I woke up sometime later and immediately was aware of multiple objects in the room with me and was determined this time to make a correctly made system. So I started on it working carefully. Once I made another one, this time trying to make it correctly, I carefully checked it.
Self-Updating Morphing/Moulding System 2.0: Online
Status
Trouble-Shooting
Updates
Well time to see what the fruit of my “labor” can do then I mentally selected status and found this
Self
System
I mentally nodded and selected ‘self’
Status: Healthy (concerned/wary)
Name: Michael Alex
Title(s): Second Chance; (Ev?) (desc.), Official Dungeon Core; (desc.). (stackable)
Species: Devouring Dungeon Core; (desc.)
Durability 100/100
Tier: 100 Rank: 1
Level: 1
Mana affinity: Dark: 80, Fire: 3, Earth… (Ex).
Dungeon type: Underground.
Mana capacity: 100/100, (desc.).
DP: 0 (5/ core/week), (desc.).
Ability: Devour; (Ev?) (desc.), Drain; (desc.), Bandit’s Luck; (Ev?) (desc.), Hiding; (Ev?) (desc.), Mana/Ether Shaping and Manipulation; (desc.), Material Absorption; (desc.), Shaping Rules; (desc.), Contain Substance; (desc.), Energy Aura; (desc.), Concentration; (desc.), Generation; (desc.), Core Room Making and Inhabiting; (desc.)
I then went to the system section of the status board and looked through its display… and found nothing wrong except finding that it did not have any mods, humor related or otherwise, nor efficiency. it consumed more than a bit of mana and made manipulated it rather poorly, but that’s besides the point i quickly checked the trouble shooting portion and found a problem immediately it turns out that if i gave that system to a mortal it would slowly sap away their strength stat at a rate of 2 points of strength per 7 days on top of the mana drain, which should not be happening and then i moved to the Update section and considered what i could- no should do and then decided to fix the issue of strength first and then i added the possibility of quests, achievements, and bindings. I then turned my attention to my species and the Devour and Drain abilities.
Devouring Dungeon Core: this unusual and near mythically rare species of dungeon core has the ability to take powers from any dungeon core or being at a high rate these species are found in valleys that are infamous for housing entire permanent bandit cities and being formed of white quartz and dark grey and silver black marble from a bandit lord’s gravestone (if the spots were hexagons it would bear a striking resemblance to a soccer ball from your old world). If a member of this core species gets to a very high level and/or rank it could rob even a god of his/her/it’s divine essence in the first room of it’s dungeon (A/N: that is the 'and' part of the and/or, if one is talking about the ‘or’ portion it has to be closer to core room itself.) thus making it easier for this dungeon core type to become a god. Due to your species you can gain levels as well as increasing your tier and rank, you Gain the following four abilities: Devour, Drain, Bandit’s Luck, Hiding.
Devour Description: this ability allows the dungeon core to eat other Cores and via the golf ball like pits on your core (A/N: Imagine a cross between a darkish grey super sticky suction cup ball and a white Golf ball and you get what MC looks like currently). It also allows you to eat Flora, Fauna, Spirits, and Corpses. It gives the core the abilities and advantages that the person/being has as well as the "nutrients" the core needs (allows you to make skills/skill books easier). If there are some defects or downsides to the abilities the ability: Bandits luck counteracts it.
Drain Description: A passive ability, when an invader is intruding into the dungeon, the dungeon then drains their Mana/Qi at a potentially dangerous rate if the user so desires. And makes it hard to get the mana also if any ‘loot’ is dropped it has a chance of being enchanted due to the high amount of mana in the floors walls and ceiling this ‘chance’ is when Bandit’s Luck activates (A/N: to make it clear when the item gets enchanted it counts as when bandit’s luck activates
Bandit’s Luck Description: a passive ability, this ability counteracts any attempt at detection (dungeon core only), and removes any problems with said abilities (berserk's backlash, a spell's requirement of not moving, a high tier protection skill's immense cooldown, etc.)
After that i decided to go get another upgrade to the system (under troubleshooting) as soon as i added it I used it, of course it costed me a hefty: Fifty Mana so i used it and got the answer I was looking for;
System's answer: to answer the user's question, to use Devour you have to imagine smokey yet solid tendril coming out of the spots on your, it will then manifest them and to devour a specific target you touch it with the tip of the tendril, it will then engulf it and slowly dissolve it. (Due to it being an innate skill of your species the mana cost has been lowered by 300 MP, Mana cost: 300 --> 0 mana per tendril made).
