My Apprentices are struggling with their current exercise, which is definitely a good thing. They aren’t learning if they aren’t struggling.

It’s amazing how much Askos’ attitude has changed since I met him. He’s still headstrong and determined, but that determination is now tempered by restraint and other concepts I can’t properly name. I doubt he will ever be as good of a healer as Junior is, but he will likely end up being much more important in his life. I can see Junior being satisfied as the head of the Hornmark household and leading a relatively simple life as one of the greatest healers in our great empire, while I can tell that Askos would be miserable in such a simple life.

There is a certain restlessness about him, once I am no longer able to teach him anything I doubt he will stick around. The good news is he is a healer, healers are hard to kill and even when they are captured they are usually treated well. And he will be in danger in his life, much more so than Junior. I just have to as thorough as I can with his training.

He hasn’t vocalized his desires, but it is easy to piece things together when you are constantly someone’s mind. I wouldn’t be surprised if even he isn’t aware of what he wants yet

Junior, on the other hand, has been a lot happier and more content recently. She hasn’t been glued to my side nearly as much anymore and actually visits her siblings from time to time instead of putting every waking moment into training.

She would be miserable as an adventurer, and I see her thriving in a quiet life.

I spent most of my day talking with the scholars to try and figure out what a good writing device would be able to do. From what they say the single most important part is that it has no skill cap of any kind, so that it doesn’t matter how good you get with it you will always be able to get better. They agreed with me when I said that using thoughts is probably the best way to go about it, though they did mention that some people might struggle to use it like that. Something to do with thinking in images instead of words, though I’m not too sure how to get around that issue. With the scholars also trying to think of a solution we should be able to figure something out sooner or later.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

They did mention that plant manipulators capable of creating something even mildly complex by my standards are incredibly rare, so the device should have a way to duplicate itself in order for it to be able to achieve widespread use, probably something along the lines of feeding it mana and triggering a certain part of the device to make it duplicate itself.

I also took the chance to ask about Talus’s comment from the other day about dungeons being manipulated by the things that manipulate them, it seemed important. Several of the scholars here specialize in the study of dungeons, part of why they are here instead of somewhere else, so they probably know more than most. From what they said it likely has something to do with the soul, specifically how dungeons are capable of splitting off so many large fragments of their own soul.

To properly explain it, it goes back to the method dungeons use to control their own creatures, which is the same method a necromancer uses to control their undead, only much more expensive and much more effective. Dungeons are able to pay this cost because they take the cast-offs of all souls inside of their domain, allowing them to replenish their own soul at a dramatically faster rate. Now, having your soul inside of another creature’s soul lets you manipulate it, and the more of your soul present the more you are able to manipulate the creature. But even small amounts of another creature’s soul is able to do something, and dungeons are constantly bringing tiny amounts of other souls to incorporate into their own body.

I managed to get more information from the dungeons themselves about the subject. In most cases the vast majority of the souls in a dungeon would have been seeded by the dungeon, meaning the dungeon would in effect be getting tiny parts of their own soul constantly, which reinforces the personality of a dungeon and makes it hard for it to change. With younger dungeons this doesn’t matter too much, it is hard enough to survive the day to day as an infantile dungeon, especially if you get discovered before you are able to defend yourself. But older dungeons will go out of their way to invite divers to enter into their home so that they can get a chance to grow and change.

This is honestly really obvious in hindsight and not at all surprising. I already knew the people were influencing me in at least one way, and I am still me despite all of the countless souls influencing me so I don’t think it is really an issue. That and even if I wanted to change that I don’t think I would be able to.

I’ll be getting started on the writing device tomorrow, I’m looking forward to seeing how that turns out.

Anyway, Good Night Diary.