The vast Void realm lay in absolute silence as always. The only colours within being the light grey that all things constructed of Aether were made of. Everything though lifeless and waxen, had a halo of flickering prismatic colours like an oil spill. This was due to tainted Mana yet unconverted back to its original state as Aether, which would happen automatically over time.
The Void realm was an adjacent dimension to Gulkonda, it was also the source of all Mana, and home to a select number of Void creatures, of which Dungeon Cores were one of them. All Void creatures are born through the condensation of Aether and Void matter. And like any other birth of a newborn void creature, the birth of our particular core was also unexpected and accompanied by a disturbance in Aether and lots of rainbow lights. And since Void creatures were extremely scarce and spread out, nobody noticed nor cared about this particular high profile birth, except of course yours truly, your omniscient author. Now let us see how our newborn is doing.
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I lay in comfortable Darkness. Suddenly, I saw Chromatic lights breaking up the darkness. I was born.
“Hungry!
Looking around a craving for something dominated the senses, everything seemed to be made out of an ashen fluid. Aether - the thought came unprompted. The fluid seemed to be interspersed with pearly colours which were sometimes bright and beautiful, and sometimes slowly turning light grey, Mana?...tainted mana? Food? Food!!!
I started sucking in the sparse rainbow fluid around me.
Hmmm… very little I thought, but tasty?...Yes.!.
The food I ate started seeping out of me, into the surrounding grey aether fluid with only a tiny bit of the coloured fluid remaining in me. At the same time Aether seeped into me without my conscious effort occupying the space, freed up by the tainted Mana.
Mmmm… I contemplated after watching the whole process… tasteless but full, I concluded.
Once full, I started looking around again full of inquisitiveness. I could see a prismatic crystal core floating. I inherently knew, this pretty floating crystal that I could view from all angles, was me.
Me?.. Pretty!!! I felt and considered the words absolute. Satisfied after admiring myself for a while, I finally decided to check out my surroundings properly. Dark grey blurry objects seem to flash by in and out of focus. Sometimes they were covered with flickering multicoloured tainted mana, however at other times I saw large expanses of dark grey flashes, predominantly covered in a single colour.
This different. I thought when I saw the area prevalent in one hue pass by.
Oooh I know this colour …. Uhhh blue…no gone…oh pink? Red? Gone…Yellow!!!...Again vanished…Green!! must catch won't escape this time…
I curiously stretched out my… tentacle? Mind? Soul? Mana??? And grabbed the pretty green colour. A shudder went through my entire body. The blurry dark grey objects that flashed by in and out of focus suddenly came to a standstill. They were still dark and blurry and covered in a prismatic sheen predominantly in green but now I could see them clearly. According to my legacy memory, they formed a mountainous forest landscape and my mind/mana tentacle was currently touching the tip of a coniferous tree halfway up a mountain. My pretty core body started falling towards the ground. I went through the blurry grey trunk of the coniferous tree and kept falling though its roots till at last I seem to have been spit out at the endpoint of its longest root. With a final shudder where my surroundings seemed to become harder…no it became more solid?, a blue screen popped into my field of view.
You are entering the Gulkonda world realm.
Anchoring in progress… 3% … 46% … 72%... 98%…99%... 100%.
Void realm passage stabilising.
Void realm anchoring into Gulkonda World realm initial phase: 33.3% In progress.
Anchor point between two realm: Core (Unnamed/Void creature)
Symbiotic Relationship between Void Creature - Core (Unnamed/Void creature) and Gulkonda World realm initialising.
Synchronising, Void creature - Core (Unnamed/ Void creature/ Void realm Anchor Point) and Gulkonda World realm: In progress.
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Synchronisation: Complete.
Void realm anchoring into Gulkonda world realm initial phase: 66.6% In progress.
Gulkonda World inherent knowledge package now available to Core (Unnamed/Void creature/ Void realm Anchor Point) .
Gulkonda World realm Status Screen now available to Core (Unnamed/Void creature/ Void realm Anchor Point) .
Void realm anchoring into Gulkonda world realm initial phase: 66.7% In progress.
