Chapter 3.2 Good or Bad Deal, continued
“I am the Great Dungeon Lord. This is my dungeon. You can’t have it. But I can reward… handsomely…” The core said despondently in a monotone, chant like way.
“Hey, dungeon… I asked, what is your name, not your title…” the core chanted more subdued. As it reads its own sheet seeing ownership of the dungeon is not only transferred but the dungeon is also destroyed. Then for the first time it bothers the core when it reads the name section.
Name: unnamed
“I am the Great Dungeon Lord. This is my dungeon. You can’t have it…”
“Are you ignoring me?” John asked now with greater aggravation.
“I am the Great Dungeon Lord. This is my dungeon…” the core repeated even more subdued.
So much energy is lost, so much mana is depleted.
Loosing patients with the dialog John stated “Hello? Can you hear me? Are you gone and truly broken?”
“I am the dungeon lord…” was repeated in almost a whisper. Almost everything is dead.
“You don’t have a name do you? How about you call me John, not spirit, and not damn you, and not HEY YOU. Think that will work for you?”
“I… uhh.” The dungeon said evasively.
“Me John, you …”
“…”
“ John, or how about friend? Can I get that much? You’re alive right? You know I did help at least to a degree, right?”
“…” even if the core remained silent john could still feel the attention the core has on him.
John pauses and starts to consider what to say next.
After a few more moments John got the idea to maybe see if the core likes the name or reference.
“So dungeon lord… how about I call you Ruby? You are red and shiny…”
“Ruby!? Why ruby? I’m a dungeon lord you know. Great and powerful.. and…”
Oh boy, there’s at least a reaction… “What’s wrong with Ruby? It’s a pretty name and it’s red, you’re red. Sure you are brilliant compared to an inert gem.”
“I … uh… Why are you using so much human references?”
“I once was a human.”
“huh?”
“I was once human but I died. You understand?”
“How is that? Your spirit is strong. And unless you’re a grand human, all humans have bad strength. They are weak and easily eaten.”
“Wait, wait…what? explain.” John said now extremely concerned
“Explain what?”
“Explain what you mean about grand humans, and you eat them?”
“Yea, like I said. Very powerful humans are pronounced in spirit. They are thicker and stronger. They have greater amounts of energy and given time they are turned into energy. It’s like the bigger the floors i create the more energy I gather from the ground I occupy. But you didn’t answer the question.”
“Witch one?”John asked.
“How is it you were human? Besides you are easy to understand, speak to, far more aware, and more able then the recently deceased. That aside what are you? I can’t read you. Your more like an ancient forest spirit or strong summon.”
“I died recently, but I’m not from around here. I got stuck in a place, yet I got out. It was a call for help I responded too. So I ended up here. But what do you mean read?”
“I can’t believe you were human. But read is read… or analyze, or identify. Do you understand my meaning?” the dungeon lord responds and pushes the concept of person or item and data or information toward John.
“Do you mean my status? Or statistics? Ah, how about character sheet?” John asks with the responding idea of games and the character sheets.
After a few moments the dungeon responded. “I think I understand what you mean. But yes. I can identify most things. I can see their … I can see what you can call personal information. Disembodied, psychics, or spirits speak from their essence. Not using crude grunts or gibberish that animals or humanoids use. Our meanings are pushed back and forth so long as we can share. Images and meanings are shared like a fire does with heat to the air. Do you understand?”
“I guess it does… to some extent. So the focus of spirit or focus of will has a huge effect then by what your explaining doesn’t it? Like weak image or weak focus can cause a vague meaning? It is like if I think of a huge body of water like ocean and project it to someone. And then a weak spirit thinks the same thing it comes out like a puddle instead of an ocean like I projected.”
“So it is that type of loss in translation?” John asked in confirmation.
“yes.” The dungeon lord replies.
John considered the many conscious dreams he had before his death. But it was also the experiences after his death. Could this have in part been the reason? But there was also the crushing feeling from the portal. Then there is this place and the so called character sheet and announcer. I wonder if this world is being negatively affected from the transfer of things.
John continues “So this means were on the same level? Or at least we are fairly equal to one another?”
“as being able to respond to each other yes. But I have never before encountered such a spirit as you. If I did it would have likely ate me or destroyed this place long ago. You seem entirely different than anything I am familiar with.”
