Rubbing sleep from her eyes, Clare finally sat up.
The system intruded and displayed its prompts.
* Congratulations, you have leveled up! You are now level 4.
She blinked. Her territory now included the entirety of the throne room, and another yard of marble palace beyond.
Kepler, did you set up an automatic translation for the System?
Her symbiote, stretched out beside her, nodded. He seemed almost sleepy, which was a cute affectation.
[You were left blind without me. Didn’t like it.]
She rubbed her fingers through his hair, paying special attention to the tips of his ears.
* Quest ‘Cultivate Your Myth’ has been completed!
The System continued updating her.
* 40 SP earned.
* New Myth created
Their residents seemed to notice Clare awaking.
[Mum, are you feeling better, now?] Astrid asked as she surfaced from the Core room’s outer moat with a mouthful of diplurans.
Hm? Yeah, I’m fine, sweetie. She winced. Had the kid noticed Clare was upset before? Well, it had only made sense with how Kepler had been gone. Still…
[Okay!]
* Your Myth is now the following:
* ‘Grotto of the Fallen Lovers’: The impressions of several delvers have formed your myth. It is a narrative of a man who sells his humanity to an Evil so he can be with his dead lover. Condemned by his decision, the couple are denied any afterlife, cursed to live forever as a dungeon. This modifier can evolve with delvers’ impressions.
* Mythic connection x 1.5. MP ration x 1.3. XP gains increased when aligned with your myth.
* You have become a Patron of Reckless Devotion. Delvers who risk their lives for others will level more quickly in your territory. Servants who develop strong bonds within their community will receive an MP bonus when their friends are endangered.
* Randomized magic effects, such as the Extremely Magical Hats and Magic Springs, are now influenced by your myth.
Awwww… Kepler, did you see our new, improved myth?
[Ah. Not yet, no.]
They don’t think you’re a demon anymore!
Kepler sat up, peering over her shoulder. [Ah…] He flushed.
[Hey mum, why did you and dad shatter the decoy core?]
Why did we… what? Clare checked where the decoy core had been. What the— She stopped before she could widen Astrid’s vocabulary.
Duchess, perched with Van Gogh in a swirl of bas relief stars on the wall beside Astrid, clicked her tongue. [Princess, it was clearly an Aesthetical adjustment. That decoy was so very old—and it didn’t even do its job!]
Yeah. That’s it. An intentional adjustment. Clare mumbled, still puzzled and strangely embarrassed.
Kepler had hidden their myth away once more and was sorting through System notifications.
[Clare, I’ll just put up your new Status sheet in a moment. This minutia is boring.]
Mm, thanks!
The diplurans started singing ‘Rocky Racoon’ by the Beatles. Clare hummed along.
A profound sense of relief was spreading through the dungeon.
Slenderman seemed to have joined the slimes Jungle Gym Cult (she still didn’t understand what they all saw in the simple playground equipment). He was chucking Omnom through an opening in the metal tangle before teleporting to the other side and catching the slime.
The new territory Clare had gained was interesting. It seemed they’d absorbed most of an antique bedroom, the corner of a similarly aged office, and more stone from the mountainside.
Achilles was searching for Arachne who had… hidden herself in Clare’s aura? It didn’t seem possible, but the Fae had a firm grasp on the webby extensions—using them to bend the dungeon around her. The mechanics of it made sense to her burgeoning mind-pain resistant senses, but she could in no way explain it.
Ghost Rider was smacking the Snake-Worm pack with a flaming chain of mysterious origin, and Puck was nestled sleepily in Undine’s hair (when had they become friends?).
She really didn’t know how her servants did what they did. Or why.
Kepler, have you ever thought that our dungeon is kind of odd?
[That’s just your low self-esteem talking.] Kepler scooped her into his lap, still focused on the System data. [This is the best dungeon in existence, hands down, no question.]
Clare giggled. You didn’t even think before answering me!
[Didn’t have to.]
Hrm. She reached up to tickle his cat-like whiskers but didn’t get a response.
Despite her continued efforts to tease him, he still finished her Status within minutes.
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-Status-
Name: Clare Hatt
Species: Sapient Dungeon
Age: 1 month, 3 weeks, 3 days, 8 hours, 2 minutes
Modifiers: The Kepler Effect, Mythic Connection, ‘Grotto of the Fallen Lovers,' System Deal
* The Kepler Effect: A gorgeous, intelligent, charismatic, and very handsome symbiote has been installed in your soul. Health x 1.15. MP capacity x 2. MP ration x 3. All XP gains x 1.05. Fierce protection against anything soul-related, this modifier is invaluable.
* Mythic Connection: Your connection to the other side remains, albeit altered. Draw on the power of the human sub-mind through stories. Servants inspired by myths are x 1.1 more powerful, x 1.11 easier to create and have access to unique abilities.
* ‘Grotto of the Fallen Lovers’: The impressions of several delvers have formed your myth. It is a narrative of a man who sells his humanity to an Evil so he can be with his dead lover. Condemned by his decision, the couple are denied any afterlife, cursed to live forever as a dungeon. This modifier can evolve with delvers’ impressions.
* Mythic connection x 1.5. MP ration x 1.3. XP gains increased when aligned with your myth.
* You have become a Patron of Reckless Devotion. Delvers who risk their lives for others will level more quickly in your territory. Servants who develop strong bonds within their community will receive an MP bonus when their friends are endangered.
* Randomized magic effects, such as the Extremely Magical Hats and Magic Springs, are now influenced by your myth.
* System Deal: By allowing the system to query your Mythic Connection for stories and ideas, you earn 12 SP a week.
