POV: Waynor
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Hanna was broken, Instinct and Loria had broken her. It was something that happened without my knowledge or impute, Instinct and Loria had acted on their own. Now Hanna acted very differently than she used to and never left her bed, she didn’t even use the bathroom she had me make for her and simply expelled her waste on her bed. She had long since ruined the dress she was wearing, and she was also not keeping herself healthy.
I couldn’t do much for her, but Instinct and Loria said that they knew how to fix Hanna. Instinct assured me that they could make her better than she was before, Loria thought that Hanna would even let me implant a core into her soon. Since Instinct and Loria said that they could fix Hanna I left the matter to them, I only give Loria a few rules since I didn’t want her to change Hanna’s mind with her abilities.
Hanna needed time, Instinct and Loria were very clear about that, but she would be better than new soon. With that in mind I didn’t worry much more about her condition, I merely watched over her from time to time.
It was interesting, no, it was simply fascinating how Hanna acted while she was broken. The more I observed her and saw how she acted the more I enjoyed it, it was strange at first since I was sad about Hanna being like this but still I deeply enjoyed what I saw. It took me time to realize that what I enjoyed was not that Hanna was broken like this, but the broken state itself. If it was occurring in someone other than Hanna I thought that I would enjoy it all the more and that I wouldn’t feel so conflicted about things as I did while observing Hanna.
I decided that I would have to break some of the other guests to confirm if what I thought was really the case, but I didn’t doubt my thoughts and feelings. It was plain to see for me, the sheer amount of beauty that the broken state contained was immense. The feelings that it brought about seemed so pure yet at the same time so tainted, brokenness was a state full of beautiful contradictions like that. I wondered if there could be more, if this state of broken was individually as different between it’s hosts as mites could be from other mites. It was something that I was excited to test, but I wouldn’t be able to begin testing my ideas on some of the guests for a while.
Thinking on these things and excited about the prospect of having new guests visiting my dungeon soon I began to work on the changes that my contract with the explorers required of me. I started by expanding my territory out so I could create the mine, but that turned out to be far more difficult than I thought it would ever be. Every time I expanded my territory out I had to push it through what felt like another strange and foreign territory. I could overpower and displace this strange territory with my own but it took effort and without my constant attention the strange territory would reclaim the space I had taken from it.
It took me an entire day to realize that the strange territory belonged to the gods, though since I did not encounter much godly power outside of the protections on Hanna, Ulisus, and the explorers I couldn’t be entirely sure. It seemed that the entire area outside of my entrance belonged to that strange foreign power, and with that discovery I decided to more closely observe my own territory.
I learned a lot from observing my own territory, and I also learned how simple and instinctual my thoughts on my own territory was before. My territory was an entirely new dimension, a dimension that besides the entrance itself was largely separated from everything else outside my dungeon. I had trouble expanding my territory to the outside because everything present outside of my dungeon was fundamentally removed from myself. The outside was protected, and I could not take that protected space any more than another could take my own territory away from me. Knowing this made me wonder if that meant that the gods that Hanna and Instinct mentioned so often were actually other dungeons, that would explain the trouble I was having at least.
With my new understanding of territory and the outside world I changed my approach to expanding out my territory. I focused on a specific spot to the right of my entrance, I expanded my territory out to only enclose that specific spot. The spot was close to my entrance and it was even on the same rocky outcropping, but it was still incredibly difficult to claim this spot as a part of my territory. It was difficult, but with time I succeeded.
I made the spot into a new yet separate floor and with the establishment of this strange new floor I had the feeling that it needed a new entrance, this new entrance was smaller than the opening in the rocks that served as the entrance to my dungeon but strangely this felt appropriate.
With the creation of the new floor I had lost more power than I would thought, it left me with less power than before I took in Hanna. I carefully expanded out the new floor that would serve as the mine, but after creating a base ten rooms I stopped. I decided that I would have to work on the mine in parts as I accumulated power, but there was still something else that I felt I should create before new guests began to visit.
