Within these dark and decrepit caves, I saw something unnatural, something rectangular. Ah, a fortress! Its rotting wooden gates opened, and small corpses, or rather, whatever was left of the corpses, were laid across the impregnable fortress. It seemed a great siege befell this unfortunate fortress, and it failed to defend itself.

The particles here took on an unsightly purple colour; perhaps a large amount of dead matter could affect this peculiar form of energy. As my gaze entered the vast, winding halls, I encountered a throne room. There lied a king; his crown sat atop his head; he was clothed in golden robes; and golden rings adorned his every finger, never decaying or rotting, unlike the robes and tunics of his fellow countrymen. He held a great staff with an exquisite brown crystal with strange brown energy surrounding it, and engraved upon it were runes of unknown origin.

This doesn't make sense; if the attacking force succeeded, why didn't they sack the castle? Its treasures lay there untouched. And it seemed no one else after the battle seemed to even think of looting it; maybe it was forgotten? A battle of this calibre shouldn't have been forgotten unless everyone associated with it died. My inner historian seems to be confused. Well, there is a fortress there, and what place better than a fortress is there to keep yourself safe?

So, I empowered myself with the strange energy and tried to levitate myself, but nothing happened. Okay, I tried to lift the rock I lied upon, and it did levitate, though it did take a good portion of my energy. So, I moved myself across the cave and entered the battered, rotting gates winding across the labyrinthian passageways. I found myself in the throne room and moved the king's skeleton away, setting myself atop the hard and uncomfortable throne. Well, what now? Well, considering it'd be ineffective to call this strange energy 'strange energy, I will call it mana since it seemed to possess magical qualities. Dungeons are supposed to have monsters to defend them, right?

Intending to find some monsters, or really any animal. I scoured across the caves to find any spark of life, only to find a small underground creek that was filled with dozens of blind lizards. Well, not much to work with, but if there are lizards, there should be some prey animal. And after looking a bit more, I found strange beetles with a form of bioluminescence or maybe mana-infused shells. I tried to command it to go to the fortress, but it didn't answer my call. Maybe it isn't intelligent enough, or maybe I have no authority over it.

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I try to do it again with mana, and it complies, though I have no use for beetles, so I do the same to the lizard, and I order it to come to the fortress. It complies, yet it's painfully slow. As it enters the gate, I order it to stop, and it does. Then I order it to fly, but it does nothing; it seems confused by my order. Hmm, it seems I can order it to do anything within its capabilities, then I try infusing it with mana, and then it faints. It hasn't died, but it might have if I had put a bit more in.

I waited a bit, and it woke up. I turned my gaze towards it; it seemed a bit different, a bit stronger. I looked more closely and realised it had a rock inside of it; it seemed to comprise solely of mana. Perhaps that is what I am, a mana-rock with sentience? I command a bunch of other cave lizards to come here as well. Maybe I could alter their forms as well? I set the first lizard aside as I experimented with its brethren. I tried to use mana to extend its tail, and it did maybe a centimeter or two, and then it died. weird, and then after it died, I felt a Succulent green mana that resided in the creature rush over to my core, invigorating it. Perhaps all living things that die within my halls have their mana sent to me if they do possess it.

I infused the rest of the lizards with mana so they developed cores; unfortunately, it seemed three had died, so I was left with only four lizards: one male and the rest female. I took a female and tried to extend its tail, and unlike the natural lizard, the infused one seemed to be capable of alterations to its body. With this lizard with an extra-long tail, I try to alter its mind. I tried to increase the size of its brain only by a little bit, and it did increase, yet it took far more mana than the tail, even though the tail grew more. Maybe the complexity of the object influences the mana needed.

I try to restore the lizard's sense of sight, but I fail. These lizards still possess eyes, although vestigial ones. Why can't I restore what they once had? Perhaps I can only alter these creatures. I can't add features, but I can alter those that already exist. But where do the limits lie?