Level: 4
Health: 115%
XP: 59/120
SP: 54
MP: 600/600
MP ration: 158/1 day
Skills: 15
* Reshape Matter: Shape matter in your territory as you wish. Costs 8 MP.
* Restructure Matter: Change the structure of matter in your territory to whatever design you wish. Costs 16 MP.
* Differentiate Materials: Breakdown the different materials within a design. Costs 4 MP.
* Construct Design: You understand the building blocks of various designs, enough to arrange them yourself. Enter a ‘creative state’ to work on a single design. Test your design’s functionality through a system-provided model up to 50 times. State cannot last more than 6 hours. Costs 24 MP.
* Create Servant: Using a design of your choice, create a servant. Costs 20 MP.
* Upgrade Design: Randomly upgrade a chosen design. Costs 20 MP.
* Command Servant: Order a servant to do something. Costs 4 MP.
* Organize Servants: Order your servants into groups for lowered command costs. Costs 10 MP.
* Standing Orders: Create or modify a consistent rule for your servants. Costs 10 MP.
* Architectural Zone: Enter a focused state for the purpose of internal dungeon modification. Cannot last for more than 4 hours. Costs for matter modification skills reduced by 10%. Costs 52 MP.
* Permanent Current II: Choose which direction the water, air, or other movable matter in the dungeon flows. Current can be impossible by standard physics. Costs 8 MP.
* Create Rewards Chest: A treasure chest which automatically replaces the assigned loot after a set amount of time. Food and other degradable items are preserved indefinitely while in chest. Costs 12 MP.
* Affix Location Function: Different parts of a dungeon can fulfill specific functions, whether they be symbolic or practical. Affix a location for a specific purpose to gain x 1.05 functionality. Costs 16 MP. Location cannot be unaffixed without paying 30 SP.
* Create Decoy - Core: A lesser form of ‘Create Decoy’ which focuses on the dungeon core. The decoy will identify as the core and mirror the core in real time. Limited to one decoy. Costs 16 MP to create and 5 MP daily to maintain.
* Create Magic Spring: make a spring of magical water. Properties based on surrounding influences. Spring cannot output more than 3 gallons per minute. Initial cost of 20 SP, Maintenance cost of 7 MP a day.
* Universal Translation: You can understand any sapient speech you hear. This skill is passive.
Designs:
* Earth Matter: 27 (Granite, Travertine Limestone, Iron Ore, Novaculite, Mercury, White Marble, Glowstone, Obsidian, Roatt Crystal, Dove-metal, Iron, Blue Diamond, Paraiba Tourmaline, Red Beryl, Alexandrite, Musgravite, Diamond, Taaffeite, Painite, Red Diamond, Emerald, Pink Diamond, Gold, Silver, Platinum, Brass)
* Living Matter: 5 (Troglobitic Dipluran, Red Worms, Microbic Mats, Evolutionary Moss, Pet Rabbit)
* Edible Matter: 4 (Water, Salt, Baloney Sandwich, Caffeinated Soda)
* Other: 4 (Air, Blue Mist, Dust, Ink)
* Animal Products: 6 (Crow Feather, Goose Down, Treated Leather, Parchment, Pearl, Silk)
* Plant Products: 7 (Velvet, Satin, Cotton, Linen, Thread, Mahagony, Treated Oak
* Decorations: 4 (Houseplant, Glass, Blue Lacquer, Colorful Dye)
* Servants: 11 (Eccentric Faerie- Unlimited use, Red Snake-Worm- Unlimited use, Musical Dipluran Beetle- Unlimited use, Slime- Unlimited use, Stone Slime – Unlimited use, Glow Slime- Unlimited use, Metal Slime- Unlimited use, Enlarged Dipluran Beetle- Unlimited use, Spector- Unlimited use, Dodo- Unlimited use, Yummy Toad- Unlimited use)
* Rewards: (Toe Ring, Extremely Magical Hat, Antique Bracelet- Single use, Antique Earrings- Single use, Antique Elephant Figurines- Single use, Royal Crest, Bed- With bedding, Bedroom Dresser, Quill, Nice Rug, Antique Dress- Single use)
Servants:
* Astrid (Water Giant) - level 3
* Red Snake-Worm Pack (10)
* Snappy – level 3
* Sulky – level 3
* Wriggles – level 4
* Chunky – level 4
* Jumper – level 3
* Gulpy – level 3
* Chomp-chomp – level 3
* Kooky – level 3
* Croc’ Jaw – level 4
* Sneaky – level 3
* Duchess (Eccentric Faerie) – level 4
* Puck (Eccentric Faerie) – level 5
* Van Gogh (Eccentric Faerie) – level 5
* Achilles (Eccentric Faerie) – level 2
* Atalanta (Eccentric Faerie) – level 2
* Arachne (Eccentric Faerie) – level 2
* Musical Dipluran Choir (10 enlarged, 20 normal)
* Ghost Rider (Specter) – level 2
* Undine (Spector) – level 2
* Slime Corps (7)
* Jello (Slime) – level 2
* Pudding (Slime) – level 2
* Chubbles (Slime) – level 3
* Surprisibus (Stone Slime) – level 2
* Rockslide (Stone Slime) – level 2
* Luna (Glow Slime) – level 2
* Omnom (Metal Slime) – level 3
Quests: 2
* Halfway to the Big Leagues:
* Reach level 5!
* Rewards: 5.25 XP, 6 SP, ‘Reach the Big Leagues’ Quest, New SP store options.
Clare hummed to herself as she scanned the new Status.
What do you think? She leaned back to watch Kepler’s thinking face. He always scrunched up his nose when he was serious, and he did so then.
[I think… we have options.]
Yes, they had options.
Clare smile-sighed, and they got to work.