Well that answered that, I decided to use the ability and devour my 'old host' lots of mana means lots of options and possibilities becoming available to me due to the requirements ot the other skills that i have. Speaking of which, I haven't seen any costs of any of my skills so I decided to update the system to include the costs of the skills that I have. Then i checked the magic expenditure and got a shock as it turns out even though generation passively gives a lot of mana it also takes one hundred Mana to make one, ONE, point of different energy; Psionic, Qi, Eldritch (yeah apparently that is also a type of energy that I can make) or I could generate my own but that took a lot of magic one thousand MP but if the energy already exists it just takes one hundred MP, but if you do succeed there is a energy explosion that spreads it throughout the Universe and makes me the originator of said energy and the plain of existence I reside in the home of said energy and that makes me nervous, if something or someone else takes a bit of that energy it could make my plans go up in smoke! I-
I stopped but I realized that I was working myself into a nervous panic. so I backed myself away mentally and gave myself a breather, first things first, I added an acquisition notice (so i can tell what I absorb and what powers I gain from them) to the system. I then absorbed my old habitation, and got this from the system
Infant Infinetem Dungeon Core of True Legends assimilated, Abilities/Advantages gained: Infinite Mana Pool, hint of godhood; due to having a core room the user gains the following title: Legendary.
Sweet it worked… but then I remembered something I had been putting off, (Ev?) what the heck does this mean? Hesitantly i checked by clicking on the thing in the title: Second Chance.
Title: Second Chance: (Evolve Y/N)
Oh so that is what that means. I guess I’ll evolve it then, I then selected ‘Y’ which I knew meant yes I then got a message from the system;
Title: Second Chance has evolved into: Second Chance of the Survivalist.
Oh so that is what happens, well nothing for it time to evolve the rest of them.
Ability: Devour has evolved into: Devour and Conquer.
Ability: Bandit’s luck has evolved into: Donovan’s Luck.
Ability: Hiding has evolved into: Donovan's Survival Hiding.
Okay that is all of them, time to see what I have to work with.
Devour and Conquer Description: this ability has evolved from Devour, the only difference between Devour and Devour and Conquer is this, it is a territory ability as well as a normal utility/attack ability the territory has evolved to the point where it fits the user’s needs. Due to the fact that you are a dungeon core the territory that you conquer will be able to spawn monsters from the ground or ether even though you are an underground type dungeon core also If you claim another dungeon via monsters collecting the core or the dungeon willingly submitting to you (through various means, like mana starving, convincing the core that resistance is futile, etc), immediately becomes yours and you can either keep the dungeon core as your servant or you can absorb it. Also if you fully take a city you can choose what happens in it and control everything should you so desire and using this skill to claim territory will not make you become a rogue dungeon.
Wow, i have no words for this other than OP as heck, what about the next one.
Donovan’s Luck Description: this ability gives you luck of the person often mistakenly called the God of Banditry and Luck. However, the truth was that Donavan was an absolute survivalist who was lucky beyond belief and made it through wits, cunning, his own strength, but also his immense luck. Using his skills he established his city (the city in which you reside), which over the years had been known as ‘The Bandit Empire’ when in reality it was just one Kingdom, or more accurately, Republic. Donovan was a kind man (A/N: it was at this moment that the author got curious and googled who ‘Donovan’ is and got that a man named Donovan Philips Leitch he is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist so yeah look him up), who never did harm to anyone other than taking a few items and some food. This ability also inverts the downsides of the subject absorbed, also greatly increases the chance that an enemies loot will get enchanted by 80% while also making more skills ‘drop’ from the users enemies that die in your dungeon. Also it makes all of your dungeon (monsters, traps, the entrance, etc) unfindable by magical means when on your territory.
Donovan’s Survival Hiding Description: unlike it's pre-evolution this ability, which made your core nearly completely invisible allows you to hide the core anywhere you wish and leaves a dummy core in its place in the core room this dummy core will always 'read' as you, the more you use this ability the lower the cost gets, also you can build a trap within the fake core that will activates whenever the user feels like. If the user has a subservient core under its influence he can have the core act as the decoy trap when the user chooses to spring the trap it immediately turns a thirty meter radius into a bit of your territory ability but if the trap is sprung and the true seat of power (read Devour and Conquer for more details). Number of Dummy cores currently allowed: 2
Okay, I can use that (I’d be a fool not to)... Wait, I forgot to check on what that skill before evolving it didn’t I. I then add another thing to the system, an encyclopedia mixed with a bestiary that provides info on the stuff With that done i went back to devouring the cores starting with a core that looks like the yin and yang symbol with the spots on it
Boundless Zen core Assimilated, Title gained: Endless Harmony. Abilities gained: Natural Rhythm, Spirit Beast Enabler, Greater Talent and Potential Generator, and Qi Production.
Then a red core that looks like hot iron, or hot lava.
Raging Heat Of Never Embers Core Assimilated, Abilities/Advantages gained: Trick Candle, Eternal Warmth, and Burning Blast.
I considered looking at the ability descriptions, but decided against it and started consuming all the cores as fast as I could so that I can get my defences up and running so I could feel a bit safer in my home for the upcoming year… or however long dungeon cores typically live in this world which to be totally honest I do not know because i forgot to ask the Universe. When I had finally finished assimilating all of them I decided to check my status again.
Status: Healthy (anxious/wary)
Name: Michael Alex
Title(s): Second Chance of the Survivalist; (desc.), Official Dungeon Core; (desc.), Legendary; (desc.), Endless Harmony; (Ev?) (desc.), Limitless; (desc.), The Great devourer; (desc.), The Labyrinth's Heart; Chaos conflicted; (desc), The Dimension Contorter; (desc.), An Ancient Revival; (desc.), The Armoured One; (desc.), (stackable)
Species: Devouring Dungeon Core; (desc.)
