Well Now I had explored about everything I had at the moment, it was time to try my first Monster!
Or not, as I could feel my mana wasn’t quite there yet. I looked at the unlocked templates I had, finding a spider and beetle template their now as well. I hadn’t even realized something else had died, which meant if I’m focused on other things I would lose consciousness of my own space. A little concerning but not too surprising if I thought about it. I mean, even in my past life, if I was focused on one thing I could lose track of what was around me. Like if someone were to begin reading, and six hours later realize they not only really have to pee, but are starving and dehydrated as well. Or maybe that was just me, who knows.
Looking at my mana I focused on the other templates I had received. The fern was simple, just a small plant about 2-3 inches in height. They were extremely cheap so I placed a few on the ground for 2 Mana, seeing if any of the insects here would eat them. The copper was a little interesting. I had two ways to make it, one make a vein in the walls themselves, or two make what looked like one of those RPG nodes you can mine. I decided to just place a little into the wall about a foot wide and a few inches deep, costing me another 6 Mana. The math was a little more than I wanted to deal with but it probably wasn’t too hard to figure out later.
I had regened a small amount of Mana before but now I was down to 7. Thankfully my regen rate was pretty high or this would suck to sit and wait it to come back. I looked at the Mana Pool template and felt that it would cost about 10 mana for a 1x2 meaning 5 Mana for each square foot. Of course at this level I could only make a 3x3 max size, but I didn’t have the Mana for that anyway. I couldn’t even do a 2x2 at this point, but hopefully with leveling up that would change.
Thinking about levels made me wonder how I was supposed to level. From all accounts and purpose I wasn’t gaining any experience with the bug deaths, nor was I getting any from crafting. I wonder if creating my own monster was the clue to this one. I thought again about how much Mana I could use to maybe try and do a Formless monster, but something was off. At first I just figured it was a Mana issue, but I also felt something else was needed. As soon as I thought about other requirements, my intuition came to my rescue.
For all that I’ve spread my Mana and formed this sphere around me, I hadn’t actually created a room. Thinking about that, I decided that I would like to make my first monster and room be in a theme. Since now I was at what should be the most exciting part, it was time to make my first real dungeon level. I figure using the cave I have would be great, but I did wish I knew what the outside looked like.
What if I created this amazing forest cave room, only to find myself in the middle of some kind of desert! Well I guess it was a risk I had to take, or go with the slightly more boring route of just using a bare cave design. It wasn’t like I couldn’t change it later and for now I just wanted something so I could form my first monster. In fact I already had an idea of what to create. I wasn’t planning on naming any monsters I created, once again instinct telling me to do so was folly. Named monsters were special, and were supposed to earn a name, not just give on willy-nilly. Of course I could have silly nicknames for those who had high prospects of a name but for now it didn’t matter.
Going back to my little cave I decided to make it more of a hallway, with the crack to the outside being my “entrance”. So using the Mana Integration I began to carve some of the curve away from the entrance, making it more square than oval. Moving back I decided that I would eventually be moving into what I felt was more rock in the south. I decided to level the floor a little, but left cracks decorating the walls as I went. This let the moisture on the western side keep coming through, while allowing for a few nooks and crannies for the insects around. Knowing what monster I had in my head I did make a few changes to the ceiling, forming small stalactites on the ceiling.
It was weird to mold the walls, knowing to form stalactites, I moved the rock from the corners I had made to the ceiling instead. I made most to be only 4-6 inches long for now, but created one central one above me to be a foot long. I also made it a little thicker than needed, as a fear of it dropping came to mind. With those formed I now floated in a rectangular room. The walls to the east, north, and west were still 4 ft. from my core, but I had dug into the southern side an extra 2 ft.
At first I thought my range of Mana Integration would stop me, but as I dug it continued to grow with me. It still wouldn’t expand into the crack, or any further than a foot into the walls, but it would expand as I dug them out. This allowed me to feel as I reached a small nest of tiny mice like creatures. As my Mana started to envelope them I thought it would only take a few more seconds longer than the larger insects I had integrated. Instead I found that I my Mana was stonewalled instead, not penetrating past the fur. Looking over at them I felt their gazes turn to my Core and fear buzzed through me.
I felt the Mana around them slowly entering and realized I had stumbled upon my first mana creature. A wish to see what they were caused a small screen to pop up on the side of my vision.
