Someone once told me nature was a great way to calm a person down. To be perfectly honest, I'm not so sure about that anymore. Something about hurling through the trees at breakneck speeds in a body you have no direct control over seems to be really stressful, but I can't quite put my finger on why. It also doesn't help that the thing taking on the wild ride killed a couple people and nearly killed a good friend of mine.
Just to try the obvious solution to this, Avatar! Can you stop for a sec? I waited a few seconds. Of course it's still not working. I've tried to get it to stop a few times already. I asked it to stop, ordered it to stop, told it I wasn't feeling well, etc. I even used the word please to no effect. The Avatar just keeps on going nonstop. Guide! What the hell is this thing doing? More importantly, how do I get it to stop!
INVESTIGATING... PLEASE WAIT.
About 20 seconds go by before the guide gets back to me.
ANSWER. THE DUNGEON AVATAR IS CURRENTLY USING ALL OF ITS PROCESSING POWER TO LOCATE A SUITABLE SPOT TO RELOCATE THE DUNGEON TO WITH ADEQUATE DEFENSIVE CAPABILITIES. IT WILL NOT STOP UNTIL IT FINDS SUCH A LOCATION.
Okay... But all the humans are back there... We have been running for a few hours now. We're in the middle of nowhere. Why not just plop down right here and dig a hole. Not like anyone will find us, right?
...
Right?
I sit there awkwardly for a few seconds... OHH! RIGHT! I need to ask this things questions using its name. Ahem. GUIDE! What exactly are we trying to defend ourselves from?
THE DUNGEON AVATAR IS CURRENTLY SEARCHING FOR A LOCATION SUITABLE FOR DEFENCE AGAINST BOTH HUMANS AND MONSTERS.
Monsters? Guide. Did I miss a memo or something? What do you mean by that? There are no monsters on Earth. At least none at the moment... I hope...
MONSTERS ARE CREATED UPON REGULAR CREATURES GAINING SUFFICIENT MANA TO EVOLVE INTO MONSTERS. AT THAT POINT, THEY BEGIN TO GENERATE A TYPE OF MANA OF THEIR OWN COMMONLY REFERED TO AS MIASMA, FURTHER SATURATING THE ENVIROMENT WITH MANA. THEY CAN ALSO REPRODUCE LIKE NORMAL CREATURES, FURTHER INCREASING THEIR NUMBER. YOUR DUNGEON NATURALLY EMITS MANA INTO THE ENVIRONMENT, WHICH WILL TRANSFORM CREATURES OVER TIME INTO MONSTERS.
Oh... That sounds... bad. That sounds really bad. Guide. How strong would the monsters my mana generates become? Oh! First can you explain the difference between Miasma and mana?
MIASMA AND MANA DIFFER DUE TO HOW THEY INTERACT WITH MONSTERS AND HUMANS. MANA WILL ITERACT WITH ALL THINGS EQUALLY, WHILE MIASMA FAVORS THE TYPE OF MONSTER THAT GENERATED IT. FOR EXAMPLE, THE MIASMA A DRAGON GENERATES WOULD STRENGTHEN DRACONIC TYPE MONSTERS WHILE WEAKENING OTHER MONSTER TYPES. FURTHERMORE, POWERFUL MONSTERS CAN USE MIASMA TO SUPRESS OTHER MONSTERS IN AN AREA TO MAINTAIN THEIR DOMINANCE OVER IT MORE EASILY. AS FOR YOUR QUERY AS TO HOW STRONG MONSTER BECOME UPON INITIAL TRANSFORMATION, ALL MONSTERS START OUT AS SLIGHTLY STRONGER VERSIONS OF WHAT THEY WERE ORIGINALLY. FOR EXAMPLE, THE SPIDERS IN YOUR WALLS GREW 11.532% IN SIZE AND SPEED BUT WOULD STILL ONLY TAKE A SINGLE STOMP TO ELIMINATE.
Alright. I guess the miasma vs mana explanation makes some sense. I don't exactly get it but okay! As for the monsters not being too much stronger, I'm pretty okay with that! An 11% stronger spider is probably not so bad that it can't be dealt with!
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Umm.... Guide...
Spiders.... In the walls. There are monster spiders... In my walls...
NEGATIVE. AT THE PRESENT MOMENT YOU HAVE NO WALLS TO YOUR DUNGEON AT ALL. A SITUATION YOU SHOULD CORRECT AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE.
In My OLD walls guide! The walls I used to have!
QUERY UNDERSTOOD. CORRECTING ANSWER. STILL NEGATIVE. DUE TO THE RELATIVELY HIGH MANA LEVELS IN COMPARISON TO THE SPIDER'S NEWLY AQUIRED CORES, THEY SCATTERED AWAY FROM THE DUNGEON.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Great. There are monster spiders running around the town then! That is so much better! NOT! Guide! How long have these spiders just been running around? Are people in danger? Should I be concerned or anything?
THE SPIDERS TRANSFORMED ALMOST IMMEDIATELY AFTER YOU TRANSFORMED INTO A DUNGEON CORE AND LEFT SHORTLY AFTER, WHICH WOULD PUT THEIR CURRENT TIME RUNNING AROUND AT 3 DAYS, 5 HOURS, 23 MINUTES AND 12 SECOND. IN TERMS OF DANGER TO HUMAN LIFE, THE SPIDERS SHOULD ACTUALLY BE A NET BENEFIT FOR ANYONE WHO COMES ACROSS THEM SINCE KILLING THE SPIDER WOULD IMMEDIATELY GRANT THEM ACCESS TO THE LEVELING SYSTEM AND INCREASE ALL STATS BY 20 POINTS. FINAL QUERY ERROR. CONCERN CAN NOT BE QUANTIFIED.