“Seriously? What do you mean different?
“I mean you’re dense. You have more power than other spirits that I’ve seen and your will is stronger than most. Meaning you would be hard to control, summon, and your use of energy is crude, horrible. But … you did … um change or fix my core in a way.”
“Dense? You’re not being rude are you? And what’s wrong with what I did? It worked right? Maybe not as efficient as it could have been, but it’s what I could do?”
After absorbing Johns meaning of Dense the dungeon lord replies “well maybe dense, but your essence is thick like fire rock (magma). It is hard to affect from the outside. Your use of energy is crude and raw. If you were good at your use of energy then I would say it was refined. Besides you ate the mana I was losing. Mana is my refined energy. So how was it? Could you tell the difference? And are you going to give me back my dungeon?”
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
John taken a back from the last question paused before answering. “No”
“No… No what?”
“No I’m not giving you back the dungeon until we negotiate things out. But yes I could tell the difference between your mana and my energy as you put it. But it’s tiresome to use my energy, but the mana was easy to use.”
“so when can I get back my dungeon?”
“what is your name?”
“I am the dungeon lord…” it starts to say.
john interrupts with, “how about crimson?”
“no…”
“red”
“no!”
“ruby ruu” John smirks as he remembers a certain cartoon dog.
“NO!” the dungeon responds to with growing irritation.
“Flame heart”
“no”
“Jules Vern”
“no”
“Jewlie”
With a sigh “no”
“Sakura” He thought with a bit of fondness.
The dungeon lord pauses “what do you mean?”
John tries to share his memory of watching a Sakura tree blooming. He recalls the look of all the petals blowing in the air with the name “Sakura, from Sakura tree’s, people, and anime.”
The dungeon lord reviews the information several times. “That’s interesting. And you mean to say people celebrate these trees and watch this? I’ve never seen anything like this.”
“How about that name? Do you like it? It was popular in part of the world that I came from. But the language was different from my native language.”
“It is a name for trees and people? Female? And you admire these?”
“Well yes. People called trees Sakura trees, and people also used the name for females.”
The dungeon lord could feel the admiration and likening behind the meanings for the name and decided. Then this spirit will admire me with this name. With a determination the dungeon lord declared it so. “You may call me Sakura the Great Dungeon Lord. And return the authority to my dungeon.”
New entry Name: Sakura
Surprised, John was a little slow to respond. “I’m glad you like the name. But As I said my name was John. Please call me by my name. And no I’m not just handing over the control of the dungeon if you’re just going to eat people.”
“Tch, and what you expect me to just live on the ground. I could barely make it if all I could do is spread and take the life of only the plants on the hill or animals that scamper in. It’s not worth it. Also you realize if people figure out I’m here they will come back and try to kill me again. IF you’re truly stuck here, then maybe you’ll die too. We can die together.”
“Sakura, explain this to me. I need to understand how you live and what you do to live. How do you expand? How do you live? How do you take energy? Do things give off this energy? Please explain this thoroughly.”
Sakura understanding the sincerity behind these words began to consider the importance John put behind the questions.
“Where I came from people lived in huge cities, with millions at a time in buildings that reached high in the air. Farms stretched on for miles on end. People flew in air craft, while others were able to use huge boats to transport large boxes of goods. Good people didn’t just kill others. So long as people didn’t steal, or kill, or do other nasty things to each other then most people didn’t bother others. I want to be at peace with the people here. There is much I could contribute to helping others here. But if you can’t live without killing people then this is against what I want.”
“Master, you are truly different than anything in the world. I understand now what you’re getting at. People walk around giving out energy. I’m not sure how to explain this better. But people are like slimes that are dropping off blobs everywhere they go. But greater people or more powerful people don’t lose as much energy as weaker people do. However what they do leak out is rich or concentrated. Everything gives out energy to some extent. Gold gives greater energy than silver, and some minerals or crystals give energy faster than other gems. Even dirt provides some energy if given enough time. If I take the life of a tree I get more energy at one time than the trickle of gold or crystals. But it provides so little if I control the area the tree is in. It is like consuming a tree could be 20 or 40 energy right now. But over time I could get 1 to 20 energy over a whole day with special metals and how much I have. And a tree may only provide 2 to 4 points over a whole day if I cultivate it. So it is usually better to take the life of a tree than to keep it. I might want to use the tree for something like cover, hiding place for spiders, or for fruits to draw in animals.”