What is this? I thought as I scrutinised the blue screen despite my mind already telling me that they were called divine or System messages which documented information and/or growth progression. Once I read to the end of the screen, the message folded into itself and disappeared. Lots of new images and feelings flashed through my mind for a millisecond and my mind seemed Overstuffed?. A moment later, I felt no different than before, wait did I become smarter? I might not have noticed it if I wasn't focused on my mind. But, I suddenly realised my previous thoughts were not strung together in proper sentences, and that my train of thought was getting interrupted due to my low attention span.
Is this due to the knowledge package or the something..something that I received through the screen. Wait I received something else on the screen, what was it again? When I tried to remember what it was, the blue screen popped up again.
Ah yes, Status screen. After I found the word I was searching for and did not want to see the screen any more, it vanished again with a thought.
Since, the blue screen came with a thought, then this status screen should also come with a thought right? Status Screen. Another blue screen popped up.
Status Screen
Name :
(Unnamed)
Age :
16 hours
Class:
Void Creature
Species:
Dungeon Core
Level :
G
Experience :
1/100
INT (Intelligence):
F
DEF (Defence):
G
KR (Knowledge Repartoir):
65/100
STBC (Stability of Core):
6.67%
Mana Pool:
13/1500
Essence:
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50/900
A/M Conversion:
2.5 M/sec.
Essence Regen.:
0.25 E/sec.
Abilities: Matter - Mana Conversion, Creation and Design, Spawn and Control Monsters, Trap Generation, Resource Management, Environmental Manipulation
Special Ability: Mutation and Evolution, Artistic Conception (Passive), Disease and Healing, Guidance (Dungeon Creature)
Whenever I read the words on the screen, knowledge regarding what the words stood for and uses they had, kept popping up in my mind.
Name:
A personal identifier given to an individual or entity to distinguish it from others.
It seems, My Name (Unnamed) needs to be changed… Later, I thought. Let me go through each one of them first before making decisions. The Moment I formed this thought, another screen popped up called Definitions.
The definitions section seemed like a raging flood of information. While it seemed complex and time consuming, I somehow understood everything that I read on the screen immediately.
I think I am a genius… hehehe…
Everything seems basic enough?, or at least my knowledge repertoire made everything basic for me, so the same. Sooo, the ranks must be those Letters, so let me see I have a Level of G, which is the rank of all newborns… makes sense since according to my status I am only 16 hours old - which is apparently a measure of time in this World realm. Interesting.
Next my INT is F? Must be due to the knowledge package I received in the previous Blue Screen. What is F? Hmmm… Similar to an adult sentient organism of this World realm… This must be the reason I feel that my thoughts are coherent all of a sudden.
INT (Intelligence):
A measure of a creature's mental acuity, problem-solving skills, and knowledge.
Note: Each time KR reaches 100, INT increases by a Rank.
KR (Knowledge Repertoire):
A measure of knowledge accumulated through information packages received through either divine intervention or killing of organisms of the World realm and absorbing their essence.
OH, I can become smarter by killing organisms of this World realm? Good to know!!
What!! I only have Newborn DEF!!! Does that mean I can die at any time?.. How do I change this situation?
DEF (Defence):
A measure of a creature's ability to withstand attacks and mitigate damage. It represents physical, magical, or other forms of protection.
Note: Creation of every 11th floor (Exclusive 1st floor) increases DEF of Core by one Rank.
STBC (Stability of Core):
STBC measures the anchor strength of the Core in the World realm.
Note: Every floor (Exclusive 1st floor) increases STBC by 1%. Creation of every 11th floor (Exclusive 1st floor) increases DEF of Core by one Rank.
I have to make dungeon floors… WHAT are Dungeon floors??? …Help!!! Divine message… Oooh I think I already know what those are, BUT, 11 !?! That is going to take forever… Does that mean that I have to be vulnerable till then… I haven't shown my genius to the realm yet, how can I die before that. Do newborn creatures have no rights?
Hello Divine Message!!!....Helloooo!!!... Can anyone change these stats a bit… even one rank is enough… Hellooooo!!!... Why, you were so vocal till now, nothing to say now?!?..Divine Message where are you ?!?
DAMN!!!
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Definitions
Name:
A personal identifier given to an individual or entity to distinguish it from others.
Class:
A category a creature belongs to.
Void Creature:
A creature associated with the void realm. Void creatures are often mysterious, otherworldly beings with unsettling or powerful characteristics.
Species:
A biological classification that groups organisms with shared characteristics.