Okay. Honestly, I guess that doesn't sound all that bad. With how the system is coming to earth and is starting to put down dungeons and such, it's probable for the best that people would start to gain levels. Oh! They'd gain 20 points immediately to all stats upon killing one of the spiders?!? Hey guide! Isn't that a lot of points? What are the base stats of a normal human anyway?
HUMAN
VITALITY: 6
DURABILITY: 5
STRENGTH: 5
DEXTERITY: 6
WISDOM: 3
INTELLIGENCE: 5
Huh. Neat. I guess that makes sense. Humans only got to the top of the food chain due to our ability to think and invent stuff. Pretty neat to see in quantified here. At any rate, if a person were to kill a spider, they'd be roughly five times more powerful in terms of stats. Hey guide, why such the sharp increase in stats?
MONSTERS ARE MONSTERS DUE TO THEIR LACK OF SENTIENCE. SINCE SENTIENT BEINGS ARE IMPORTANT FOR [REDACTED], THEIR SURVIVAL IS IMPORTANT ENOUGH TO WARRANT THE INCREASE IN STATS. FURTHERMORE, THE INCREASE IS NECESSARY IN ORDER FOR CIVILIZATION TO BE POSSIBLE IN A SYSTEMIFIED WORLD, SINCE OTHERWISE MONSTERS WOULD OVERTAKE THE WHOLE WORLD.
I'm going to be honest guide... I don't really understand what's you mean, but I'm going to take this as a net positive. Or should I? I feel like somehow, I should be a least a tiny bit concerned. Can't quite put my finger on why. Humanity should be fine from monster attacks. At least once they kill a monster. I'll think about it later. Honestly right now I'm just somehow feeling motion sickness from how fast we are going. I'm a rock! How is that even possible?
Guide! Has the Avatar found a new spot yet?
CHECKING...
NEW SPOT HAS BEEN LOCATED! ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL: 1 MINUTE.
Perfect! I ponder what my new home it going to be. Maybe a cave? Maybe a clearing with several trees around it? Ooh! Maybe an abandoned building in a clearing with several trees around it where I can't be an unintentional menace to society!
.....
........
As we got to the new location, I couldn't help but stare at the location my dungeon avatar had chosen. Hey... Avatar... buddy... This some kind of doomsday bunker or something. My avatar gripped the door of the shelter and ripped it out, proceeding into the shelter and plopping down in the farthest room in said shelter. Great... now I'm an unintentional squatter instead of a menace. Or maybe I'm just both now. My core hurts just thinking about it.
MY JEFF! I HAVE BROUGHT YOU TO SAFETY!
Volume! Avatar please quiet down a bit! And it's just Jeff! Please stop putting the word my in front of it!
I will quiet down... Jeff.
Alright. Progress... I guess. Alright. Next question. Why did you bring us here? This is probably someone's survival bunker or something! This is stealing or something!
No one is inhabiting this place...
That isn't the point!
I'm not going to move. My job is to protect my... ahem. My job is to protect Jeff. This spot is secure. We are staying here.
I take a moment to calm myself down. I already know that I can't really convince this thing to do anything without saying my life is in danger. And honestly, I think that trying to convince my avatar that this structure has some kind of negative effect on me wouldn't be worth it since apparently, I create monsters wherever I go. Probably best to stay in one place. I'll apologize to the owner if they ever show up. Also, Avatar, your new name is Murpsy.
Murpsy my Jeff?
I would be shaking my head if I had one. Yes Murpsy. That is your new name. It's short for murdering psychopath... but at least you didn't kill my friend, I guess? You just... chopped off both his hands... And since we are stuck together, I'm going to go try to be positive and tell myself that with the new magic stuff we have, that can somehow be fixed. Can't fix the two deaths though.
I accept my new name my Jeff! I am Murpsy!
Well. I thought I'd made progress with them. I guess it's going to require a lot of TLC to get anywhere with this avatar. Or I could just get rid of it somehow. Note to self, see if I can get rid of Murpsy. I look around my new home storing the thought in the back of my mind. I've got defenses to prepare. Guide. Show me my skills and status.
CURRENT STATS:
LEVEL: 2
MANA: 50/???
XP: 0/150
STAT POINTS: 10
SKILL POINTS: 50
VITALITY: ~1-14
DURABILITY: ~7-21
STRENGTH: ~6-20
DEXTERITY: ~0-14
WISDOM: ~1-15
INTELLIGENCE: ~ -6-8
SKILLS:
GUIDEBOOK Lvl 2
DUNGEON AVATAR Lvl 2
DUNGEON TERRITORY Lvl 1
MANA CAPACITY Lvl 2
MANA REGEN Lvl 2
SELF-ANALYSIS Lvl 2
At least I can count on you to help out Guide. Oh neat. My skills went up. And I got skill points and stat points to do stuff with. Alright. I crack my imaginary knuckles. Time to get to work turning this place into a proper defensive location.