~Cutest.

Father is here now and taking the blame after cleaning up my mess. Oh, I wasn’t expecting this to happen when I made that decision so long ago.

When I saw my sister shift into the cocoon and watched as my newborn brother visibly grew daily while my final sibling continued to stretch and define their very species, I knew I needed to be more. Unlike the three of them, I was born a simple mouse and despite the surge of power during our Father’s incident, my simple soul seemed far less capable of draining away the excess magic from him.

I spent the intervening months of his rest expanding and stretching out my soul, drawing more power into and through myself as I grew my horde. Denying myself the opportunity to evolve when the notifications began and continuing to push myself. Determined to find or forge a path of my own. One that worked with the magics I did manage to create during those hectic moments of terror. My fascination aura, my intelligence, and Names.

The further I pushed the harder it got, even if I could hide the strain I was under, borrowing from my inherited Talents of Father’s Perks. Eventually, even the vast swarms were not enough to bear more load for me to reach for whatever I was groping blindly for. My Soul grew to withstand the strain, by my weaker body just couldn’t handle any more.

Then Father created the {Realm Woods} and to my great shame, the first thing I felt was jealousy. Even when he was thundering under the strain of staying conscious, I was jealous of Life’s explosive growth.

So, there was nothing I could do as the world was blindingly bright around me and I was stuck as an overdeveloped {Brood Mouse}. But then… I heard her voice: “{Forgive me, Father.}” And the deluge of notifications that echoed through the burrow where I’ve kept DNA’s brain showed me the path of what I needed to do. If I found a way to reinforce my Dungeon Core nature, I could achieve far greater heights.

With my goals redefined I watched, and I waited. Knowing that whatever drove Gnat to breakthrough that significantly isn’t something that I could think or plan my way into, it would have to be something that Called to me. I just had to be ready to act on it once it did.

That chance occurred sooner than I expected it would. One day, there happened to be an elk, fighting its way through a swarm, striving to garner strength for itself. It was a younger male, likely seeking to prepare itself for mating season, and so it was pushing itself recklessly, as though power was more important than life. It dove in too deep, pushed too far and while he defeated most of them, the surviving rats were enough to chew their way inside and began eating him even before he collapsed and then finally died.

With both Natter and Tooth overseeing the battle, more of my focus was drawn to that struggle, and the seeming waste of potential. With only a handful of survivors gorging themselves on fresh elk while ignoring the carpet of carcasses of their brethren, something awoke within me.

With both {Bleeding-fur Rats} and {Miasmice} crushed under hoof and burrowing through the body, an idea coalesced, and I spoke a Word. More than a Name, it was a Challenge as well, something that despite having had several more adventurers grace our woods, none of Father’s children had yet made for him. A Boss, “”

When I breathed that into existence, I felt the overstuffed, cracked core of my being finally break and time itself stop.

Congratulations on advancing your {Mob Type}! Having a more advanced {Mob} allows for a higher efficiency of Mana and Mako transmission between you and them, allowing them to roam beyond your territory more easily. They will also have a smoother conversion through the Challenges you offer with them, allowing you to complete your purpose more effectively.

Your new {Type} is Pit Fiends.

An amalgamation of Legion and Irregulars, Pit Fiends are a varied and chaotic assortment of creatures. Having niches and specialists for many occasions in addition to waves of softening fodder, the Pit Fiend’s diverse nature means they can imitate most other mob types to some degree. This type also allows you to recycle knowledge and experience of slain creatures back into the fold as these imitations of demonkind are as notoriously difficult to fully eradicate as their sources.

Congratulations on breaching the Evolution Threshold!

Your work accumulating Mana and processing it into Mako has reached its peak with your current form. As a Dungeon Core under the auspices of a Kingdom, you are already a legendary existence but that does not mean you cannot continue to grow and change.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

*Here are the options for your advancement:

* Nic: Having pushed the boundaries of your species far beyond their breaking point in an effort to find something else, you have stumbled upon a Fae path. A Nic is a classification of faerie creatures with a near limitless variety of shapes and forms, though what makes a Nic special is their proficiency with the Bonding and Binding of others with Names. Note that this path allows you great influence over those weaker than you, but beware of overconfidence, as those that become strong, even with your help, may turn on you if you demand too much of them.