Fanged Field Mouse These mice are normally found in areas of darkness and moisture. Unlike regular mice they are imbued with a miniscule amount of Mana, allowing them to see in the dark like it was day. They are omnivorous and can eat just about anything. Base – Common Chances to Evolve – Low-Mid
So the first real magical creature I come across is a mouse. I’m not sure if the fangs are supposed to be magical or if it’s just that they use Mana to see. Either way, the fact my Mana and Will wasn’t enough to get through them was a tad sobering. I thought getting smaller mana creatures would be easier, but it seems being mana-imbued makes them a lot tougher than I expected.
No matter, now that I had the room more to my liking, I decided I would make it my first dungeon room/level. All I had to do was push on the Mana around me with Mana control and Mana Integration and force my Will upon the room itself. Once I was done the Mana in the air seemed to pop, and I could feel the room was now a designated level. But I also noticed it was different than what it was before. At first it was just a cave room carved into a rectangle with some stalactites, with me in the center. The room still had the same general shape, but was much more natural looking than I had carved it to be. Not only that, the few stalactites I had placed had multiplied. Plus stalagmites were also scattered around. I noticed that the room itself was also bigger than it was before, going from an 8x10 to 8x14.
Congratulations!
You have created your first real dungeon level, joining the ranks of true Dungeon Cores! Though normally a tutorial would be given for this, We figured someone as intelligent as you would figure it out. Since that was indeed the case we will lower the cost of your first Monster by a small percentage!
The system message popped up unbidden, the sarcasm in its writing pretty obvious. Well I hadn’t meant to skip any tutorials but what’s done is done. I took a look at my Status and noticed a few new lines
Name
Mythos
Species
Dungeon Core
Level
1
Sub species
Pearlescent
Life
1/1
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Life Regen
.2 per min
Mana
2/16
Mana Regen
3.2 per min
Strength
n\a
Intelligence
12
Constitution
2
Will
20
Dexterity
n\a
Luck
5
Monsters
0
Rooms
1
I focused in on my levels/rooms to see if it gave any insight on what happened.
Rooms
This tab is to explain how many levels you have or if you only have one level the rooms in said level. When creating a level you imprint how you would like it to look, allowing for your dungeon magic to form a room of that type when your Will is put upon it. Dungeon Core magic adds a space altering state to a room, making it larger than it would originally be. How big, or how many rooms, a level will have is based on Mana and Will and the if the area was carved beforehand.
Well I guess now I knew why it changed like that. It was lucky I was at full Mana when I had attempted that, though now I would have to wait a bit for it to regen to create my monster. I looked at the message that mentioned a reward for a percent decrease and noticed it was 20 percent. Though I guess better than nothing, at my low Mana level, 20 percent would only be a little over 3 Mana off at full.
Now that I had a room, I could feel the ability to summon a monster fully unlock. Still had to wait a few extra minutes so I could have full Mana, but that was no issue. After seeing the message about skipping the room tutorial, I wanted to make sure I didn’t skip the one about forming a monster. This was especially true with the fact my monster templates seemed vastly different then what would normally be available.
I opened my Status page and tried clicking on the Monsters tab to see if anything happened. I got a brief explanation about what the tab itself represented but nothing else. Failing that I tried poking a few other areas, yet nothing showed up. After seeing the system literally state it would offer help on these kind of things, it was frustrating on how I couldn’t actually find a way to receive it. Even the message about the room didn’t show on my status until after the fact and there was no prompt like the first one. I thought about how I had brought it about, realizing all I had done was a little self-introspection.
One last idea came and I focused my Will inside myself, “Monster tutorial please.”
A few seconds passed and even though I could no longer blush, it still felt like my body heated up from embarrassment. I let myself “cool” down and then tried focusing on my Formless Skill. Though this time I didn’t actually put the thought into words I focused my Will on the same question. Again nothing happened, though now I was just getting frustrated.
What was the point of the System offering if it was just going to leave me hanging like this? As those emotions slowly began to build I finally felt a response.
We apologize for the delay, and any embarrassment or frustration brought upon by said delay. Due to your monster template ability being a Unique skillset, We are unable to grant you said promised tutorial. As this was not explained before you chose said skill, we will offer to cover up to 20 Mana for your first Monster.* Can stack with other benefits given earlier.
*Due to this offer being over your allotted Mana you are unable to add any extra Mana to said 20 Mana offered.
