First for affinities
Space Affinity has been selected
Life Affinity has been selected
Soul Affinity has been selected
When the screen showed up, I could feel things I had never felt before. The space we are in is more transparent in my mind than ever. I could feel my soul radiating in my core, and I could feel the fluctuations and waves coming from my companion next to my soul within my core, as well as the bond connecting me with them. It was so clear that I wondered just how I couldn't feel this before. I chose them as I thought they would be one of the hardest ones to unlock on my own. Then for perks
Monster Horde
Why have stronger monsters when you can have more?
-Increase the limit of boss monsters from every five levels to an additional one every 7th-floor level (cannot have two bosses on one floor.)
-Doubles the number of floor bosses from one to two per floor
-Triple the number of elite monsters from 3 to 9 per floor
-Quadruple the limits for mobs per floor
-Halves low-and mid-level perks that boost monsters’ attributes
-Any perks increasing the number of monsters will always be applied first
Monster Overlord
Normally, dungeons have one type of monster race, but yours has them all.
-You receive all the starting monster races
-Dungeon monster evolution lock is unlocked (Dungeon monsters will not always evolve suited for the current environment, but unlocks every evolution possible, stronger or weaker than when locked)
-For every 10 levels, instead of an evolution choice, you are given an Overlord Blessing choice
-Gain benefits for every different type of monster race present in the dungeon.
-Every floor must have a primary monster race type
-Specific monster race perks will become perks affecting all monster types
Lucky Evolution
Your dungeon monsters are blessed by luck when it comes to evolution
-Dungeon monsters gain an immense boost to evolving to desired paths
-Dungeon monsters gain an immense boost in optimizing evolution
-Dungeon monsters gain a major boost for evolution chance
-Dungeon monsters gain a major decrease in difficulty for evolution
-Dungeon monsters gain a large boost for growth rate when evolving
Pools of Birth
Your dungeon now becomes a sanctuary of birth
-Your boss monster respawn time is halved
-Your floor boss spawn time is reduced to one-third of its original
-Your elite monsters gain the ability to respawn with a 1 hour waiting period
-You can now build breeding grounds where mobs will be summoned automatically once a mob perishes using the ambient mana and remains of the dead mob
-Any perks decreasing monster respawn time will be applied first
Ascension of elites
Your titled monsters are more elite, unfixed, and simply more. They have ascended compared to others
-Dungeon boss monsters gain an immense boost to their souls and conscious
-Dungeon floor boss gain a major boost to their souls and conscious
-Dungeon elite monsters gain a major boost to their souls and conscious
-Titled dungeon monsters are free to move from their floors; however, respawn points must be placed on their floors
-Increase dungeon boss monsters' attributes and growth by 50%
-Increase dungeon floor boss's attributes and growth by 30%
-Increase dungeon elite monsters' attributes and growth by 20%
I plan to create unique monsters, something never seen, and their reason for existing is not to attack but to lure and aggravate. These perks will hopefully help me fulfill my ideas.
Unique Floors
Your floors are one of a kind; delvers never know what is ahead
-Eliminates some floor restrictions
-Able to fuse multiple floors to one
-Five times the floor size limit
-Gain a colossal boost when using Alter Environment on floors
-Able to name, theme, and specialize dungeon floors
-Dungeon floors will gain bonus effects, rules, and penalties depending on the theme of the floor
-You are unable to create the same themed floors
As I already plan on building unique floors, I thought this perk was perfect for me.
You have acquired the perk Monster Horde
You have acquired the perk Monster Overlord
You have acquired the perk Lucky Evolution
You have acquired the perk Pools of Birth
You have acquired the perk Ascension of Elites
You have acquired the perk Unique Floors
Basic flora and fauna schematics received
You have acquired the knowledge for starting monster race Animal Type
You have acquired the knowledge for starting monster race Plant Type
You have acquired the knowledge for starting monster race Spirit Type
You have acquired the knowledge for .......
At that point, I felt a rush of information about the monsters of all the starting monster races shown in the options, which enabled me to picture them with picturesque clarity in my mind.
Finally, the traits
Mana Conductor
To you, mana is a friend, a companion, your life. You can use mana like no other; you do not need to think or act but do, and mana follows. You are a brilliant conductor of mana.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
-Gives an immense boost to mana sensitivity
-Gives a major boost to proficiency gained for mana-related abilities
-Increases Mana Manipulation proficiency by two tiers
-Increases all mana-related abilities proficiency by one tier
I chose this one as it will help me unlock affinities. Even without that, since mana makes up everything, having higher control over it will be very useful. Also, having the Pure Mana Crystal Origin trait, it seemed best to improve that advantage further.
