I had been abandoned. Left to fend for myself. Whatever the cause, my helper was not here and there was no sign they were coming to help me. I sat in the room and did nothing. I repeatedly flipped to the introductory message to confirm what I read or read over my status in the hope something changed.

Nothing had changed.

The fact that I was alone really started to sink in. Even though the room I was in was pitch black, I felt like it was getting darker and darker, an abyss slowly engulfing me, so stifling that I couldn’t even think “doom!”

But after a little bit, I snapped out of my despair spiral. Actually, it seemed a little strange that I did so so easily. I ruminated about it and came up with a basic theory: human beings required social relationships as part of our very biology; now, however, I had a very different biology, if I even had that. Ultimately, maybe it was impossible for me to get truly depressed. Look on the bright side of life, and all that!

In other words, I should be fine. I will be fine. I am F.I.N.E.

Time for a distraction–status!

Necromancer’s Gorge Demesne

Level 1

Mana 71/100

Demesne Traits: Outworlder

Demesne Skills: Demesne 1; Absorption 2; Landscape 1; Demesne Interface 1

Creature Data: Cave Flora 1; Cave Fauna 1; Undead 1

Demesne Points: 3

Nothing has changed except I did gain one mana. This must be due to a passive mana regeneration ability, which probably ticked over because I had spent so much time in existential crisis management mode. Unfortunately, my sparse status information did not contain any information about mana regeneration. I hoped to get that data soon, but I forced myself not to fret about it. Because I am F.I.N.E.

I moved on to the very last line of text in my status, which said I had three “Demesne Points” available. Hurray customization! In gaming, it was often advantageous to hold onto your points until you knew exactly the build you were going for. I was not under any short term time constraints so I could see myself holding off on spending them. However, the dearth of descriptive information and the lack of a guide forced my hand. If I judiciously spent them, I could gain important information.

I focused on the demesne points and willed one of them to be spent towards my interface skill.

Demesne Interface 2 obtained. 1 DP used.

Success! I checked my status again to see any changes:

Necromancer’s Gorge Demesne

Level 1

Mana 71/100

Demesne Traits: Outworlder

Demesne Skills: Demesne 1; Absorption 2; Landscape 1; Demesne Interface 2

Creature Data: Cave Flora 1; Cave Fauna 1; Undead 1

Demesne Points: 2

Frankly, at this point I was not expecting much to be different and my low expectations were easily met. The only substantive change to my status was the skill I had boosted to level two now showed it was level two. Yay.

Then a simple idea came to me. I had previously been able to pull up descriptions of my skills by focusing on one individually where it appeared in my status. There was no harm in trying to do the same with one of my creature sets. I chose “Undead” and focused on it. Sure enough, the information popped up in my mind, providing a description.

Creature Data: Undead (Monster)

Level 1

Templates 1/1

* Skeletons 1

* Skeleton Fighter

Would you look at this–barely any information, again! But at least now I understood one of the system’s imposed limitations. I was currently allowed only a single template for undead monsters (skeletons), which had likely been locked in when I created that skeleton. Zombies must count as a separate type of undead. That made a certain amount of sense. Beyond that, I was also allowed only one monster type from that template--the Skeleton Fighter.

At first, I was severely disappointed–only one creature?--but upon a second reading, I realized there were levels here too. That meant I could get more types of skeletons and more types of undead monsters, eventually. Zombies might still be on the table! Someday. Somehow.

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I went back to my status and checked the other two categories.

Creature Data: Cave Flora (Flora)

Level 1

Flora 0/3

Creature Data: Cave Fauna (Fauna)

Level 1

Fauna 0/2

Interesting. Flora and fauna were treated as separate from each other. They were also separated out from the Landscape skill. Even within each of the datasets, I still had only a limited number of choices I could make. For Cave Flora, I was allowed a maximum of three templates; for fauna I was offered only two. For Monsters, I was only given one template slot. So flora and fauna must be considered inferior to monsters. That made sense. If I populated my dungeon with a dozen fully white rabbits, they were not going to be any threat to any adventurers, Caerbannog excepted. Hmmm . . . I’ll have to store that idea for later.