I read the message over, double checking the fine print. The fact I was to get my first Monster not only completely free, but would have 4 extra Mana to input into its creation was a major blessing. Not only had that, but the 20 percent off from the earlier message, basically giving me another 4 Mana to play with. Though I was frustrated at my Unique skill screwing over my chance to do a tutorial, I would not look a gift horse in the mouth.
Originally I had planned to create a bat-like monster, but now I wasn’t so sure. The reasoning before was that other than the small group of mice I had located, everything else was either a plant or insect. The room was pretty dark, with only a few bits of light from the crack in the north wall. Though now that it was bigger, that also meant more room to fly as well.
I decided that even though I had a bit more Mana to play with I would stick to the original plan. If anything this just meant I would be able to play more with the design, hopefully. Seeing how I no longer needed to wait for full Mana I decided to jump right in.
The first thing I did was draw upon the Formless skill so that a base could be started, casting 5 Mana by itself. This base was just an oval sphere, but as I began to imagine the body of a bat it began to change. The wings grew out twice the length of the body, while a small tail and 2 legs grew from the bottom. I focused on the head, giving it the fox like face instead of the snub-nose face. Adding these to the core took another 7 Mana, leaving me with 8 to play with. Now that I had a firm idea of looks the original core shaped itself to fit the body of a bat more clearly, adding the essential organs to breathe and live.
Since I was taking the image of a fruit bat, the digestive system was for small insects and fruits. Changing it to be more carnivorous in order to hunt the mice didn’t actually affect the cost. What did add to the cost was giving the fruit bats echolocation, as fruit bats don’t normally use it. It was only an addition 2 Mana, but this left me with only 6 Mana left and I still had a few things I wanted to change. First I increased the base size, as the current form was only 4 inches long and an 8 inch wingspan. I doubled the size, adding 2 more Mana to the cost. I then had the legs grow out a bit more, so that they were more like Desmodus Rotundus, or the common vampire bat. This also cost a single Mana, leaving me with 3. At first I planned on working on the fangs, but realized I still hadn’t given it a very important feature.
The formless bat in front of me was basically a bit of a mix between the fruit bat and vampire bat. My plan was that if this thing began to evolve, I could possibly evolve it to reach one of the most popular legends in fantasy, the Vampire. The issue was currently I just had a big carnivorous bat and that was it. I needed to add a Mana core to it, so that this bat would be a Mana creature. That core cost 6 Mana by itself, meaning I would need to remove the added length to the legs and revert the size. That’s when I felt the 20 percent kick in. I instinctively knew that if I threw the core in, I would exceed the 20 Mana. But Because of the 20 percent off, it cut down to 16 Mana giving me another 4 to play with. This meant I had 1 Mana left to add any final changes.
I wanted to give it the fangs and mouth of the vampire bat, but the cost was higher than expected. Because of the changes needed to the fangs, tongue and digestive system it would cost 4 Mana. Because of this I decided to forgo the Vampire traits and focus it to be more of a straight hunter. Looking at the flexible wing tips I decided to slightly lengthen the tips, basically forming a sharp hooked talon to grab onto its larger prey. Though it would probably be hunting the insects more, this would help with hunting down the mice.
With the final Mana spent I focused my Will and watched as this bat creature began to form. As the skin became more firm and less a Mana outline, I realized I could change the colors for it as well. Seeing how it cost no extra Mana I made it a dark blackish-brown to match into the walls when it clung to them. I also added slightly darker patches randomly on the backside of the body and wings, so it was more natural and not just a dark patch. This would allow it to not only ambush prey, but hide among the walls and ceilings if something dangerous was to appear.
After finalizing the colors the bat took shape, the Mana making a small pop as it came into being. At first it kind of floated there, held aloft by my Mana, before it lifted its head and spread its wings. Firing off a quick echolocation, my first monster flew up to the large stalactite that hung above me a clung to its side. Crawling down it reached the point and slowly lowered itself so that its face was in front of my core. The creature stared at me, making no sounds or movement. As the seconds ticked by, I noticed the natural sounds in the cave slightly muted. And then I felt it, a tether of Mana that went from my core to the bat, filling me with a sense of curiosity and loyalty.
That’s when it hit me. This wasn’t just some blank template with no emotions. A monster that was some empty minded drone to listen and obey. It was a semi-intelligent, living, breathing creature, with a will to live, survive and protect me. I had created life, true life, and the well-being of this bat was now in my hands. And with that last thought I looked at the mice in their little nest.
Time to hunt!