Dungeon Core:
A mysterious sentient Void Creature, which lives in a symbiotic relationship with a world realm and acts as Anchor points for the Void realm.
The creature receives matter, food and organisms from the world realm facilitating its life and growth.
In return it helps the world realm in recycling tainted mana into pure mana, stabilising the world realm, in providing growth opportunities to its organisms and in introducing new matter and organisms to the world realm.
Level:
A measure of a creature's experience and skill progression. In case of a Dungeon, The measure of a dungeon's complexity, danger, and the power of its inhabitants.
Experience:
Often represented as experience points (XP), it quantifies a creature's growth and progress. Accumulating experience allows creatures to level up, gain new abilities, and become more skilled.
INT (Intelligence):
A measure of a creature's mental acuity, problem-solving skills, and knowledge.
Note: Each time KR reaches 100, INT increases by a Rank.
KR (Knowledge Repertoire):
A measure of knowledge accumulated through information packages received through either divine intervention or killing of organisms of the World realm and absorbing their essence.
DEF (Defence):
A measure of a creature's ability to withstand attacks and mitigate damage. It represents physical, magical, or other forms of protection.
Note: Creation of every 11th floor (Exclusive 1st floor) increases DEF of Core by one Rank.
STBC (Stability of Core):
STBC measures the anchor strength of the Core in the World realm.
Note: Every floor (Exclusive 1st floor) increases STBC by 0.9%. Creation of every 11th floor (Exclusive 1st floor) increases DEF of Core by one Rank.
Mana Pool:
The reserve of magical energy that a dungeon possesses.
It's used to power traps, magical defences, create bodies for monsters, and other mystical elements within the dungeon environment.
A/M Conversion:
Aether to Mana Conversion. The process of converting raw and highly reactive magical energy, often called aether, into usable and easily malleable magical energy, often called mana.
Essence:
The magical life force or energy that flows through the dungeon to give life to its creatures.
Essence Regen.:
The rate at which a dungeon's mystical essence, which gives life to its creatures, is restored over time.
Abilities
Matter - Mana Conversion
Ability of the Core to convert Matter to Mana and vice versa.
Creation and Design:
A Dungeon Core can create and design the layout of the dungeon. It can determine the placement of rooms, corridors, traps, and treasures to challenge and entertain sentient world organisms.
Reminder: With the increase in the number of floors, the void passage becomes larger and stronger and the Anchor point (Dungeon Core) becomes more stable and difficult to remove.
Spawn and Control Monsters:
The Dungeon Core can spawn and control various types of monsters within the dungeon. These monsters might vary in strength, abilities, and behaviour to challenge and capture sentient world organisms.
Monsters Bodies are created with pure mana, elemental inclinations can be added to the body with the use of tainted mana. Monsters are given life using Essence.
Trap re-generation:
The Dungeon Core can create and deploy traps throughout the dungeon. These traps could range from simple snares to complex mechanisms, testing the skills and resourcefulness of intruders.
The Core can use this ability to regenerate and redeploy traps already set off by sentient world organisms.
Resource Management:
It can manage resources within the dungeon, ensuring that monsters have sustenance and that certain areas are stocked with valuable treasures.
Environmental Manipulation:
The Dungeon Core has control over the dungeon's environment, including lighting, temperature, and atmospheric conditions. It can create dynamic and immersive settings.
Special Ability
Mutation and Evolution
The power of a dungeon to influence the creatures and inhabitants within it over time. Mutation involves causing changes in creatures' physical traits, abilities, or behaviours, potentially adapting them to the dungeon's environment by shaping mana according to the requirements.
Evolution refers to the gradual development of creatures, resulting in new species or more advanced forms better suited to the dungeon's challenges.
Artistic Conception (Passive)
The innate creativity of a dungeon to design and shape its environment in a visually appealing and artistically engaging manner.
This ability allows the dungeon to arrange rooms, passages, traps, and even treasure placements in ways that are functional and aesthetically pleasing.
Disease and Healing
The capacity of a dungeon to introduce diseases or ailments to creatures or organisms within its confines. This ability might weaken or hinder intruders. Conversely, the dungeon possesses healing capabilities to restore health and vitality to specific areas, creatures, or organisms.
Guidance (Dungeon Creature)
The capacity of the Dungeon to bestow guidance to its creature from its knowledge repertoire, accumulated through divine intervention and Absorption of world realm organisms.