Three plants and two animals for decorations seemed sufficient for a starting out, but the numbers seemed oddly arbitrary. I didn’t understand why I was restricted in the number of types of harmless plants and animals I could use. Plus, Absorption said I could gain new templates by absorbing things. Whatever was going on, I couldn’t puzzle out a reason for the contradiction.

I decided the only course of action was to experiment like I had with the skeleton. My first monster cost me a massive twenty mana, a full quarter of my starting amount. Hopefully, creating a plant wouldn’t be nearly so expensive. I wanted to know what the mechanics and costs would be, and the only way to do that was to make something new.

I searched my memories to see what I could remember about cave ecosystems; I had enough general knowledge to know a few things that lived in caves. None of them were really interesting or appealing enough to warrant a spot. I then thought about instances of dungeon delving and caves that came from pop-fantasy and science fiction. There were some more interesting options, but I didn’t know how creative I could get. I determined the best course of action was to try something fantastical first, and if that failed, something more realistic.

Thus, I began my effort to create a moss-like plant that gave off light. I focused on creating a patch of moss nearby on the floor of the room I was in. As I felt the mana flow through me, a growth of green mass began to sprout much like many loaves of bread suddenly expanding while in an oven. The moss stopped growing and settled back down slightly as it finished. The moss gave off a soft, slightly green light that gave some illumination to the otherwise completely dark room.

Creature Data: Cave Flora (Flora)

Level 1

Flora 1/3

* Luminescent Moss

Success! I was well on my way to being a true fantasy underground cave dungeon now!

As for a second type of flora that lived in caves, the only thing that came to mind were mushrooms. Since I already had glowing moss, I didn’t need glowing mushrooms. Any basic, regular mushroom would suffice.

This time I wanted to see if I could create the template without having to go through the process of actually creating a physical manifestation. I focused on simply adding mushrooms as a template. It takes a while, but eventually I figure it out. I had to imagine creating a mushroom while at the same time restricting my mana from being expended.

Add “Mushrooms” as a template?

Having the option prompt was definitely superior to creating the thing in the first place, since this way I had the possibility of not accepting the template. Since I lacked better alternatives for cave flora, I figured there was no reason to decline the option and mentally sent a message of “accept.” Mushrooms were added as the second flora template.

Next up was cave fauna. I definitely had a better grasp of animals that lived in caves. There were bats, snakes, spiders, and even . . . a moment of inspiration came to me. Most bears hibernate in caves, so would it be possible to have bears as one of my cave animals? Having a bear as a cave fauna would be like choosing a half-monster--something mean and nasty that could also fight. If I followed the moss example, I could also pick a specific type of bear to fill the template as well. Brown bears were the most common type of bear, but black bears had a particularly violent reputation. Going with the latter, I focused on adding black bears to my creature fauna template list. After a moment, the option popped up and without hesitation I selected “yes.” I have bears!

I decided to reserve the last template slots for flora and fauna for later, should the need arise or inspiration come to me.

Necromancer’s Gorge Demesne

Level 1

Mana 71/100

Demesne Traits: Outworlder

Demesne Skills: Demesne1; Absorption 2; Landscape 1; Demesne Interface 2

Creature Data: Cave Flora 1; Cave Fauna 1; Undead 1

Demesne Points: 2

There was still no change in my status. Even my mana was the same; wait, even my mana was the same! That meant that creating the moss either cost no mana, or, more likely, cost negligible mana. All I needed to do was mass produce moss to get an idea of its cost and the value of a single point of mana.

Wait, wait. My mana was the same. That meant I hadn’t gained any mana either. All this time since I had first checked my status and I had yet to gain any mana.

That can’t be right.

Worse case, it was right.

I–I needed to carefully budget my mana expenditures until I could get some more mana. It was time to do some thinking.