Rousing from my semi-meditative state, I give a mental yawn and stretch. At least without a body, I don't get a stiff neck for resting weird. Deciding to see how productive it had been, I braced as I mentally called 'Status'
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Type: Dungeon Core
Size: 1.2 x 0.7 x 0.7cm
Color: Colorless
Rank: Iron Rank
Territory: 2.25km³
Mana Generation: 18.6 per min
Mana Retention: 3.72 per min
Current Mana: 16,934.5
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Surprisingly, it was little more than a brief flash of pain. I could get used to this, with time. Moving on, my status has changed a little since I had last viewed it. It now showed the size of my territory as well as my rank. It seems I had also grown a bit. Not much, just 2mm in all directions, but for some reason I still felt happy about it none the less. Having forgotten about the bonus perks from my traits, I decided I better look into it. But first....
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You have Impressed Arianne the Godess of Forests with your creation of the 'Great Forest Boar'
As a reward they have been raised to Iron Rank and she has given you her blessing
Increased growth of plants
Increased fertility within your territory
Your creations unlock Nature Type abilities easier
Related to the Plains Boars family. This particular species has been designed by a dungeon to better survive in forests. Clears deadwood and overgrown areas promoting new growth. Extremely territorial and will slash with it's sharpened tusks at the slightest provocation. Has terrible eyesight but a sense of smell second to none.
Strength - 8
Vitality - 10
Agility - 7
Dexterity - 3
Intelligence - 1
Wisdom - 1
Please choose from the following
-Soul Manipulation
-Dungeon Instances
-Auto-Spawn
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The Godesses blessing was an unexpected, but very welcome gift. One I was sure to make use of with the way I had been setting up my creatures. As a bonus the boars also went up a rank. Their size also increased by about 20%. Now they whieghed in at around 130kgs as apposed to around 110 before. Their scales were rougher, and their tusks were more wickedly curved coming to a deceptively sharp edge. They also had a greenish tint to them. Studying it, they seemed to contain trace amounts of copper so the colouration is likely from oxidization.
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For the perk I chose Soul Manipulation. Instances weren't really necessary for my at this point in time, and the auto spawn wasn't really useful since I had somewhat sentient creatures with increased fertility. Soul Manipulation didn't really do much at this point, not only allowed me to perceive and perheps touch a soul but not really influence it. If I practiced enough though I could manifest a projection for moments at a time. Perhaps even bind souls to objects like I was. Not that I was planning to do it to others, I just figured it was a method of getting my own body. Leaving the multitude of ethical and literal issues of that train of thought behind, I decided to get on with it.
Starting with the imps, first I increased their height to an average of around 120cm for females and 135cm for males, effectively doubling it. Next I increased their hair growth to human levels and removed a horn and centered the remaining horn to their hairline. Rounding out their face a little in order to keep an angled look while removing wrinkles got rid of the perpetual sneer and gave them an exotic look. I increased the size of their wings and corresponding muscles giving them limited short range flight. Lastly I changed their skin tone from a bright red to a coffee colored tan. All in all, the changes to the race cost nearly 10,000 mana. Spawning 6 pairs, since soulstones cost 100,000 mana each, I just gave them all manastones instead.
Leaving the Imps to themselves, I moved onto my Gnolls. Since I used most of my mana on the imps, I wouldn't be able to make any large changes to them. Thankfully, there weren't many things I wanted to change. All I did was make their coat sleeker (more because I preferred it that way though I reasoned it would be easier to take care of), and the colors a little darker in order to blend into the forest a bit better.
I also wanted to make them more naturally curious but I didn't want to take away their shyness. Eventually I found a balance where they were curious but extremely cautious. A trait that I was sure would serve them well. Since the modifications were extremely minor, I spawned another 6 pairs with manastones for a total of just over 4,000.
Stepping back (metaphoricaly of course) and observing all of my creatures, I noticed something that I missed earlier. The of the 2 deer I gave manastones to, only the buck had a herd while the doe was off on her own. Taking a look around, every other group animal every other herd or group animal was the same. The male leading and the female on it's own. Unsure what the significance of this was, I decided to leave them for now and just made sure to remember to look in on them later.
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In a forest thick with shadows and mist, a hooded figure knelt before a lightly glowing pond. Beneath their hood bright green eyes seemed to glow with their own inner light as they stared at the image reflected in the still waters, a slight smile on their lips. The threadbare rags making up their robes rustling slightly as the stroked the oversized boar with scales reminiscent of moss covered rocks.
"And so the wheel turns again. Perhaps the two of you shall meet before long, Little Core?" A young, clear voice drifted gently from her lips.
As she turned a manastone in her free hand, one could notice veins of crimson slowly dyeing the sky blue crystal purple.
"But what other interesting changes will you make in the meantime, I wonder?" The woman giggled as she looked at the slowly changing stone in her hand.