Durability 3,457/3,457
Defence: 10
Attack: 45
Tier: 100 Rank 1
Level: 32
Mana Type: Ancient Mana (desc).
Qi type: Ancient Mana (desc).
Dungeon type: N/A
Mana capacity: 30,000/∞, (desc.).
DP: 125 (5/ core/week), (desc.).
Ability: Devour and Conquer; (desc.), Drain; (desc.), Donovan’s Luck; (desc.), Donovan’s Survival Hiding; (desc.), Ultimate Shaping and Manipulation; (desc.), Material/energy Absorption; (desc.), Shaping Rules; (desc.), Contain Substance; (desc.), Energy Aura; (desc.), Concentration; (desc.), Generation; (desc.), Core Room Making and Inhabiting; (desc.), Trick Candle; (desc.), Eternal Warmth; (desc.), Burning Blast; (desc.), Natural Rhythm, Spirit Beast Enabler, Greater Talent and Potential Generator, and Qi Production; (desc)… (Ex.)
What is this garbage?! Why did my affinities tab in the magic section change? Also last time i checked mana and qi are completely different energies, system explanation please!
System’s answer: to answer the user’s query; the system has to go into history around the time this world's dinosaur equivalent first started breathing air and coming onto the land's surface, back then the forces known as Qi and Mana were one kind of energy however it still was mana and Qi when the dinosaurs started using mana a lot, the balance was well and truly broken and it made it into the two forces known as Qi and Mana from which all derivatives were made, when the user reunited the two forces it rebirthed the ancient power and thus the you have gained Ancient Mana for both your Qi and Mana typing, the user should not worry about the balance falling because the Title which was gained when these two powers were fully reunited prevents as second collapse of the balance.
Oh… so that is why but that leaves me with another concern; namely how this would affect my proficiencies in certain tasks to test it out i decided to manipulate the mana and activate survival hiding ability and when i did I saw an orb Materialize and realized what i could do with my dummy core and I did this immediately i put a stunning spell in it to mentally stop the holder and then when i put it where i was I saw a notification from the system:
Warning you do not have any traps, guards, or rooms for your dungeon thus the normal invisibility that you would have has been nullified temporarily, Proceed? (Y/N).
Oh, darn, well no use for it time to make a room so i mentally and magically start spreading my influence out of my core room and down the rough crowded hallway and made some alterations to the passageway, to make it look like ancient temple walls with a highly complex maze mosaic and once I finally reached the surface i doubled back and made a choice of where my first room will be and once i decided where to put it I finally started making my first room, i decided to make it in the style of the the hallways and once that was done I decided which creature or type of creature I should go for first I decided to make animals first due to how they function I figured that they were the easiest. But which one should I go for first? Perhaps something simple like a bug so i quickly fashioned the first one that came to mind which just so happened to be a ant just when i was finished imagining what it could look like I accidentally both mentally and magically breathed in and out and got a notification from the system
Pattern recognised: Breathing. add it to the ‘Endless Harmony’ title; (Y/N)?
I was confused but clicked ‘Y’ and got this from the system, which confused yet comforted me;
ERROR: unable to do action for the following reason:
The title is ready to evolve.
Oh okay I then evolved the title and got this from the system
Title: Endless Harmony has evolved into the title: Ancient Endless Harmony. Would the user like to add the following Rhythm: Breathing, to this title?
Yet again, I selected Yes and this time the system responded with:
Title: Ancient Endless Harmony has gained the following Rhythm: Breathing. The benefits this rhythm are listed below
Breathing benefits: Increased Mana Regeneration, confusion for magical artifacts (Magic artifacts have a chance of malfunctioning in your dungeon due to the flowing and ebbing Mana within your dungeon), rhythm induced hypnosis in magical species (humanoid and non humanoid) that mentally conquered them and makes them yours (similar to the effects of Devour and Conquer), increased Mana saturation of monsters within your dungeon and the surrounding area thus increasing the odds of rare and exotic beings evolving out of common ones (flame elemental golem → flame dragonling elemental golem, zombie → wild husk, koi → Slammer Koi/ Razor swirl Koi, Pine Seed → Everfrost pine sapling, normal mushroom (A/N: not naming names → Myconid/magic mushroom, etc.).
Well then that is very useful but how do I increase my territory? Moreover what the heck is outside for all i know i’m in the middle of a bustling city of feral goblins that worship demons, now then, I shaped mana into the shape of that ant and get a surprise from the system.
Hint: Due to the effects of the title Limitless you can make anything you can picture, including sapiens and other dungeon cores!
