The first thing I did was scan my bat.

Name

No name

Species

Level

2/10

Family

Bat

Life Points(LP)

8/10

Mana

2/6

Skills

Echolocation, Ringing Blast,

Enhanced strength

What immediately grabbed my attention was how much Mana it had. It had near half the mana I did, and I was basically a sapient Mana Core. I could only hope my Mana rose more exponentially otherwise my Mana limit would severely hamper me in the future. Second was the fact I only got the bare minimum for information off its status page. No stats for its core abilities, like strength and such. Finally I noticed it had 3 whole skills, once again nearly matching me, not including my innate skills. For all I knew it also had innate skills that I was unable to see. For a creature I had created myself I didn’t actually receive too much info for it. I focused on its skills instead of brooding over why that was the case.

Echolocation

This skill allows the user to create soundwaves to make a mental map of its surroundings. Though a natural ability for most bats, there are some species that do not use it. Due to this being added to the creature it uses a miniscule amount of magic to create these mental maps, but is able to retain the images longer due to this.

This was surprising but actually a plus it would seem. The amount of magic was truly miniscule only about half a Mana point, but being able to retain the map longer meant not needing to use it as often.

Ringing Blast

Using mana to enhance the echolocation skill, the user blast out a ring of sound, stunning and possibly damaging creatures nearby. Stun length has several factors that affect the length of stun. The closer to the blast or the more Mana used, the longer the stun effect will last. Creatures that rely more on hearing can also receive increased damage and stun effects.

This skill was what my bat had used on the second mouse. It seemed this one did not have a set amount of Mana but could be changed on the situation. This seemed an extremely powerful skill, especially considering the environment. Most creatures in the dark would focus on senses other than sight normally, meaning many hearing based creatures would be susceptible to my bat’s skill.

Enhanced Strength

The users pushes Mana through its body, allowing it to achieve feats of strength normally beyond it. Overusing this skill can cause strain on muscles, leading to damage. Using while already injured could case more permanent injury to the user as well.

The final skill was relatively pretty basic but unexpected. Though I was thinking of the bat possibly evolving into a Vampire, being known for supernatural strength, I didn’t expect those thoughts to give birth to skills like this. This let me know that thinking of what my creatures possible final or future evolutions would be, could give powerful traits early on. I don’t remember seeing it use the skill, but looking back this must have been what allowed it to carry the mouse into the air, as well as tilt its body so it would fall when it stunned it.

Overall it would seem my little bat was quite the menace. Not only that, by killing the 2 mice it had already gained a level. Looking at the level I noticed it was 2 out of 10. I focused it on it, hoping to get a little more insight. Instead I just got the brief instinctual knowledge that level 10 was the level it needed to reach to either upgrade or evolve. Though I was hoping for more in depth knowledge just knowing that was a blessing. Though I had no doubt gaining levels was exponential experience gain, I could only hope the curve wasn’t too bad.

I looked back at the message that asked for the bat to be named and decided it was better to get it over with, otherwise I could feel I would just push it off. Plus the table should also give me some more insight into the bat as well. I focused on the name I wanted and a message table popped up with the new name added.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Foxen Bat

This bat is a mix between the old world fruit bat and common vampire bat. Using the longer and more maneuverable back legs of the vampire bat, and the head and body of the fruit bat leaves gives it some distinct abilities. It has also been given the ability to use echolocation, something not normally found in fruit bats. Due to this and its larger Mana core, this bat is able to use sound not only as navigation but a devastating sound attacks to stun.

Average - Uncommon

Chances to Evolve - Mid

Looking at the species status gave me a bit more insight not only into the creature but the world. It would seem the 2 bats I used as its base were actual creatures in the world. There was also no mention of vampiric traits, even though I was thinking of that as I made it. It seemed that the enhanced strength was given to it due to the body modifications I had made. Though I still hoped that maybe the skill itself would help lean it towards that way. It also brought up the fact that the Mana core was obviously on the larger side.

The larger Mana core gave way to the train of thought of other possible evolutions. I was trying to base any creatures I made off a mythological creatures, but bats didn’t actually have many mythological creatures connected to it. Though vampires were connected to bats, it was more a vampire ability to change or control bats than a bat that turned into a vampire. Other than that there were a few god-like mythologies, but most were not known for violence, other than the Mayan bat god Camazotz. In fact Camazotz was used in several games and books as a villain to either fight with or against.

Camazotz literally translated to death bat, and has several stories about it in Mayan writing of Popul Vuh. One of two Mayan heroes hiding in their blowguns, until one of the heroes pokes his head out to check if the area was clear. The moment he did so Camazotz came in, ripping his head off to place in the ball court of the gods. The other story states that the Mayans offer specific parts of their bodies in sacrifice, in return they receive fire from Camazotz. Either way he is associated with night, death, and sacrifice.

All told not to different from some of the Dracula stories, minus the blood drinking. Though sacrifices were quite bloody themselves. Either possible pathways would be quite interesting though for my bats and something to aim for when evolution came around.

But now that I had checked everything I could on my bat, it was time to focus on myself. Before I did though I noticed that my bat had not only finished eating the first mouse, leaving naught but bones, but had actually nearly finished the second mouse as well. It was also now at full health, though it had only regained 2 Mana, meaning that even though the Mana count was high, its regen rate was much slower than mine.

Name

Mythos

Species

Dungeon Core

Level

2

Sub species

Pearlescent

Life

2/2

Life Regen

.3 per min

Mana

20/20

Mana Regen

3.9 per min

Strength

n\a

Intelligence

15

Constitution

3

Will

24

Dexterity

n\a

Luck

5

Monsters

1

Rooms

1

Ability Points available: 5

Looking at my Status I was happy to see I had finally gained a level. Focusing on the new level, this time I was able to feel the instinctual knowledge flow into me. It would seem I gained experience by having intruders killed in my dungeon. I could tell that this was very specific wording that I would not gain experience outside my dungeon only within it. Also I felt that the experience was not only based on the intruder’s level but also its threat to me. The mice were unable to reach me in the air as I was, but technically if they could get to me they would have been able to destroy my core quite easily. A scary thought for sure, especially seeing how relatively weak they were compared to my bat.

Next it would seem my stats naturally rose a small amount, plus the bonus of adding ability points as I choose. This was nice, as I would be able to use the extra ability points to help boost certain aspects, based on any future enemies or challenges. I also took note to the fact that it would seem that stats were not in half measures, but rounded up at least, that I could tell. Otherwise using the math I had figured for my life and such, I would be at 1.5 life and 19.5 Mana. It seemed this did not roll over into the regen rates though, which was both good and bad. Bad as having slight higher regen in Mana would be nice, but if it did round down I would have 0 life regen.

Overall I had gained a point in Constitution, 3 in Intelligence, and 4 in Will. It seemed the bonuses in my Intelligence and Will would help keep my Mana levels pretty high, though I may receive more increases in them as I level. Until I gained a few more levels I couldn’t say if they would remain static at these increases or if they would rise as I got higher in level. If they remained static, early on would be nice in the gains, but eventually my Mana wouldn’t keep up with the obvious rising cost of creature templates.

Even now I had no idea how evolution would work with my creatures, if they would need special skills, materials, or even my own Mana in order to evolve and grow. Though luckily there was no mana upkeep cost, it meant I probably had to keep my creatures fed myself. This meant basic ecosystems would be needed sooner rather than later.

I guess it was time to get back to some dungeon building.