I wanted to make a new creature for my entrance and rest floors, one whose appearance the seven races would accept better than the mites and would want to interact with like they did with the muses. The only problem I was facing were the limited amount of power and samples I had to create this new creature with, luckily the solution to both could easily be resolved with time…
***
I had sent out Ralt and his mites to collect more samples and “master the land” as Instinct suggested, the mites were clearing sections of the forest, creating smooth paths that Instinct called roads, and bringing back all sorts of new things for my sample database or simply to kill inside my dungeon for power collection. I had decided to add some of the animals that I liked to my first level, they helped to complement the beauty of the plants well and also served as a new source of power and entertainment. Some of the samples that the mites brought back were even directly released into the first level as that conserved more power than me simply creating more.
I was happy with how things were going and Hanna even seemed to be fixed now, although I couldn’t meet or talk to her yet. Instinct said that Hanna needed to move past the final step before that, but she also said that this final step wouldn’t take too long so I didn’t mind.
…Now I just need to figure out how to make this more beautiful and able to speak human… Maybe by adding aspects from the pixie or muse to it? …This would be much easier if I could add humans or elves to my database…
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I was working on creating a new creature for my guests to interact with, something that the seven races wouldn’t be too uncomfortable. I had decided to use the strange human looking thing my database identified as a golem that the mites brought back on their first sampling trip as the base for my new creature, now I was just trying to figure out how to change and improve it.
The base was strange enough on its own as the golem was some sort of living stone that required both animus and mana, so changing and altering that base was much more difficult than it was to change things that only required one of the power types. Luckily my increased understanding and comprehension on the makeup of the countless forces of power helped me to better alter the strange golem that needed two types of power to live. I started by reshaping the golem, making it into a better mimic of a human and trying to change its color and texture to better match it’s a human. I quickly found that doing something like that cost too much power for my liking so I began to try different ways in the hopes I could find one that created something I liked at a cost I was happy with. Now I was at the point of trying to combine other samples with the golem sample as the base to see if that was better.
…Maybe have the golem part as a sort of internal base and add the humanlike appearance around that base? …Hmm… Yes, I think I can do that…
I changed the golem base so that it mimicked a human’s skeleton, it took time to mold the golem into the right shape though. I molded the stone and filled it with power, then I began to wrap the stone skeleton with the flesh and skin aspects of a muse. I shaped the flesh and sculpted a being that while beautiful and alluring was not as supernaturally beautiful as a muse naturally was, I gave this creature silver hair and eyes while making its features softer and what I thought was more approachable. I had noticed that the absolute ethereal beauty of a muse could be a negative when dealing with guests, it can shock and overwhelm them and I didn’t want this creature to do that. This creature was going to serve a different purpose, many different purposes.
I flooded the creature with more power and began to put in the finishing touches, I started with intellect. I made the creature smart, giving it immense learning capabilities along with strong analysis and comprehension abilities. It was made to be more intelligent than the average mites and humans as I understood them, but made it less innately intelligent as a muse. I enhanced the physical abilities of the creature, giving it incredible strength, agility, dexterity, and balance. Then I worked on its magical ability, I gave them a magical ability to judge and classify anything they saw within certain limits. I also gave them minor dimension manipulative magic, just enough so that they could create a small pocket space. The dimensional magic component was the most difficult to add, but I seemed to just naturally and instinctively understand how dimensions and space operated and what needed to be done to change and manipulate it. I added a lot to the creature but it still cost less power this way than any of my previous attempts, when I was finally finished the name there was a name that came to me. It wasn’t a name that I came up with myself, it just appeared in my mind and seemed to be right for my creature.
…Automata… Huh, I guess I’ll just call this an automata then…
I brought the automata into being and looked it over, it was nude and obviously female. Hanna had always insisted on the importance of clothes for humans, so I thought that the automata who were made to mimic humans should wear clothes as well. With a little mana I had created a white gown for the automata, but it simply held the gown instead of wearing it.
