s different here. A few words are exchanged between Tank and Miss Witch, and she lifts her hands up and does¡­ something, with her mana. It just kinda disappears, and a second later two tiny balls of light appear right above her hands and float out to rest in the peak of the room¡¯s dome.


    Light spills out from them, illuminating the entire room with a bright white light that casts shadows from the two pillars sitting on a raised platform in the center of the room. Alectryon¡¯s fur bristles with an almost musical clinking noise as she adjusts herself. She''s standing right in between the pillars, and I can feel that she''s ready to fight. I''m not exactly opposed. You''re supposed to fight to get your loot. The only reason the others didn''t attack is because I told them not to strike first.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    But Alectryon is different. She raises her obsidian edged mandibles and loudly clacks them together, letting the humans know that they aren''t getting past her without a fight. I see a smile cross Tank¡¯s face as he draws his longsword, and I can tell that Alectryon feels the same.


    The two charge at each other, Alectryon starting a jump with her powerful legs and throwing herself towards Tank. He raises his sword to deflect her momentum and takes the opportunity to attack as she flies past him, swinging his sword down to strike her abdomen. The sword just slips off, its edge not sharp enough to catch on the slick obsidian hairs.


    Alectryon swings her body sideways, her mandibles slicing through the air towards Tank''s legs, but he blocks it by sticking the tip of his sword into the ground and bracing his body against the handle. He holds his ground and makes another swing at the ant, this time aiming for her joints. His blade catches on the thinner exoskeleton of her joints and splits it across the knee, Alectryon jumping back in pain. Tank seems a bit upset that his sword didn''t cut through, but he''s still having fun.


    The next minute or so is made up of a tense combat between the two, each of them exchanging hits as it becomes clear that they''re about equally matched. Tank with his swordsmanship and skill, and Alectryon with her special adaptations and the raw power behind her movements. Alectryon also proves to be a quick learner, learning from Tanks attacks and sometimes trying to copy them.


    The rest of the group watches as the two continue their bout, until Miss Witch decides to step in. I guess she''s getting impatient. She yells something at Tank and he visibly becomes disappointed, jumping back as Miss Witch charges towards Alectryon. Her hands raise high over her head as she suddenly leaps into the air, and two shining blue blades sprout from her hands, both about as long as a short sword, and she brings them down in a chopping motion towards Alectryon.


    Alectryon dodges to the right, barely escaping the sudden leap. Miss Witch moves with speed and precision, a different way of fighting than Tank. Everyone seems surprised at Alectryon''s dodge, but as the battle devolves into faster and faster movements, I notice something. Alectryon is losing hair. She''s getting shaved by Miss Witch, those hand blades sharp enough to cut through her hardened obsidian defenses and nullify her protection.


    I take a closer look at the blades, no doubt a spell of some sort, and try to find out how they work. It looks like the mana is infused with an intent to cut and then condensed into a liquid like state before being forced into the shape of a blade. Hmmm. I link together with Alectryon and tell her how they work, and something in her changes. Where before she was just taking pleasure with doing her job, it seems that now she''s getting really amped up for some reason. She takes a large leap back across the room, getting a large amount of distance between her and Miss Witch.


    Miss Witch tries to chase after her, but Alectryon hunches over and lowers herself to the ground, her shaved hairs vibrating intensely before suddenly shooting out like little bullets, forcing everyone else to cover their heads to protect themselves. Miss Witch, being the closest, gets absolutely covered in little cuts, a few of the smaller shards even lodging in her skin. Her mana blades do prevent the shards from reaching her face, but also obscure her vision for a second, and when she brings them down her eyes widen in shock, as does everyone else who''s watching.


    Alectryon, standing directly between the pillars again, begins secreting a glowing purple oil, which flows down her body and onto the ground as she expels her mana into the atmosphere. It forms a cloud around her, condensing until it takes on a similar appearance to Miss Witch¡¯s hand blades and wraps around her body. Her hairs gain a few inches as an ethereal purple outline forms a ghostly cover around her newly grown obsidian hairs, wavy and unrefined as it is. Her jaws are outlined too, the mana floating down to coat the edges of her jaws and provide a better cutting edge. A dully glowing purple mist floats down from her body, dissipating before it hits the floor, and masking her movements slightly.


    Dammit I''m so proud! That''s my daughter right there! All she needed was a nudge in the right direction and she made an entirely new spell! It looks like she can feel the pride radiating from me as I watch her transform, her posture taking on a more confident and prideful pose. Ah, this''ll be fun.