Mad Scientist of Amalgamation
You are a genius, a mad one, but a genius, nonetheless. Capable of theoretically endless evolution, monsters are highly susceptible to change. You saw something in this: why wait for evolution when you can abuse this property? So, you did; you mixed and converged, united and merged, creating something new.
-Changes Summon Monster to Create Monster
-Gain more in-depth knowledge of the monsters you possess
-Gain a colossal boost to comprehension of monster anatomy
-Able to alter monster preset when using Create Monster
-Able to adjust the monster when it forms when using Create Monster
-Able to combine different elements when using Create Monster (Using incompatible and numerous components may lead to failure)
-Any alterations made will not count toward evolution
-Alteration limit correlates with monster knowledge, compatibility of components, degree of alteration, proficiency with Mana Manipulation and Mana Sense
This trait will work amazingly with my perks specializing in monsters and will make it much easier for monsters to evolve the way I want them to.
System Access: Quest
You have gained access to one of The System Powers: Quest. Able to give quests to delvers that enter your dungeon through The System; once a delver has completed the Quest, you will gain mana depending on the quest's difficulty. You can establish rules in an enclosed environment that must be followed by all beings within (Including the dungeon monsters).
-Able to give compulsory main quests and optional side quests
-Able to assign rewards for completion and penalties for failure
-Quests must comply with the dungeon rules
-Quest zones must be set and need to make quests capable of completion within the quest zone
-Able to set rules that must be followed (Limit of rules depends on the effect; the Limit will increase the higher the floor)
The quest trait will prevent brute-force tactics and extremely powerful delvers from bulldozing their way to my core. Also, I chose this to guide and lure the delvers to my design.
The dungeon rules are rules dungeons must oblige by. The important ones are these.
1. Delvers must be able to access the entrance and dungeon core, so the entrance cannot be blocked or the dungeon core can be hidden.
2. Delvers must have a chance to survive. Simply put, you cannot create a rockslide or cave-in, smashing them all or locking them in a cage with no way out. However, you can lock them in a cage with a hidden switch to escape.
3. The dungeon must provide appropriate rewards. Simply put, dungeons cannot give a legendary sword for killing a mob rat or coal for killing the boss monster, and obtainable resources must have risks appropriate to their value.
4. Dungeons cannot intervene in areas where delvers are present, so I can't summon monsters right in front of them or make changes when they are in those rooms. For quests, I cannot change the quest's information in the middle or meddle with quest objectives after it is given. However, I could prepare a teleport trap summoning monsters right in front of them and make devices to change the room when triggered. That means for the quest, I could set conditions when triggered, causing changes in quest information and/or goal.
You have acquired the trait Mana Conductor
You have acquired the trait Mad Scientist of Amalgamation
You have acquired the trait System Access: Quest
When I finished selecting them, I felt knowledge pour into me.
‘Wow, that's a load of knowledge being injected into me.’
As it is processed in me, I could feel the trait Mad Scientist of Amalgamation working inside me, letting me gain and see more than I could without it. I now know every organ and its usage for each monster. I know characteristics that can naturally occur between the same races, and I somehow know things I could adjust in their mana structure, which is something like genetic makeup. I know the differences and similarities between different monster races and how some parts could be combined; I can now picture the monster's anatomy to the point of cells.
As the rush of knowledge finishes, I quickly organize them in my mind much more easily than I should, thanks to my trait that made this happen.
“Alright, I chose them. Is there anything more to choose?”
“No, you are prepared to build your dungeon, so Aiden, if you will, please dig straight up roughly 10.4km until we reach the surface.”
“Excuse me, what?”
"We are quite far underground with a mountain on top, you see; as such, I advise you to make your aura as small as possible while going up."
"And we need to do this because...?"
"Because without an entrance, we cannot build proper floors and function as a dungeon."
"Ughhh, finneee, time to grind."
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9.6 Km Left Till the Surface
"You know, it would really be great if there were a way to tell the time."
"Oh, there's a time display option you can use on your Status Screen."
"THERE IS A WHAT??!!"
"I should've told you that sooner, shouldn't I?"
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8.8 Km Left Till the Surface
"Hey, I reached the limit for my aura. How do I level up?"
"Simple, by consuming mana that equals 50% of your mana capacity, for you, that will be 25%, increasing the size of your core in the process."
