Obu started by breathing deeply, causing Aether to flood in from the open cave entrance. She then breathed out, waited, and then tugged when the stone and earth had been claimed. She found as she dug that what she claimed could be manipulated further. She could compress it and make it harder or stretch it thin and make it brittle. Continuing on happily she felt herself grow larger in the strangest way.
Halls began to take form out of the rock and she was prodded by her instincts to expand outward. So she began to hollow out a large cavern-like space. It ended up being roughly 60 goblin feet wide and 20 goblin feet tall. In tall folk terms, she supposed they would consider it small but to a goblin, this would be perfect. After all, it wasn’t her fault that tall folk wanted everything to be twice as big.
Why would she want to cater to tall folk in any case, she was building a goblin cave. Her father would have a stroke if she chose anything else. Sadly she couldn’t make the ceiling any lower. Apparently, the System had requirements for how big a room could be. She could make stalactites though so she grew a couple from the ceiling to make it appear lower than it was. She then grew stalagmite mounds from the ground with some connecting to form natural columns with the stalactites.
When was finished she felt the System ting, acknowledging her creation.
Congratulations Dungeon Core!
* You have created your First Room and have begun your First Floor!
* Rooms on the Floor: 1 / 5
* Reward +200 Xp
* You have enough Xp to ascend to Level 1!
New Quest Given!
[Building Plans]
Type: Chain, Repeatable
Step 1: Build a new Room [Completed - Reward +100 Xp]
Step 2: Furnish your Room
Description: Furnish your room with the following to complete it:
* Monster Spawner 0 / 1
* Traps 0 / 2
New Quest Given!
[Preparing the Floor]
Type: Chain, Repeatable
Step 1: Choose an Environment for your Floor
Description: Current Environments available to be chosen:
* Cavern
Note: Options based on the overall Room structure of the current Floor
Obu stared at the new Quests with interest. There was a way forward. She didn’t know what it meant to get Experience but she enjoyed seeing the numbers go up regardless. She felt the same way about seeing her Floor and Room numbers go up by one each. From the look of it, the Quests would give her more Experience if she completed them and also give her ideas on how she could grow. She decided that the System wasn’t as bad as her Father had originally thought but she understood his refusal to be integrated even more now.
If nothing else he would hate all the annoying little words, she thought to herself, chuckling as she looked upon her new room with a little pride. It wasn’t much but she could change that. The last quest she had received had mentioned that her options for an Environment were contingent on how she structured her rooms. No wonder all I got was a Cavern Environment, she thought with chagrin.
To be fair she hadn’t known it at the time but she knew what she would do now. The cave would be fine for now but once she got a new Floor she would surprise her father with a Swamp Environment. Before that though she needed to experiment some more. She still didn’t know what Cornerstone to choose after all. She picked the Cavern Environment and watched as the little cave she had made transformed.
Aether shuddered and twisted as new stalactites and stalagmites formed under its power. Small rock pools formed in and around some of them, filling with water. Condensation formed around the upper reaches of the Cavern and began collecting on the stalactites only to drip down and fall into the pools with soft plopping sounds. After it was finished the Cavern was no longer a roughly formed cave. Instead, Obu looked out upon an almost natural cavern structure with twisting paths that led deeper and pools of indeterminable depths.
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She almost chose the Environmental Cornerstone right then and there but she held herself back on the grounds that she might like something else better. It was beautiful though and she tried to picture being able to manipulate her areas like that in the future. She shook off those thoughts as the System pinged, notifying her of her success.
Congratulations Dungeon Core!
* You have enough Xp to ascend to Level 2!
[Preparing the Floor]
Type: Chain, Repeatable
Step 1: Choose an Environment for your Floor [Completed - Reward +100 Xp]
Step 2: Choose a Monster Type for your Floor
Description: Current Monster Types Available
* Goblinoid
* Fungal
* Radiant
Note: Options based on assimilated Experience prior to Awakening. Future options will be chosen from consumed or claimed creatures.
If Obu had hands she would have clapped them. She was so happy. Her first two options were sure to be a big hit with her father. He would be so proud of her. The last one was interesting but really wasn’t much of a consideration in her mind. The note though caught her attention. She hummed to herself thoughtfully. That meant that these options would potentially disappear unless she found more examples of them.
She chose Goblinoid right away. After all, there were no Goblins in this universe other than her father and he wouldn’t be pleased if she tried to claim him. She didn’t even know if she could, though it would be funny to try. She giggled at the thought. She quickly opened the Quest tab again and found the notification forming in real-time. Once it was complete the System chimed pleasantly to let her know it was finished.
She nodded, pleased at what she found.
Congratulations Dungeon Core!
* You have chosen your very first Monster Type!
* You now have access to Goblinoid Spawners!
[Preparing the Floor]
Type: Chain, Repeatable
Step 1: Choose an Environment for your Floor [Completed - Reward +100 Xp]
Step 2: Choose a Monster Type for your Floor [Completed - Reward +100 Xp]
Step 3: Choose a Trap Type for your Floor
Description: Current Trap Types Available
* Mechanical
* Environmental
* Arcane
Note: Options are based on Floor Environment, available Monsters, and any Arcane Knowledge.
Obu looked over her new options with excitement. There was something addicting about getting new toys and although she was an Ancient Mystical Tool she was also a newborn. She poured over the options wondering how they would interact but from the note she figured they would interact with different parts of her Dungeon.
Mechanical would most likely have to be activated by an intruder or one of her Goblinoid Monsters while an Environmental Trap would be something like a falling stalactite or pitfall. The only type she wasn’t sure of was Arcane because that was more her father’s area of expertise. For all that she was the medium through which he cast his great spells, those memories were like those of a spectator. She had no knowledge of how exactly they worked.
If she chose it she had no doubt that the System would give her some knowledge to go along with the Trap but she didn’t want that. Besides, even if she didn’t pick it maybe she could have her father put a few traps of his own down. Since he wasn’t integrated maybe the System wouldn’t acknowledge his traps as a part of her Dungeon. She smiled at the thought of her father helping her.
She honed in on the top two options and weighed them both for a while. She didn’t quite know which one she preferred but she ended up choosing Environmental since she didn’t want her creatures to have to activate anything. She didn’t even know if her Goblinoid Monsters could activate a trap properly. Her father aside, most Goblinoids seemed pretty stupid.
Excited she waited for the chime and was pleased when it sounded right on time.
Congratulations Dungeon Core!
* You have chosen your very first Trap Type!
* You now have access to Cavern Traps!
* You have enough Xp to ascend to Level 3!
[Preparing the Floor]
Type: Chain, Repeatable
Step 1: Choose an Environment for your Floor [Completed - Reward +100 Xp]
Step 2: Choose a Monster Type for your Floor [Completed - Reward +100 Xp]
Step 3: Choose a Trap Type for your Floor [Completed - Reward +100 Xp]
Step 4: Complete the Floor
Description: Complete the Floor by completing Rooms
* Rooms Complete: 0 / 5
Glowing with happiness Obu turned to her Room and mentally rubbed her hands together like she remembered her father doing before collecting ‘shinies.’ She might not have hands like him but she was quickly becoming enthralled with the idea of collecting new things to populate her Dungeon with. Maybe I can make him some shinies for when he wakes up, she thought giggling. Turning back to her Dungeon, she got to work.