 Chapter 10

    _______________________________________


    [A Quiet Island, Day 8, Evening]


    I feel a bit nervous about letting Alectryon fight while she''s in this ¡°battle mode¡±. She was already pretty evenly matched before, and I don''t want the delvers to die either¡­ they need to be able to go tell others about me. Alectryon snaps her jaws angrily as some of my thoughts leak over our connection, not wanting her fight to end. But if these delvers die, we won''t be able to get any more. She huffs and reabsorbs her expelled mana, poking around in the dirt a bit before plopping herself down in the middle of the room, pouting.


    I''m sorry Alectryon, but first impressions are very important. I know it''s frustrating. I form that robed figure I made before over by the door leading to the loot room, drawing Miss Witch¡¯s attention again. I open the doors and let the mana figure dissipate. The room quiets a bit before Miss Witch retracts her blades and goes back over to the group. Tank sheaths his sword too, walking back alongside her. There''s a brief discussion between all the humans before they walk through the door, the two lights illuminating the room disappearing and plunging it back into darkness.


    I send another apology through my link to Alectryon, and shift my view over to the loot room. Inside lies the cloth I prepared for them and Johmmy''s satchel. Johmmy rushes forward to get his satchel back and picks it up, but as he does something falls out. I don''t even know how, but the ant that stole his satchel is inside it now. It falls out with a clatter, dragging a half empty bottle of red fluid with it, and scutters away into one of the smaller tunnels nearby, taking the bottle with it. I''m gonna have to have a talk with them later.


    It looks like Miss Witch is interested in the cloth as she grabs the bolt of cloth and unwraps it a bit, rubbing the cloth between her fingers and taking a closer look. It looks like she likes it, so I think I can just let them leave. I''ll get back to working on the second floor now. I still need to finish it and given my recent acquisition of knowledge regarding magic, I have a few new ideas.


    _______________________________________


    [A Quiet Island, Day 8, Late Evening]


    As the party walks out of the dungeon, they meet no resistance. Today''s events run back through Anya¡¯s mind as she tries to wrap her head around them. There was a strange robed figure who led them to the dungeon, the dungeon was peaceful and the monsters didn''t attack them, the one fight they had would''ve killed them if that strange ant hadn''t mysteriously given up, and to top that, the dungeon had a prize waiting for them at the end!


    The only dungeons that have rewards for delvers are controlled dungeons! Every other dungeon''s loot is the raw materials found within them! The whole situation only brings more questions the more she thinks about it, so Anya takes a deep breath to calm herself before looking around again. The ever present fog of mana hasn''t lifted while they were in the dungeon, and since Anya was the only one able to see at night without a light, she''d have to lead them back to the ship. The thing is¡­


    ¡°Anya?¡± Eva asked. ¡°Do you remember the way we came here?¡± Anya turned her head away, clearly trying to dodge the question.


    Harold pulled out the mana compass he had in his bag at her silence, as quick on the uptake as always. He opened the cover and saw the spinning needle, his eyes widening. He hadn''t bothered to check the compass before they left, thinking that it''d be normal because he always made sure to maintain it. Surely the one the captain was using was malfunctioning because it was broken or something. Apparently not though. Something about this island screwed with mana compasses.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°Hey Anya, the mana compass is broken. D¡¯you know anything about that?¡± Anya sighed and turned to Harold. ¡°Yeah, there''s a weird mana storm up on the mountain.¡±


    ¡°Mana storm?¡±


    ¡°That''s what I''m calling it. Have you ever seen one of those wind spells some of the higher rank guild members can cast? The ones that make giant whirlwinds? It looks like one of those, but bigger and made of mana.¡±


    As she''s speaking, Harold glances down at the face of the compass again and notices something. The needle is doing something different. It''s spinning slower on one side and faster on the other. He turns the compass and it continues turning slowly when it points in a specific direction. ¡°Hold on. There''s something up with the compass again.¡±


    He starts walking around, and the compass continues ¡°pointing¡± in one direction by slowing down when the needle points that way. ¡°I think it still works. Just not properly.¡± He looked up at the rest of the group, his eyes briefly making contact with everyone else''s. ¡°Maybe it just has a lot of interference.¡±


    With a murmur of agreement from the rest of the group, they all follow Harold as he starts walking into the forest towards wherever the compass is pointing. As they continue walking through the dense jungle, the light dims as the sun sets slowly over the horizon, making them speed up for fear of getting caught in the dark. It''s not like they couldn''t defend themselves, but sleeping in the jungle isn''t very comfortable.


    Harold notices the compass lingering more and more in the direction they''re walking and speeding up when it''s pointing away, until it gets to the point where it''s just waving back and forth. As they get further and further from the dungeon, the ground eventually shifts to a rocky dirt and the trees thin out, until it completely changes into a dark gray obsidian sand as they walk out onto a beach.


    ¡°Hey, at least we can follow the edge of the island back to the boat.¡± Eva shrugs, the sand crunching beneath her boots.