Wow the first self upgrade from the system was one that made hints possible. I then imagine the ant and mentally pour magic into my image of it and voila one chihuahua sized ant queen with iridescent chitin. Problem was, it was literally inside me I then I got a notification from the system:
To place a monster mentally put it where you wish i then imagine placing the ant queen in the room
Once i had followed those directions I changed the floor to dirt and increased the room’s size so that where it once was forty-six meters across it now is ninety and then i imagine a beetle spawner which looked like a large mound of dried grasses and murky mud similar to an ants nest except the hole at the top which was four inches across to fit the large beetles as for what the beetles look like: made a large red goliath beetle that scavenge the area throughout all the dungeon with a few unique abilities and oh look there’s one now… and the queen ant is rushing her oh well the queen will learn her lesson and yup just as i predicted she did not like the beetle seemingly exploding in a storm of ice. In a fit of curiosity i looked closely at it’s status
Bomber Blood Beetle
Status: injured (calm)
Name: -
Level: 1
Exp: 0/100
HP: 45/50
MP: 95/100
SP:99/100
Attack: 0
Defense: 10
Abilities: Razor Antenne; (desc.), Explosion (Female variant); (desc.), Agro-proof; (desc.), Death Bringing Life; (desc.), Death cry; (desc.), Blood Berserker (Female variant); (desc.), Temporal Blip, (desc.) Environ assimilation; (desc.).
I had read what all the abilities did and well they were awe inspiring to say the least:
Razor Antenne Description: a Bomber Blood Beetle Secondary attack strategy, ordinarily the beetle keeps it’s antenne “sheathed” giving it the appearance of a very short antennae insect, when the beetle “unsheathes” it’s antenne the sword like parts of it dance and wave about, slicing the unwary, due to how the antenne are structured it is impossible to slice itself New: deals slicing damage per strike if target is within cutting range (ignores armour and resistances) for 10 seconds.
Explosion (Female variant) Description: this ability has two variants for this species, the female version makes an explosion of negative thermal and forcing it outward with mana it deals 78 frost damage per blast, consumes five mana.
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Agro-proof Description: this is racial ability makes this beetle immune to agro control skills, such as Taunt.
Death Bringing Life Description: this ability has to do with this bug’s life span which is 12 weeks at maximum once the bug’s life span regardless of has ended regardless if happily or in agony the bugs gather their fallen sister or brother into a pile, and if there is another small critters being a cougar size at maximum
Death Cry’s Mark Description: this ability works in conjunction with Blood Berserker and Temporal Blip, when a Bomber Blood Beetle’s life nears it’s end they emit either a chiming hum, or a death cry. The chiming coo happens when one of these beetles has lived a good life and has not been killed by force, the death cry of a Bomber Blood Beetle is when a Beetle of this species has been unjustly killed off by a wrongdoer, and is designed to make the killer feel bad for killing this innocent creature it also inflicts a curse upon the killer the curses effect alerts all beetles of the same species (regardless of if it’s a variant or not) to attack the killer and make the killer feel regret or remorse, if the killer feels remorse or regret (for the life lost) for their actions the Blood Berserker ability ends when the killer has about 1/5th HP left also the curse makes them unable to retaliate attack the members of the Beetle’s race by any means.
Blood Berserker Description: a dormant ability for the species, this ability works in conjunction with Death Cry’s Mark, and Temporal Blip this ability is activated when a beetle of this species ‘hear’ the cry and use temporal blip to go over to the killer the beetle then temporarily loses the ability Temporal blip in exchange for a mildly venomous bite attack and increased damage for the antenne swords and bite attack to do double damage the bite attack deals 20 damage.
Temporal Blip Description: this ability works in conjunction with Death Cry’s Mark, and Blood Berserker, this ability is activated when A beetle of this species hears the Death Cry. this skill does two things 1: it teleports all the beetles currently alive to the killer’s location as well as the ones from the past but not the future 2: makes them intangible to each other no attack done by another member of their species’s attacks affect the others as long as they are under the effects of Temporal Blip. the max limit of the previous generations is decided when the bite attacks damage reaches 0 Current Generational summoning cap: 4 generations
Environ Assimilation: this ability is how they adapt to their surroundings, they scavenge the corpses of the flora, fauna, and fungi to adapt to the area and their waste products tell the biome how it’s doing, doing this action awards experience to the bug depending on how much they have eaten.
Needless to say this bug is OP, now the ant queen is just minding her own business on the exact opposite end of the room… can’t say I’m surprised, I mean, it’s like annoying the quiet kid in gym class and him mopping the floor with you because he knows martial arts and pressure points. In any case onto creating the flora, and fauna of this room not to mention fungi, just the basic stuff; flowers, trees, grasses, normal fungi networks that are found throughout the forest (it’s a real thing and apparently it’s a pretty common thing too). As for the animals i had them be a little more unique; shrieking phantom squirrels, Meal worms that if a single worm is eaten actually fill your stomach so that you are no longer hungry and restore fifty HP but they are fast and when provoked quite aggressive and have decent attack speed and damage output, i made them to be this way to make a high risk high reward for any beasts or adventurers daring enough to attack them (they are as large as the ant queen so they lose the advantage of being tiny and super fast). Lizards that had, well the advantage of turning invisible. Normal animals and normal animal spawners to that food did not run short for the monsters of my dungeon, when i decided that all was in order i decided to start my expansion but with that thought i came up short
‘Am i forgetting something?’ I ask myself, I then look over my biome in pensive thought I then realized what i need to do, ‘Oh of course, the well springs of mana to help make mutations available, not no mention traps and traps and treasure, oh and not to mention I have not set up my substitute and I have yet to figure out how my conquer powers work… I’ve put a lot of stuff off haven’t I? I don’t think i can afford it either’ and with that i got to work hiding myself. I decided to put myself as deeply as i can under the earth in the middle of my first room and then those elemental springs and with that I used fifty mana to ask the question:
System’s answer: to use the ‘Conquer’ part of the Devour and Conquer ability you use your the tendrils as if you were about to devour the target but then imagine them making shooting miasma in the shape of high pressure steam it will then become yours also you can manifest a tendril from anywhere and put it inside one of your creatures and that animal can manifest that tendril from wherever they wish, the system also wishes to inform the user that if the tendril tries to claim something in another territory it will provoke a war if the creatures of that territory notice. Due to the effects of the title: Limitless you can expand onto the surface without fear of being called a Rogue Dungeon the System realizes however that this is a really slow process and your new additions may not have your dungeon’s usual effects. So conquering it is a must.
