Before I finalized my choices, I took a moment to study my skills. Looking at my skills, the explanations that popped up matched what the tutorial mentioned. Deciding to practice I started with Mana Integration. Instinctively I began to spread the Mana of my core outward, slowly spreading in all directions until I filled the empty space around me. As I did so I realized I could now not only see the insects around me, but feel them to. I knew exactly where everything was as my Mana seeped into their tiny bodies. As the Mana spread inside them I realized I now knew how to make them, templates for each one popping up in my head. At first I feared that would make a choice for me, but I soon relaxed as I realized these small insects were base templates. I also realized that even though I knew how to make them I couldn’t actually do so.

As if blocked by a wall I could see the outlines of the templates but could not pull them out with my Mana. Then it happened. One of the small gnats that my mana had soaked through was grabbed and eaten by a spider. The spider was only just beginning to be filled with my mana and, as such, I gained nothing but the tiniest fraction of mana when the gnat died. Another spider, this one soaked by my Mana, ate another gnat I felt the template for the gnat unlock.

It was only then did the knowledge on how to gain random templates pop into my mind. It was only when something I either controlled or soaked my Mana into killed that I gained a template. Of course restrictions also popped up informing me that I would be unable to soak sapient or near sapient creatures in my Mana unless I was given permission by them. Also the higher the intelligence, size of the creature, or size of the internal Mana, determined how easy or hard it would be to do so. So these insects near me were near instantaneous, but the larger ones, like the centipede I saw in the corner would take a few seconds.

Taking this knowledge I continued spreading my Mana to the walls, taking in all the insects around me as I went. When I reached the walls my Mana sphere slowed down but didn’t stop. Slowly the walls began to absorb my Mana, draining me a little faster than I expected. As I felt my mana drop I focused on another skill, Mana Vortex. Feeling the mana in my Core slowly spin I began to absorb the mana in the air. Though I had been soaking in my own mana the air still held unaffiliated Mana within. In fact I noticed that my Mana Integration wasn’t claiming the Mana in the air, only using it to spread itself. This meant I didn’t need to worry about self-suffocation by my own Mana.

Soon the walls all around me had absorbed everything they could. My Mana Integration also stopped spreading, ending about a foot into the walls itself. The sphere also did not extend any farther into the crack on the northern side. This left me with a sphere of influence only a foot deeper on every side, making my new room of control a nice 10 ft. in diameter on all sides. Now that I felt in control of this new room around me I decided to focus on the moss. The reason I hadn’t actually made my choices is that I wanted to make sure I could actually create the moss myself without picking it as a choice.

I focused on the template that was in my head, hoping a piece of moss being eaten by on the insects would count as a “death” of sorts. Soon enough I felt one of the insects eating and the template became unblocked. Seeing this I finally made my choices final.

Received Cave Fern

Received Copper Node

Received Mana Pool

Received Formless Monster Template

Immediately after choosing I felt information flood my mind. Templates for the fern, copper, and mana pool all pooped into my mind, allowing me to create them immediately if chosen. The Formless template was much different though. Instead of getting a template with a specific creature, I received the base knowledge needed to create a livable creature.

What that meant was I could begin forming a spider and knew exactly what it needed to breathe, digest, and other basic necessities, but could design it any way I wanted. So if I decided I wanted a spider that was more like a tarantula instead of a black widow, I knew how to create the needed digestive tract, how to form spinnerets, and the base spider body. But I could change as needed. So I wanted a spider the size of a tarantula, but the venom of the black widow I could do so. The downside to all this though was the mana cost for these kind of changes were much higher. Also I couldn’t just throw together some amalgamation of different parts and create some kind of abomination. I had to have a specific form in my head as I created something or it would fail. Failing didn’t cause a backlash, but any Mana used would be taken either way.

Knowing that I realized how dangerous this process could be. I had used the gnat template to create my own gnat with Mana Form. I had noticed while doing so that I not only used my own internal Mana, but a small amount of external Mana. That meant If I was creating a larger creature with the max amount of Mana I and failed, it would take all that Mana from me plus the external amount of Mana from me. Doing so would put me in the negative, and my body was basically just hardened Mana, meaning my Mana was my life. Negative amounts of Mana meant I was dead. Wishing I could see my Mana in a more numerical way brought up a new screen, one I should have looked at a long time ago.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Name

Mythos

Species

Dungeon Core

Level

1

Sub species

Pearlescent

Life

1/1

Life Regen

.2 per min

Mana

14/16

Mana Regen

3.2 per min

Strength

n\a

Intelligence

12

Constitution

2

Will

20

Dexterity

n\a

Luck

5

Looking at my status table I feared for my new life. One life point was a terrifying thought to have about yourself. I get knocked the wrong way and I’m dead, shattered to dust. It seemed like it was pretty easy to tell how things worked. Using my Mana and Mana regen amount as my base I figured out how it worked. Will and Intelligence added together than multiplied by .5 to get my base Mana, while regen was the two added multiplied by .1. I could only hazard a guess that strength and constitution were what was used for my life and life regen, but it made sense intuitively to me. Dexterity was the basic how fast/flexible you were and Luck didn’t seem to affect anything on my status, but once again my intuition helped me out. It would seem luck was what affected me when events may happen. Such as if a person were to fall would they catch themselves with no injury, or slam headfirst onto a ledge and die immediately. It seemed weird that could be judged by numbers but, new world means new rules.

The other thing that drew my Eye was my name. I obviously wasn't really planning on using my old name, but to have my new name be based off the errant thought I had earlier was a tad surprising. But to be honest the name for myself also felt like the name for my dungeon, almost like a title. And since it was litterally the planned theme I guess I was stuck with it. Deciding to scan a little more, I noticed a skills page as well.

Skills Mana Integration Mana Vortex Mana Form Mana Control Innate Skills: Core Shield Voice Avatar

I already knew about the first four, but not the others. The tutorial had briefly mentioned all three, but it would seem only Core Shield was available.

Core Shield A natural border surrounding a Dungeon Core, this shield pushes away those not strong enough to overcome it, keeping a core safe. This also stops a core from shattering on contact with the ground should it fall. As long as there is Mana around a Core it will have a shield, though it can be broken through with a high enough Will.

Well that explained why the insects were unable to fly into my Core and seemed to veer around it. It seemed less a physical shield and more one of Mana and Will. Knowing I can’t just get shattered on the floor or wall is a great comfort though. Especially with only one Life.

I tried looking at the other two but nothing showed up. I guess I would learn about them later, maybe a future tutorial.