“You said you control an area. What do you mean?”
“I impart a portion of my energy into a place and “claim it”. Once I can claim it I can change or alter the claimed area. Reforming stone or changing materials is easy, and humans are lured in with riches, gold, or even monster core.”
“Monster core?”
“Yes I didn’t get to that yet. Creatures that enter can be killed and used, or if they chose to become my tool or if I can enslave them then they get a core when I implant part of my power in them. It takes time for the core to develop and the stronger the monster then the bigger the core.”
“How do you kill or use creatures that enter?”
“By overpowering it I can cause it to die or submit. But this only happens if it’s a very weak creature and I need to be careful at how much pressure I put on it. But people who come to the dungeon are almost never so weak. Plants are almost always that weak. Except plants that are under elf control they are immune to my influence. If I kill a monster I can use its dead form. If the creature submits I can implant some energy and it will grow a core. Once a core is formed then it is my minion. Something like how you are my master now. But once a creature has a core it can change. Core creatures are called monster by humans and no longer provide me with extra energy unless they are sent out to fetch me things that provide me energy.”
“Wait a moment. Explain this energy and what you called mana. You said mana is refined energy.”
“I’m not sure how else to explain this, but yes the energy I get from all these things I turn to mana. The energy is pulled into the whole dungeon and concentrated into the core where it is transformed into mana. I use this mana as imparted energy to develop cores. Mana is used to manipulate the dungeon easily and reform items. It takes a lot of mana to expand my absolute control over the dungeon. Do you understand why I need my dungeon? This is why I need to get rid of these humans. With no energy I get no mana. If I don’t get mana I can’t do anything about the humans or anything else. Then we would die. Do you get it now? For just a simple newly created minion it takes 100 mana, and for a basic space (5x5x5) room it takes 50 mana to create or claim these things. I usually get 5 mana each day from a basic space. But there are occasions when claiming a space can provide a little more. Like flowing water, or flowing fire rocks.”
“What about batteries? What about chemicals? And can you expand without controlling everything? Can you be like a tree and send out roots?” John asks as he sends the concepts he was familiar with from his world. He recalls the batteries, tools, and even electrical lines that all provide power.
With careful consideration Sakura took a guess. “Those things you speak about are not things that I’m familiar with. But.”
“But?” he asked.
“But maybe you know of other energy. Maybe this can be converted to mana too.”
“What about roots? Can you expand without claiming everything, but still gather energy or gather material like minerals?”
Potential and possibilities John explained started to excite Sakura.
“And if gold helps you gather energy then what if people would pay you for materials? Clothing or silk are just a few trade goods. If you can control plants and help grow them then consider this. In ages past people would seek spice and trade goods and go to war over it. So consider if you could grow spices and sell them then how much gold do you think humans would pay for this? However you can’t operate like a dungeon. You need a way to at least fake being human. In addition do you know how big the world is? Have you ever seen a desert, an ocean, or see what it is like to fly high above? On top of all that farms slaughter animals and unused material is often buried. And as people age and die in town they are buried in graveyards. So if you don’t mind the idea of recycling. Then would you consider changing the way you live?”
If the dungeon lord Sakura lived like a shut in, then this is what happens when a shut in gets access to the internet. It is like being introduced to the rest of the world all at one time. Sakura’s mind is blown and sent reeling from the huge potential that is being introduced. Sakura remained silent while taking in the information. The understanding or comprehension is slow and incomplete. Too much is foreign and is behind advanced theory. But Sakura understands that there is great potential in how it is presented. Surely the root thing would be experimental, but as John describes the suggestion Sakura smiles on the inside.
It is like using growth steroids on the plant, while harvesting extra production from it. In addition to use some of the grown branches to make goods they could sell directly for gold. But there is a question of directly forming material with a tree that isn’t completely claimed but boosted. It is not the same as laying claim, but could be more energy efficient. It also seems like the master is suggesting there is useful material in the rock and land. If the core could extend a root to find, identify, extract it then reform it in bars then it is another form of sales good.
The exchange of ideas continued like this for a while.