A few minutes later
"Huh, well, that was simple. Hey, I got one point for picking a perk and a whole bunch of options to choose from. Is this normal?”
“No, usually dungeon cores will get three suitable options. It seems like you can choose any existing low-level perk. I suspect it will be like this for traits and affinity, too.”
“Neat.”
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6.5 Km Left Till the Surface
"Hey, do you know where we are since you know the distance to the surface?"
"It's a function companions are given to find the most optimal entrance build point, but I do know the geography of this plane from the improved general knowledge provided by The System. The Material Plane, with the one and only continent Solara, has four main ruling countries in each direction with similar power and territory. These countries are called The Alliance of the Free Lands, Emerald Grove, Steelheart Confederacy, and The Sacred Order. We are situated in the middle of the continent called The Forbidden."
"Having a wild assumption that not many people visit guessing by the name, won't that be a problem for us?"
"No, it was forbidden by The System itself, causing no one daring to trespass it except for those given permission; I'm sure The System will notify the people. Even if not, dungeons are lucrative abodes with infinite resources. They have devices for sensing new dungeons when the entrance is opened; I'm sure they will check if not for checking the anomaly in The Forbidden."
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3.7 Km Left Till the Surface
"I'm sorry."
"Huh, woah, what's this all of a sudden?"
"I'm sorry about how I forced my view on running a dungeon, on the need to kill; I'm sorry for being obstinate without listening; I'm sorry I went against you. I'm sorry for not following your ways. I'm so"
"Ok, stop. First, never apologize for going against me or not following my ideas and views. What happened then was that we were just unfamiliar and rusty. I was adamant about not killing, and you wanted to protect me in the only way you knew. Sure, I could have listened and patiently explained my reasons to you, finding a compromise. You could have listened to my ideas and tried to reason with me or compromise. Things could have gone better, but that was our best then. We had different ideals that clashed. Nobody was wrong, so don't ever apologize for that, and don't ever follow or comply with me without fighting for your views. I'm not always right, and so are you. That's why fights and conflict are needed. Thank you. By the way, I should have said that first, and I forgive you. I'm sorry I didn't hear you out. I'm sorry I shut you down without trying to understand. I'm sorry I didn't consider your feelings and reasons."
"Thank you, and I forgive you."
"Neat, so we cool?"
"Yes."
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2 Km Left Till the Surface
"Aiden, you said I was helping just by being here with you."
"Umm, yeah. Still true now, too."
"To listen and laugh to your stupid nonsense, calm you when you get too anxious, say how I really feel about things, and tell you my honest opinions."
"..."
"To be someone you can depend on, and you'll try making me depend on you."
"Uh huh, what are you getting at?"
"Aiden, as I mentioned before, I'm not made for all those things. Companions are made to guide and instruct dungeon cores to acclimate to the world. They don’t require emotions or thoughts. They simply follow the manual and provide instructions based on their knowledge. Even with The System granting me knowledge far above them, making me able to feel and think much more than any Companion should. Nothing in my knowledge contains any instructions to fulfill what you said, but they also don't have instructions as to why I cannot try."
"You..."
"Aiden, you are a singularity like no other, and being tied to you, so am I, but I cannot accept it and change without problem. I will learn and try to be those things, but it'll take time, and I may very well never be those things. Even then, will you wait for me?"
"OF COURSE! Absolutely. Onehundo percent...Can I just add something to the list?"
"What would it be?"
"One day, you will change for yourself; one day, even if you don't change or don't understand, you will be proud for trying."
"Yes, I will add that to my list. And Aiden."
"Huh?"
"You're the most pain in the ass dungeon core and hell of a dungeon to deal with."
"MY, MY, but I can't help myself. I mean, can you truly blame me when I am this fabulous? Puh...HAHAHAHA!"
At that, my companion sighs but also feels like something tying them down loosens, freeing them.
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300 Meters Left Till the Surface
"Hey, thank you for being here."
"Where else would I be?"
"I mean being my companion, thank you for being my companion; I'm thankful out of all the companions I could've possibly gotten that it was you. And I'm thankful for meeting you, for you being in my life."
"...Aiden."
"..."
"Thank you for being my dungeon core. I'm thankful that out of all the dungeon cores, I could've possibly been bonded; I bonded with you. And I'm thankful for meeting you, to be assigned to you, for you being in my life."
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0 Meters Left Till the Surface
A hole emerges in the middle of Mount. Starfall, situated in The Forbbiden.