“You can put that on now.” (Waynor)
The automata looked up at me and its face scrunched up in confusion and melancholy.
“I don’t know how…” (Automata)
“Here I’ll help you. Your arm goes through here…” (Waynor)
I helped the automata put on the gown while I thought on whether or not I should give her a name. Names were important, they gave something added uniqueness and power while also indelibly tying the named things soul to the one who named them. In my case I understood that this phenomenon of naming was more exaggerated than it was for humans, the names I gave simply mattered more since I was a dungeon.
Should I just name the first of every new species of creature I create? …Maybe I’ll do that from now on, but what should this one’s name be? …Hmm…
“My Lord Dungeon, this one is ready to serve for as long as this one is needed. This one is waiting for her first command.” (Automata)
I looked at the bowing automata who stared forward with clear and resolute eyes, her gaze was also slightly lowered out of respect. I checked the amount of power I currently had by bringing up my menu.
[ Name: Waynor ]
[ Titles: “Icon of Patience”, “Self-Named Dungeon”, “The One Who Endures” ]
[ Rank: 1 ] [ Dominion Level: 0 ]
[ Territory: N/A ] [ Dungeon Views: {invaders (threat)} {overview} ]
[ Power: { Mana: 814} { Animus: 11,973} ]
[ Class: ??? ] [ State: Flawless core]
[ levels: 1 ] [ Floors: 17 ] [ Entrance/Exits: 2 ]
[ Inhabitants: {???: 1} {humans: 1} {Mites: 1,000,000+ (Hive Mothers: 13) (Warrior Mites: 4,539)} {Elementals: (Wisps: 123,421)} {Fae: (Pixies: 49,206) (Muses: 3)} {Golem: (Automata: 1)} {Plants: (Corrupted plants: 1,000,000+) (Carnivorous vines: 64) (flower soldiers: 56,834) (parasitic seeders: 123)} ]
[ Traps: {Spike: 23} {Pitfall: 2304} {Arrow: 2580} {Wall: 921} {Ceiling: 451} {Fire: 652} {Poison: 737} {Acid: 402} {Maze: 4 } {Magic: 41,390} {Original design: 2,133} ]
[ Creation Options: {Mana: (Expansion) (Building) (Decoration) (Design) (Trap Creation) (Core Growth) (Rune Creation) (Core Restoration) } {Animus: (Dungeon Lord Creation) (Inhabitant Creation) (Soulstone Creation/Granting) (Name Bestowal) (Mutation/Evolution Management) (Core Growth) (Core Restoration} ]
[ Destruction Options: {Mana: (Magic) (Deconstruction) (Siphoning) (Absorption) (Portation) (Teleportation) (Automatic Item/Magic Recycling)} {Animus: (Siphoning) (Absorption) (Remodification/Recreation) (Automatic Life Recycling)} ]
[ Unique Ability Options: (Adaptive Database) (Adaptive Power Comprehension) (Adaptive Omni-Language Processes) (Dimensional Mastery) (Mana/Animus Conversion) (Over-Bestowal) (Absolute Contract) (Memory Processing Orb) ]
[ Stored/Owned Bosses: {Dungeon lord (Unknown): 1} {Muse: 3} ]
[ Listed Known Creations: {∞} ]
“I think I’ll give you a name first… Your name shall be… Lilly.” (Waynor)
She smiled as she looked up at me and strangely she began to cry, I didn’t remember designing my automata with the ability to cry so it was surprising.
“Yes, this one is Lilly. This one thanks Lord Dungeon for bestowing this lowly one with her name.” (Lilly)
I liked her smile, Lilly had a nice pure smile. It contained a lot of emotions many of which I couldn’t identify, I would need more memories and more contact with humans, elves, and the other five races. I really looked forward to when lots of guests would start to visit, there was so much I wanted from my guests after all.
I hope someone visits soon… Oh, but I still have to do more before they arrive… Then I can begin to create the next level of my dungeon, I think I’ll fill it with trees… and maybe use those spiders as a base for the new creatures, after all the mites worked out well…