That answers more than not. Well time to set up hallway traps, and room traps and then send my creatures out, with the tendrils. While I was designing traps i started humming to myself as well as doing a song had an echo (A/N:like certain Hymns, or crowd interactive songs), while I was wielding magic, and got this from the system:
Patterns recognized: Humming, Echo, and Singing. Add it to the ‘Ancient Endless Harmony’ title; (Y/N)?
I clicked yes without thinking and went back to making the traps and making them right in case any invaders come while some of my monsters go outside but then i get an idea i then turned the tile right in front of the entrance jade green and made stepping on that tile a one way ticket to maze central but to prepare it even more i realized something Not enough mazes i thought to myself I then had another idea ‘it should not be just a maze this is to be a maze that lives up to the name of the original Labyrinth, and just as deadly and dangerous. I decided to mentally enter the maze (since it is a part of me it caused me no issues) and I sprinkled in a few traps in that multidimensional maze (basically a alternate dimension filled with maze all of them randomly generated, as well as monsters including ones I had taken from my D&D days (A/N: I love D&D, unfortunately i have low funds right now not to mention my life's situation is a bit unstable at the moment), namely the Gelatinous Cubeꗗ. When I decided to go out of the maze and look at the entrance in trepidation. I couldn’t see outside still. I decided to look back at the jade green tile and have another idea and quickly set about it and made a separation mechanism so that entire parties would be forcibly split up mostly to see if they are as sufficient as they are apart as when together. While I was putting some finishing touches on the mechanism I got an alert from the system.
Warning: intruder alert!
I immediately went out and looked at my first “customer” and felt some shock. It was a fairy. The fairy drifted right over the tile and I felt some alarm. After all, I did not know what the fairy was thinking and/or doing .
(??? POV)
“Hello?” I said suspiciously, after all I had never seen a place like this before, nothing answered my call.
(MC POV)
Okay so the fairy speaks english good to know, good to know.
(??? POV)
With some trepidation I muttered, “I hope this place isn’t too dangerous, we’re running out of places to hide.” I then flew back out of this weird cave
Well that was weird, I decided to make a safe haven for the fairies, mostly because of what the fairy said. First I made a pebble with an extra dimensional space and I made it chime and glow in a way that only fairies could hear and see, then i made it so that if a fairy touched it would open up for them and on the inside it would be a perfect fairy haven (like the maze it would be bigger on the inside, not based on what I think is a perfect fairy haven because that might be wrong but what the fairies think is a perfect haven for them. Once I was done making that pebble I went back to my Jade tile work and went back to work and waited for them to come back.
I flew back to my friends and family. It was getting close to dawn so i had to hurry or they might leave me behind, “Star, Star!” I flew about the hastily assembled temporary fairy shelters in search of my dear friend whose name I called for.
“What, what?” a plump fairy said groggily as she got up from her cot made out of a large leaf.
“I think I found a place to stay for us and our kindred.” I said with a lot of hope noticeably in my voice, after all, it had been three years since we last had a haven to rest in due to that weird cult that destroyed our last one.
“Really?! That’s great!” my friend said happily, “Let’s rouse the others Snowflake; and go there, I am sick and tired of hiding in this forest that is crawling with the cult’s spies!”
(MC POV)
While i was finishing my work on the tile I thought of something, what if some of the fairies can’t fly, like, if they were injured or the males were incapable of flight? I decided to make it inactive temporarily, but then i remembered how the fairy flew over the trap and decided to make a magic barrier at the end of the tile so an invader couldn’t jump over the trap entirely, but i waited to put it in place, I then remembered that i forgot to put the pebble in the middle of the path for the fairies to pick up. So I put it there and waited.
(Snowflake’s POV).
After we woke up the others did a quick debate and then the fairy elders and royalty discussed it some more. We then held a vote and found all were in favor of giving it a try after grabbing our stuff and the wounded, we were ready to go. I hope that weird cave is a safe place for us to be.
