Initial Training Recommended To Be Completed Before Dungeon Placement For Optimal Performance
“Yeah! I know!” Graverra snapped as she dismissed the System’s message again. She’d stopped worrying about being too loud after the third time the System had tried to ‘help’. If turning their first actual room into something that—at least, on paper—looked like a castle’s courtyard hadn’t awoken her dearest dungeon core husband, then it didn’t seem a shouting match with the System would either.
For the best, honestly.
Watching Graverra struggle to get a fountain working seemed like just the kind of thing to reinforce the idea that she’d broken the very concept of dungeon building. Like she wanted to build an entire cistern underneath the dungeon; which the System was both asking her to do and telling her she didn’t meet the requirements for at the same maddening time.
“Okay!” Graverra shook out her hands before placing them back on the edge of her grimoire. While nothing had required gestures, incantations, or components yet, it still felt the same as casting spells. So maybe if she could just cast it right this time…
Place Basic Fountain for 500 mana?
[Y]/N
Warning - Waterworks process is not in place!
“Would you like to run the required spell sequence?” Graverra mocked what she knew the System would spit out at her next. “Yes, but then you’re going to tell me…”
Spell Craft Rank 5 required!
“I can almost raise medium sized corpses, you know!” Graverra pounded a fist on the drawing of the fountain. “A little water shouldn’t be this difficult!”
Initial Training Recommended To Be Completed Before Dungeon Placement For Optimal Performance
Graverra let out another frustrated growl. Maybe she should have just pulled up that whole dungeon training thing while Hecrux was asleep. But that just reminded her of the way Hecrux had so easily dismissed the System’s recommendation, how he didn’t need it because he already knew everything. Or was supposed to.
He would still know everything if she hadn’t broken the dungeon. And if Graverra was a real dungeon core, she wouldn’t need to do any training either.
“Whatever.” Graverra hurriedly pushed the thought from her mind and the confirmation that yes, she did want to place the basic fountain for five hundred mana, yes, even if she couldn’t run the spell sequence to make the water work. If Hecrux complained about it, she planned to just tell him that it made sense for it not to work, what with most of everything coming from the desecrated style family. Except for the fountain itself, because, of course. They weren’t allowed to have anything more than basic in that instance. Their masonry skill line wasn’t far enough along.
One Skill Point Allotted to Masonry
Graverra gave her grimoire a flat look—that had felt pointed—then pulled up the lists of things affected by their masonry skill line, just to check.
Graverra had enjoyed the process of scrolling through lists of plants, cobblestones, and other set dressings. The head rush from tens, or even hundreds, of mana was much more manageable than the thousands being dropped before. Accessorizing herself had always come with limitations—money, and despite what Branimir believed, practicality—and even before that, gardening had never appealed to her, but this… If all Hecrux wound up needing her for was interior design, perhaps she could be happy.
Although she really would have to find some better way to see it all; she felt in danger of going cross eyed with just the map in her grimoire.
Graverra straightened up from her work with a yawn and a stretch. That had worn on her more than she had expected. All she’d done was sit there, but immediately passing out the way Hecrux had made much more sense on this side of it. She had usually tried not to run down her entire mana pool before this; nobody wanted to carry her back to camp or wait long enough for her to recover. Graverra guessed that was fair, but now… She didn’t need to worry about being caught or left unawares like that.
“I guess I could just sleep in here, but…” The floor still squished when she pushed the chair back. Hecrux still slept. Not that Graverra had thought saying anything might wake him, but…
✨ 💀 ✨
Evidently, Graverra had guessed wrong when she’d said the hat stayed on during soul merging… Or whatever they’d done. Where a decent power nap used to have her mana pool back up to full thanks to the boosts on her hat, gloves, and scythe, now she was stuck staring up at the canopy over her bed, thinking.
Secondary Core Mana Reserves: 1,890 (7% / 1hr)
“That has to be enough for something.” Graverra grumbled only to startle herself with more self-reflection. That was double her previous mana pool, it wasn’t even finished regenerating, and here she was unhappy with it and jonesing for more…
Isolating that bit of her stats had become easy. Too easy. It was like picking at an itchy scab now; something constant, on the edge of her awareness, and only temporarily relieved by paying it any mind.