    Anya, though, isn''t as enthusiastic. Her sight isn''t blinded by the darkness, so she sees the massive stone head embedded in the sand, shining like a beacon into the dark. As her eyes lock onto it a tendril of mana shoots out from it and into her head. If any of the group were looking back at her, they''d see Anya stop and go limp, her eyes flicking back and forth, dimly glowing with a purple light, and her mouth hanging open. But it ends before any of them turn around. Anya shakes her head in confusion and places a palm to her temple, before looking up to the rest of the group again.


    ¡°Hey guys, I just remembered where we landed. Let''s go.¡± Anya feels oddly rushed, wanting to leave quickly as she briskly walks down the beach. But she feels like she''s forgotten something.


    _______________________________________


    [A Quiet Island, Day 8, Early Early Morning]


    Well that''s unfair! How come Sentinel can interact with the humans but I can''t! Harrumph! Well whatever. The humans return to their camp a bit more tired than usual, and just when dinner was getting finished. I hope they sleep well. And leave a five star review on google maps. That''d be nice. Either way, I have most of the second level cut out by now. It''s a bit more well made compared to the first floor, mostly because I''m not in a rush right now. I forbade the ants from digging over here, because this level is going to have a few special things.


    The first is that it''s another maze. It''s a bit smaller than the first, only 4 acres, but the maze is more complicated and cramped than the first. The second is that I''ll only have one enemy, a humanoid figure made from rods that will wander the maze and automatically run towards any delvers. I created an enchantment that covered the whole maze with a field that limits the distance light can go before dying out. You''ll only be able to see in a radius of about five feet, and any light you bring won''t help with that. While I''m at it, I might as well make something to tell me when people enter the dungeon.


    I''m not sure how it should attack, but I''m thinking of making it flood the victim''s body with that condensed mana Miss Witch introduced to me, but I''ll also make it easy to fend off with attacks. I tried making a wooden frame this time and growing a thin layer of Silkshroom over it like with Sentinel, but it hasn''t formed a core yet, even though I saturated it with mana. The wood came back to life though, and appears to have formed a mutualistic relationship with the Silkshroom filaments.


    Wait. Did I ever make sure that the Silkshroom cloth was dead? Maybe it''ll die from lack of nutrition at some point. I also need to find a place to grow it instead of just speed growing samples from Sentinel. I think I''ll put that on the third floor. I have an idea for that one too. But I''ll have to finish the second floor first. I don''t bother with a boss room, instead placing two pedestals on opposite sides of the maze, one of which will open the exit door once a figurine left on the other is moved to it.


    Suddenly, I receive a pulse of mana from the enchantment I placed on the front door. Looks like someone¡¯s visiting! But isn''t it still too soon for the day to start? I look outside and the moon''s out. It looks to be about three in the morning. I move my view down to the entrance and see a group of four sailors gathered around the front door, holding a variety of shortswords and cutlasses. One of them even has a gun for some reason! I don''t think they''re here for a good reason though. These sailors don''t exactly seem like upstanding citizens.


    Well, if they try anything I''ll have a good excuse to make it clear that I let the survey team in on purpose.

 Chapter 11

    _______________________________________


    [A Quiet Island, Day 8, Early Early Morning]


    ¡°Harv, are you really sure we''ll be alright? This doesn''t seem like a good idea.¡±


    ¡°Shut up Burt. That damn nerd said that the monsters didn''t attack them when they went in. And did you see that cloth they came back with? It looks expensive as hell! Imagine if we could get our hands on something like that! We''d be rich!¡±


    Burt considered the man''s words silently before hesitantly nodding his agreement. ¡°Well, if the monsters are friendly, I guess we could do it¡­ what did he say they were again?¡±


    ¡°He said they were ants. Hate those things.¡± Kent said, spitting on the ground as he thumbed the blade of his cutlass. ¡°Can we get going already? We''re wasting time.¡±


    Kant nodded at his twin¡¯s words. ¡°Yeah, we need to get going. Sun¡¯ll be up soon.¡±


    The four men double checked their weapons before turning to the temple in front of them. ¡°Should still be open. Right where they said it was too.¡± Harvey took the lead, holding his torch high as the four walked into the ancient temple. They quickly found the door to the dungeon, still yawning into the darkness of the dungeon within. They carefully walked down the tunnel, a few wary looks being directed towards the carvings on the walls.


    ¡°This place creeps me out man. Let''s finish this quickly.¡±


    The men''s pace quickened as they hurried down the tunnel, quickly coming across the pillar room. ¡°What do you think those were for?¡±


    ¡°Looks kind of like a doorway.¡±


    ¡°Leading to where, smart guy?¡±


    The men''s bantering quieted down as they felt the atmosphere shift, and they entered the first room of the dungeon. A tense silence filled the room before they moved on, taking the doorway to the left. As they turned a corner deeper into the cave, Harvey shouted in surprise as a massive ant walked past him unexpectedly. The ant seemed just as surprised, jumping back a few feet before freezing.