After we arrived I noticed a difference in the tile on the floor as well as a glowing pebble i did not remember being there before i checked every body and said aloud “Brock you may want to see this” out of the midst of the fairies a Silver- winged male fairy with a bright purple aura flew out and said
“So this is it Snowflake?” I nodded my head, he then said “The air here is peculiar indeed but that’s besides the point, any differences you can spot?”
“Yes, two of them." I said with worry on my face.
“Show me,” he simply said.
I nodded and gestured to the tile and the pebble, “I remember that tile Being Greener and I have no memory of the Pebble being there at all.
“Interesting time to let me have a closer look” He said gravely.
We then entered the strange cave and he went and almost touched the floor before going up and looking at the walls closely and then he touched the walls and then I heard the chime.
(MC POV)
(two minutes ago)
I got tired of waiting and went to go check on the and check on the middle of my first room and i noticed a few things like frosty craters, it appears that some of the animals were idiotic enough to try and kill some of the scavenger beetles. Once I checked up on the environment I went and looked at the beetle nest and saw that it had grown some. As I was about to go look at the ants next I got an alert from the system.
Warning: multiple intruders detected!
I quickly shifted my attention to the entrance and found that two fairies were now there, one that I did not recognise was approaching my left wall and touched it, I couldn’t feel it which made sense to me. Once the fairy was about to move away from the wall I made the pebble chime.
(Snowflake’s POV)
I looked at the pebble which chimed again, the chime sound was pleasant to the ears. Both me and Brock approached it. He went closer than i did and he flew over to me and said, “Well you are lucky, that tile that has dimmed was a powerful magical trap of some sort. As for the pebble, I have no idea what it is, all I know is that it’s powerful as well, possibly more so than the tile on the floor.”
He then turned and looked at the rest he then shouted to them “Any volunteers?!”
“I’ll go,” said an old and tired voice after a period of dead silence, he was one of the wounded fairies that had also been around the longest. He then approached with his willow twig cane and touched the pebble. It glowed and turned into a door that was big enough for us all to fit. And Brock and I looked at each other then I stepped forward.
“I’ll open it for you elder” i, getting Impatient, walk towards the door and twisted the doorknob once i pushed the door in i looked around and saw a beautiful garden with houses that i thought i’d never see again, i felt some tears trickle down my face in pure joy and sadness for my lost home which i never even thought i’d see again, well not in my life time.
Brock looked past me and saw what lay beyond the door frame, “Oh my, looks like saying i was right would be an understatement,” he turned around and said to the rest “Come, it is safe through this door!”
I looked at the door again, “how do we fit the center stone through the door though?”
(MC POV)
Center stone? Well I suppose it’s like a heirloom of some sort of object with magic powers. With a mental shrug I made the door grow bigger to the size it needed to be, which startled the fairies a bit.
(Snowflake’s POV)
Brock stared at me for a minute, it was clear that he had not thought about it, after all the door was fairy sized, not the size of the center stone, and after a moment of silence he was about to talk when a rumbling came out of the door; i turned to look and saw it grow to the size of some of the walking turnips from back when our home was in one piece. I looked at the centerpiece which was still in its inactive state and realized that the door was big enough for the center stone and said so in a happy voice as soon as we crossed the threshold to our new home i felt the sun shining the air crisp like springtime. I came back to myself with a tear in my eye and
I say to myself, “welcome home.” I then turned around to see that Grumpus, the tree stump pedestal for the Center Stone, was approaching the center of our new home; grumbling all the way. Once we got there everyone started exploring our new home.
(MC POV)
… is that rock what I think it is? I asked the system while paying the fee, and the system answered my question in the affirmative. I turned my attention back to the gateway and closed the pebble-portal and thought some more, I then reached the conclusion that i had to make a plan in case the opposing dungeon core didn’t bend the knee and submit to my rule I then checked something with the system in response:
System’s answer: due to the title: limitless the User is not limited in the efficiency of certain types of creatures due to your species of dungeon core but due to it you may get special bonuses for following it. The user’s original main proficiency was in dark mana therefore the ones that the user probably have the easiest time making would be the undead. But the user now has the Ancient Mana proficiency which is all of the proficiencies in both Mana and Qi therefore you do not need to follow any procedures for any creature you are willing to create.
Hint: don’t forget to activate your titles and abilities.
What the… is the system trying to tell me that most of my abilities and titles are not active? Sure enough and apparently I can choose to toggle on or off my passives, so naturally I turned them all on and I noticed two things; one: they do not drain any MP from my capacity, and two: I have a lot more passives than I thought. In any case I decided to add three-no four new ‘harmonies’ to my ‘Ancient Endless Harmony’ title so i added: a creepy giggle, a whisper, silence, and a prankster’s chuckle. And I turn them all on, as for the why of why i did that is because i figured it might give me an edge if i chose to use the undead option, which I just might, after all most undead have some manner of dark mana in them; even if it’s just a friendly ghost, and I am not aiming for friendly ghost if it comes to a fight. I then prepare skeleton spawners and ghost spawners. And waited for them to produce what I hoped was enough but before the confrontation I made a parrot as to why it was fairly obvious, i needed a way to communicate with them. I just hoped nothing would go wrong during our conversation.