Graverra had never been a numbers person; that’s what the more formulaic casters were for. She didn’t remember her exact rate of mana regeneration before all this mostly because she hadn’t cared to know, but it had to have been faster than this…
Dungeon Will Be Placed In… [346:01:27]
Graverra frowned as the information came to mind. It might have helped if she remembered when exactly she’d stopped working or fallen asleep, but she didn’t, so now it just served to remind her that they had a deadline and here she was waiting on her reserves to refill. Alone.
“Hey, dungeon? System? Whatever you are… Can you tell me if my darling primary core is awake yet?” Asking, sometimes even thinking, questions had gotten her answers without even really wanting them before, Graverra felt she might as well take advantage of it even if it did make her feel a little crazy.
Primary Core Status: Inactive
“How?” Graverra sat up in bed; as wonderful a bed as it was, this was getting old fast. She needed to do something, the feeling was bordering on compulsion. So maybe that was what Estremon had meant about the whole power to create and going insane in the absence of it thing… Graverra pulled her legs up to cross and summoned her grimoire into her lap. Even with little messages and statuses coming more easily, she appreciated being able to read through lists and chunks of text.
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And the map.
The grimoire opened to it exactly as she had left things. It gave Graverra the moment to feel at least a little self-satisfied with the work she’d done. Fine, it wasn’t a castle, yet, but given the state the dungeon was in before she got her hands on it and the fact that she’d never build anything besides skeletons and a few basic homunculi, she felt justified in taking a little pride over it. She could already imagine how they might fill it out with mobs and traps. The prospect was thrilling.
From the lists of objects, Graverra expected to be able to navigate to lists of mobs. It had the work similarly, as far as Graverra could tell, mobs were kind of like over glorified dungeon furniture. The System would probably yell at her about dungeon training for it, but she didn’t see any harm in looking. Then at least she could go to Hecrux with a plan.
If a list of dungeon mobs existed, however, Graverra wasn’t being allowed to see it. Or, she just couldn’t find it. What she could find though was the category of items with traits similar to an adventurer’s set of armor and other gear. Damage buffs, resistances, and most importantly, mana boosts.
Most were statues modeled after holy symbols or gods themselves, or more easily concealed stones and pillars. The buffs and debuffs were dependent on the dungeon having mobs, which made sense enough to Graverra, but they did at least have access to one whole mana boost.
Chunk of Fallen Meteor
Mana Regeneration Boost - 0.5%
Cost: 250 mana
Can be leveled up with increased Mana Mining skill line
Graverra chewed on her lip, considering the benefits, slim as they were… If that kick started the whole Mana Mining thing, then the sooner the better, right? And they’d make what it cost back all the quicker… And maybe she just hadn’t quite finished her decorating yet. It was a pretty rock; the little drawing that came up with the listing had a mana blue shimmer to it.
Graverra made the map zoom in on the dungeon’s entrance, already a little faster than the last time she’d manipulated the map in that way. She really hadn’t paid the entrance much attention before, not to mention even if the chunk of meteor was very sparkly, it didn’t go with her vision for the courtyard.
Place Chunk of Fallen Meteor in Dungeon Entrance for 250 mana?
[Y] / N
Mana Mining Skill Line Unlocked
One Skill Point Allotted to Mana Mining
“He can’t get mad at more mana.” That was, after all, basically what the entire premise of their relationship had been built on in the first place.
Primary Core Status: Active
The System notification invaded her thoughts.
“Oops.” Graverra slammed her grimoire shut as if that could hide anything. Maybe it was just a coincidence. Maybe he wouldn’t notice, as long as she just-
“Graverra.” Hecrux’s voice projected into the room, freezing her in place for a moment. She’d nearly forgotten he could do that.
Graverra’s eyes widened at the thought of him being able to see in there. She lifted a hand to demurely inspect her nails. Totally chill. “Hm?”
“You were fussing with the dungeon entrance.”
“Oh? Well…” Suddenly, explaining what she had been doing felt like a very bad idea. “I was looking for Capo.”
“And a… chunk of fallen meteor was supposed to help with that?”
Alright, she’d been caught. No sense in hiding it now…
“It regenerates mana faster! And it got us a point in mana mining, which, if we keep on with it, means we can level the meteor, or get something not so basic looking. I think the meteor’s alright though. It probably makes us look like we do have more interesting things further in, which I know is getting ahead of ourselves, but…” Graverra had to pause to breathe. She expected that would give him an in to begin berating her for whatever it was she definitely missed.