    Kent was the first to move, kicking at the ant and landing a solid hit that sent it stumbling back a few feet. ¡°Friggin animal!¡± The rest of the group looked surprised before quickly regaining their wits and relaxing, seeming more annoyed than worried. ¡°Dammit Kent!¡± Harvey said, sighing and putting his fingers up to run the bridge of his nose.


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    ¡°Just make it quick. We ain''t got all day.¡± Kent nodded, his gaze focused on the giant ant in front of him.


    _______________________________________


    [A Quiet Island, Day 8, Early Early Morning]


    Oh no. No no no no no no! Nope! That ain''t flying! Come into my house, kick my ants, and think you can just get away with it!? Not on my watch! Majors, kill that guy!


    I send a pulse of mana towards the nearest majors and tell them about the group of soon to be victims. Almost every major rushes towards their location, slowing down just before they enter the range of the torch¡¯s light and sending out communication pheromones to each other. They coordinate their approach, and by the time that''s done five more majors have arrived, picking up quickly on the plan and blocking off any escape routes.


    All of the majors open their jaws, letting a series of clicking noises ring out through the cave, causing the group of humans to freeze. A second passes before the majors charge, running straight towards the offending intruders and¡­ oh my goodness! Can''t show that on television. I didn''t expect the major''s jaws to be that powerful. I guess I underestimated them. I should probably tone down the ant encounters when the adventurers get here.


    As the first human¡¯s heart stops, I notice something float out of their body. It''s a cloud of silvery grey mana that shimmers gently as it rises through the air and collides with the ceiling, coming to rest in the highest point. The small cloud is quickly joined by three others and they melt together, forming a pocket of mana at the top of my dungeon. I can feel it pushing against the ambient mana that''s floating around in the dungeon, apparently wanting to touch the majors that killed them but unable to overcome the density of the surrounding mana.


    Hmm¡­ it''s one of the first new colors of mana I''ve seen, and I''m kinda interested in what would happen if I claimed it. I decide to push it out of the dungeon and let it float up to join the vortex of mana at the peak of the volcano, pushing it further inwards into the vortex so I can absorb it faster. It quickly gets pulled deeper into the vortex, entering the inner swirls and quickly getting absorbed.


    I feel a rush of information force its way into my head as I suddenly gain the memories of the humans the mana belonged to. Hmm. None of them lived lives that were particularly interesting. Just a generic life where nothing bad had happened yet, all slightly different but overall the same. The only notable thing was being approached by something called ¡°the guild¡± who offered them this job.


    I didn''t look at them for too long, bringing my focus back down to the first floor and telling the ants to collect what''s left of them and their things over by the loot room. What I''m most interested in is the gun one of them was carrying. Taking a closer look, it appears to have a wheel lock instead of a conventional flintlock or percussion cap. I''d have expected the weaponry to be a little more advanced, but as I look through the memories again, it looks like the most advanced firearm mechanism is currently the wheel lock.


    There isn''t any rifling either, but I didn''t really expect any on a pistol like this. The most interesting thing, though, is the reddish powder the guy used. It doesn''t appear to be corned, the grains are irregularly sized from each other and from his memories of the shop he bought the gun from, the powder isn''t made conventionally.


    It''s some kind of product from a dungeon called boom powder, presumably made by grinding up a kind of dried fruit that was explosive. The mechanism itself was apparently pretty recently made though. Well, at least I don''t have anything to worry about in terms of advanced weaponry. Just magic. Something I don''t know anything about.


    I sigh and move on to the swords. Two cutlasses and an expensive looking hunting sword, as well as a small knife carried by the leader. They don''t have any money on them, but I do find a pouch with a flint and steel in it and a leather bag which would''ve held the roll of cloth if they''d got to it. I haven''t replaced it yet though, so they wouldn''t have gotten anything.


    I order the ants to strip everything from the bodies and dump them into the pitcher plants I made earlier, making a small bubble in the stone to hold everything until I can think of a use for it. Now then, I can''t exactly move the sand I make out through the front entrance once the humans get here, so I dig a tunnel that runs over the two floors and leads down to the lowest point of the ocean floor I can get to. I''ll just dump all the sand there for now. It''s a big pit that doesn''t have anything in it, and though I''m not sure how it formed, it''s pretty useful as a dumping ground.


    Well, with that dealt with, I guess I should get to work digging out the third floor. I want to make this one pretty big, and I''ll have to find a way to light it up at some point. I sigh as I get back to the repetitive work of turning rock into sand.