(Enemy Dungeon Core’s POV)
I gradually woke from my slumber and looked around in some confusion, after all I remembered that I ordered my minions and fairies to take me away from the village with them so that I would not be used as a weapon by the cult. As I expanded my field of view I found my minions were mostly in one piece however I only saw Grumpus and the fairies and as I woke up one of my fairies noticed and bowed and spoke, “great one do you find your new sanctuary satisfactory?”
“There is one thing i am curious about,” I said via the mental link, “how are we here?”
The fairy grinned at me and said aloud, “We found a relic in a weird cave; it turned into a door and when i opened it, it turned into this place: and we moved here.”
“Weird ca- oh, this is not good!” I said mentally panicking.
“Why is it not good? Is the mana here hurting you?” said the fairy in concern.
‘I- wait the mana level is lower here than it should be if it were a dungeon’ i thought, then said aloud “No, it is nothing, i just thought we were in another dungeon’s territory for a second there.”
“That’s because you are.” a mysterious voice said
“Who’s there!?” I said in panic and suspicion.
(MC POV)
While waiting rather impatiently for the production of my backup army i got this from the system;
Hint: To control mindless monsters or beings from your dungeon, use your mental link ability to give them orders and they’ll obey as long as they’re yours, or you can talk to other cores as long as one monster of that core is on your territory.
While i waited and watched some more i went through my skill list and found i had the mental link ability just like the system said so i used it and found that i could hear every thought of the monsters in my dungeon with that in mind i turned my attention back to the fairy pebble and i sent my mind to the middle of the village and looked at the core and noticed it awakening. I then listened to the ensuing conversation;
“There is one thing I am curious about,” it said via the mental link, “how are we here?”
The fairy grinned at the core and said aloud, “We found a relic in a weird cave; it turned into a door and when i opened it, it turned into this place: and we moved here.”
“Weird ca- oh, this is not good!” it said with panic in his mental voice.
“Why is it not good? Is the mana here hurting you?” said the fairy in concern.
It seemed to ponder a bit, then said aloud “No, it is nothing, I just thought we were in another dungeon’s territory for a second there.”
“That’s because you are.” I said.
“Who’s there!?” it said in panic and suspicion.
“Oh, just the dungeon you happen to be in right now.” I said nonchalantly, then I pointedly said “Are you okay? You feel like you’re panicking so much that you’ll shatter at any moment.”
“Oh,” said the dungeon core, sounding embarrassed, after composing itself for a bit it then said to me pointedly, “if you are a dungeon, why is your mana level so low? Are you near death or something?”
I laughed and said, “look who’s talking,” then in a more level voice continued on to say, “but to answer your question, it comes with the type of Dungeon Core I am. Also will you submit to me? You don’t really have a chance against me as things stand right now.”
He seemed to ponder his predicament and I waited patiently for his response which when I got it made me mildly furious.
“Bring it on,” he said in a grim voice, “even though i may be weakened i still have enough juice to take on a young dungeon like you.”
“Very well, have it your way, just don’t say i didn’t warn you” I said barely bothering to keep the disdain and contempt out of my voice.
(Enemy Dungeon Core’s POV)
I think I made a mistake, it was clear in the other dungeon’s voice that it had plans for if I said no.
“Well,” I said to the fairy, “gather the others, we prepare for a dungeon war.”
I mentally prayed to Usin, Goddess of Nature and the Fae, that this dungeon core is a kind one, for the dungeon core was very much correct in saying that I had no way to defend myself when not on my land; if only i had some soil from my previous territory i might just stand a chance, after a bit of waiting all the fairies were gathered here i said, “I am sorry guys, it appears that we are trapped in a dungeon which does not like us being here, and i am afraid there is no way out, except for weathering the oncoming tide of monsters, does anyone have a jar of dirt?”
Several of the fairies tittered and produced a large jar of dirt which I had a bond with due to it being from my territory. I then had them open the lid and set the jar on the ground. I then used my mana and shouted [Earthen Geyser] and a stream of earth spewed out of the jar with seemingly no end in sight. Once i decided that i had gotten enough earth i turned the spell off; and then waited, and waited. I started getting nervous, why can’t I recharge my mana from the dirt, it should have worked. I then heard the other dungeon core humming a haunting lullaby of some kind, I did not recognize the melody it echoed around the place I was in and got stuck in my mind. And then I summoned some golems and planted monsters and so I waited for the wave of monsters to begin.
(MC POV)
About 17 minutes earlier
I looked back to my backup plan and saw that my skeletal army was ready as were the ghosts. I established mental contact with them and looked at them and noticed something odd and sure enough, when I looked at the system I got my answer.
Congratulations: random skeletons numbers:12, 13, 22, 32, 38, 47, 69, 70, 82, 91 104, 121… 5,752; has evolved into variants of their species and/or gained special abilities due to the user’s species
Congratulations: random ghost numbers: 1, 5, 7, 8, 12, 27, 32, 44, 45, 52, 55, 61… 6,552; has evolved into variants of their species and gained special abilities due to the user’s species.