Hecrux only grunted. Maybe impressed? More than likely reading or intuiting the information about the meteor.
“I know it’s not like, fast, but it’s something, right? This whole regen thing is taking for-ever…” And it had probably been worse before he had her. Graverra would have jumped on the first mana laden thing she could get her hands on too, if that was the case. “You’re probably close, though, right?”
“Close.” He agreed. “I wouldn’t get in the habit of spending mana again before gaining it back if I were you.”
“Well, why not? I’m not like completely wiping myself out again, and it’s not like we’re going to both pass out or be inactive when the dungeon’s open, right? That doesn’t seem safe.”
Primary Core Status: Inactive
“Really, Hecrux?” Graverra howled up at the ceiling, even if the aiming her complaints at the door probably made more sense. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize having a little conversation about running our dungeon, together, was so draining…”
This time, when Graverra opened her grimoire, she did it with the intent of managing her inventory. Really, she meant the dungeon’s, but if she still had a personal inventory, that was the only kind she had experience with, anyway.
The mirror across the room flashed with her list of attributes and equipment at the same time the page in front of her listed the dungeon’s single stowed item.
‘Capo’ (Basic Skull)
“You’ll be happy to talk to me,” Graverra grumbled to herself. “Just as soon as I figure out how to get you out.”
Restart Initial Dungeon Training?
Y/[N]
“No!” Graverra dismissed the System’s prompt. That one felt pointed too. She could figure out inventory management by herself, of all things.
Place ‘Capo’ (Basic Skull) in Dungeon?
Y/N
While ‘holding’ on to Capo, Graverra pulled up the map and zoomed in on her chambers. It was a bit like sustaining a spell, it definitely made her sweat like one. She hoped that meant it wasn’t eating into her mana reserves.
Place ‘Capo’ (Basic Skull) in Dungeon?
[Y]/N
Graverra had been aiming for her table, as much as she knew how to—either Hecrux had returned it or it had returned to place when she’d taken her nap, Graverra wasn’t sure—but there hadn’t been any clear way to account for the height of her placement.
The skull popped back into existence mid-air and tumbled down over the table and onto its matching seat with a distinct ‘oof’.
“Weren’t you just saying something to the boss about being gentle? Geez girlie…”
Graverra laughed as she got up to place the skull properly on the table. “Hello, Capo.”
“So it worked out alright then? I get to call you boss-girlie, now?”
They still needed to talk about that—the nagging suspicion that Capo knew more than he had told her before getting her to this point—but there were only so many confrontations Graverra felt she could handle in a twenty-four hour period. If it was even that. “I’ve grown rather fond of ‘Mistress’ actually.”
“You already got mobs to call you that? You two have been busy, huh?”
“No! What? That’s not how that works.” Graverra’s cheeks flushed at the implication, damped some by the surprise that she could still blush at all. If being a core had technically killed her, that made her undead didn’t it? And she had it on good authority their circulatory systems were a bit lacking. For all that mattered at the moment. “I haven’t been allowed to summon anything yet. I don’t think Hecrux is very happy with me after all…”
“Is that what we’re calling him now?”
“Well I don’t know if you’re allowed to. And he made it up himself, so be nice.” Maybe she shouldn’t have even told the skull that. Graverra sits and summons her grimoire to the table. Just because she wasn’t supposed to spend any mana didn’t mean she couldn’t look at things.
“And is that what you two’re spatting over? I figured you’d be too busy finding new things to be gross and in love about.”
Graverra laughed weakly. “I know we’re not really in love. And we’re not fighting, anyway. He’ll be happier when we’ve built more.”
Without eyes, it was difficult to imagine where the skull was looking, but with the low whistle—however that was possible—Graverra guessed Capo had taken notice of the dungeon map. “You’d think the boss would be thrilled with all that.”
Graverra’s heart sunk. “He expected I was going to make things easier for him, but all I’ve done is complicate them.”
“You? Easy? Who would ever get that impression?”
Graverra fought off a smile. The familiarity was nice. “If you don’t start being nicer to me, I can banish you back to the front of the dungeon. Or inventory!”
“No, mistress, not back to inventory!” He was still mocking her, but she guessed that was half the fun. “I’ll do anything!”
“Good. Because what we’re going to do is figure out animal handling and monster taming before Hecrux wakes up.”