* Echidna: Your aspect of the Brood Mouse having been stretched to the limits and beyond has allowed you to adopt other species as your own. As an Echidna, this aspect of creature focus will allow you to adopt and create all manner of monsters and chimeric amalgams. You will be a Mother to all within your domain.

* Dungeon Core Bright Army: Your core has been central to a vast network of autonomous nodes and Challenges, combined with your instinctive use of Charm magic and your avoidance of interacting with others allows you the opportunity to abandon your flesh. Bright allows for the power, Charm, and intellect of your nature to be channeled through and empower your minions, where the greater the grouping the brighter the shine. Army grants you a far greater degree of control over your troops, an easier ability to sustain larger populations, and the logistics to support a greater variety of mobs and tactics.

I sit in this timeless moment for an eternity. Chasing my tail, round and round as each pass through my options drives me to want all of them. Any of them would perfectly expand who I’ve sought to become and each path is so very different from the others, I’m drowning in choice.

I feel a comforting presence join me in my musing, one that I don’t recognize but based on the stories Father told of this place between moments, perhaps a presence I can trust.

But I choose to stay silent as I deliberate my options, taking my Father’s first bit of advice to heart and imagining the paths that each of these might open, and which they might close.

Though I seem to spend an age in that not-place, I draw comfort from not being alone, while also being allowed the space to make up my own mind. Eventually, I’m able to drop one of the options. As although I haven’t used my body for much, keeping it if only to be able to embrace Father is worth losing out on the benefits of graduating into a full Dungeon.

Without the bright distraction, I can more critically review the remaining pair. And the decision here is made easier for it. As it boils down to a simple question, is being a Mother enough? Ah, but to even ask that question instead of another is an answer all its own.

“”

There is a great inhale of breath before a calamitous whisper reaches me, “#The Fae were the first aspects of Life that stepped out of Mana. Their kind were the foundation upon which everything else was built, and their true power still lives on in those more in tune with Mana. They are why an Entity needs a Name. They are the Concepts which breathe options and narratives under the Facts that govern the universe as We know it.#”

Again, I am shamed by the mote of jealously that smolders within me-

“#Be not ashamed. Of all your Father’s children, you have the humblest of origins. Mere chance brought you to him. He did not instantiate you out of instinct, nor were you even given the chance to earn your place before events conspired to escalate out of even my control.#”

The presence seems both to lean down from an unreal height while also expanding myself to equal him as his voice speaks more casually and quieter than before, “#But I’ve been watching you all, and do you know what I’ve seen? The littlest mouse working and struggling her hardest to enrich the legacy of her Father, even before it was a Duty of her own, she took it upon herself to Challenge others.#”

Finding my voice in this almost-place as he speaks with me, “”

The world becomes his smile, “#Not even I could guess what Gnat will become. But of the {Mantle} she wears, Pestilence? Yes, they are one of the older Fae, a true Concept and Power unto itself. Without a true mind of its own, at least not that a mortal could recognize.#”

Gathering my courage I continue, “”

The world around me shrinks down again as the presence lessens. My decision has been made, and Authority knows I don’t need more from them.

Nic selected! Now that you have your advancement locked in the excess accumulation of Mana and Mako will be used to intrinsically reforge your existence. As your body has already been completely overwhelmed by magic, your transition into a Fae will be seamless and quick.

Before your evolution begins, as a Dungeon Core, you have reached the Milestones for unlocking your {Motif}, the opportunity to change your racial designation, and making your first choice about expansion.

{Motif} already declared: “#Limit Breaking#” selected!

When I read those words, they hurt to look at. As though the only reason they are understandable, much less contained is because of Authority’s voice making it so. As they sink into me, I reminisce about the conversations I’ve had with DNA and his reckless striving for more. It would seem that despite the circumstances around the start of our relationship, I too am my Father’s daughter.

Racial designation pre-determined by advancement. Changes to Wild: Fascination is now underway. Note that as a subordinate to a Kingdom, your Wild property designation may have an altered effectiveness depending on how Mana refinement, Expansion, and Challenges are divided amongst your fellow Scions as well as your own {Motif}.

Expansion is a process for static dungeon cores to increase the dimensions of their Domain. As both a mobile core and one under the Authority of a Kingdom dungeon, your methods of expansion are curtailed.

*Based on a scan of your statistics and your Fae attributes your initial points have been allocated. Go infect, recurse, imagine, elsewhere and stabilize.

Advancement Complete!