Well that gives me all sorts of options, but a few of the skeletons and ghosts caught my eye so i checked their statii. Starting with a skeleton with a weird pot in it’s ribcage that’s covered with a ratty tee shirt.
Miasma Bearer Skeleton
Status: healthy (calm)
Name: -
Level: 1
Exp: 0/100
HP: 500/500
MP: 100/100
SP: ∞
Attack: 45
Defense: 60
Abilities: (skeleton and pot): Ash Storm; (desc.), Dark Flame Giver; (desc.), Combinder; (desc.), Dark Claim Setting; (desc.), Kaboom; (desc.), Wither And Rot plague; (desc.), (Pot only): Skeletal Corruption Plague; (desc.), Miasma Geyser; (desc.), Nightmare Wail; (desc.), (skeleton only): Fall Apart; (desc.),
Once I looked at its stats I was happy, I could guess what most of the abilities were. I moved on to the next one that had caught my eye, one that looked like it was made of honeycomb from a bee hive.
Swarm keeper skeleton
‘Unleash the Bees!’
Status: healthy (calm)
Name: -
Level: 1
Exp: 0/100
HP: 50/50
MP: 100/100
SP: ∞
Attack: 50
Defense: 25
Abilities: Swarmkeeper; (desc.), Call and Heart Of The Swarm; (desc.), Hive Maker; (desc.), hive crystal; (desc.), Bone Swarm; (desc.), Beemine; (desc.), Hive Animation; (desc).
I noticed that the system updated itself to add a bit of humor to the description. I found it humorous and it was pretty much what I wanted. The next one i looked at was a large airship like thing was mixed with a large floating island
Undead Super Dreadnought Flagship,
‘Don’t Frigate to survive!’
Status: Greatly weakened world class boss (calm) (Exp)
Name: -
Level: 1
Exp: 0/100
HP: 50,000/50,000 (5,000,000/5,000,000)
MP: 1,000/1,000 (10,000,000,000/10,000,000,000).
SP: ∞
Attack: 50,000 (500,000)
Defense: 100,000 (10,000,000)
Abilities: Shipyard; (desc.), Giga-Necro Beam; (desc.), Spinal Chain Moorings (desc.), Summon Undead Airship; (desc.), Summon Necrotic Airship; (desc.), Summon Conqueror Airship; (desc.), Summon Attack/Defense Airship; (desc.), Summon Undead Spawner Flagship; (desc.), Negative Explosion; (desc.), Absorption Healing; (desc.), Player Scaling; (desc.), Optional Sealing; (desc.).
After that was a skeleton called a Grave raiser and I looked at it’s abilities and grinned internally.
Grave Raiser Skeleton
‘By mine hand, the dead shall rise’
Status: Healthy (calm)
Name: -
Level: 1
Exp: 0/100
HP: 100/100
MP: 100/100
SP:∞
Attack: 10
Defense: 100
Abilities: Grave Erection; (desc.), Rise From The Grave; (desc.), Rally; (desc.), Nightmare Raising; (desc.), tombstone shield; (desc.)
With those skeletons out of the way only two ghosts caught my attention, the aptly named Possessor Ghost and the Death Wraith.
I decide to send out all the undead i could and hope for the best, then i realized that I could also play mind games with the enemy, I started humming a haunting wordless melody while manipulating magic, as soon as I started humming the “second verse” of the song I got the notification from the system and clicked yes to add a ‘haunting humming’ and noticed another notification and i read it carefully and after i had, laughed in my head i make another decoy of myself and put the new dungeon core I somehow made inside of the decoy and put a propulsion trap on it just in case i am not within range of the enemy core. And put the new decoy on the pedestal instead of the other one which didn’t hold a dungeon core and then got this seemingly randomly from the system
Hint: contain substance can contain any monsters or materials you are unwilling to lose.
Oh right, with that in mind I contained the Undead airship and the death wraith and one of each of my rare/unique minions except for the grave raiser skeleton (I took two of those) and it’s (ghost counterpart). And then I put my tendrils so that they are contained in some of my more rare minions once that was done and I sent all the skeletons and ghosts to the fairy world in hopes that the war will be short.
(Enemy Dungeon Core POV)
They are coming, if they aren't undead we don’t stand a chance, I know my monster’s strengths and weaknesses well; I felt them approaching making a clicking and rattling sound, I smiled in relief, it is just what I hoped for skeletons! These skeletons look odd though. “Fire,” I shout mentally.
The next thing I know is pain, for some reason one of my sword-edged ferns did not listen to me and instead attacked me and those around. When i reached out for the mental connection i made to control this monster i realized that the connection was not responding, i took a closer look and saw a ripple of phantasmal energy like, like a-
“A Ghost?!” I shouted incredulously.
“Your point?” the other dungeon core with amusement in its voice.
While i was distracted by my surprise i felt a weird cold power flowing through me, i turned my sense of vision to see what was going on and got a shock, all my fairies were in small cages and the plants i had grown were all either possessed or wilting and once i looked at where that cold power was coming from, i saw a weird skeleton that looked like a beehive with a tendril that was shooting black vapor at me and i started to feel sleepy and then remembered no more at least until i woke up later.