I have encountered a small difficulty. Presently a boarsaur has decided that the big red baby should be relocated to his nest where it can be safely protected. My attempts to debate this have been met with an iron wall of stupidity and stubbornness. Boarsaurs know very few things, but they are very firm in their convictions. My attempts to resist physically have been not so much ignored as not even noticed.

I could tell him I’m NOT a baby, but that was the only way I could convince the things to protect me. Also, I really don’t think confusing him is a good idea. I could also injure him, it’s well within my power, but I don’t want to injure him either. Not only do I have moral reservations about it, but what will he do when he notices he’s been hurt? Hmm.

I think for a bit as I’m gently rolled across the ground. I’m glad Bryn isn’t here to see this, it would really put a dent in my whole wise powerful being shtic… Which I haven’t really started yet. Still, laying the groundwork! Urgh. I’m getting jostled every time I roll over a rock. It doesn’t hurt exactly, but I would prefer not to. Hmmmm.

Ah, I’m above one of the snorb warrens. I’ll just melt a little hole in the floor and free! Except for the fact that the boarsaur is still pursuing me with singleminded determination and he’s really doing a number on the floor with his tusks. Damn son, he’s just tearing through that stone, holy shit. Ah- now he’s using his claws. That’s… Even more impressive. Geeze. Too late, I hit the water. So long sucker.

Wait, shit, will he drown?

Um. No. No, he will not. After the whole moss debacle, I have been kinda sorta completely ignoring the underwater portions of my dungeon. No fish, no algae, no use, ya know? I mean, I knew the moss would thrive anyways- even terrestrial moss can live underwater for several months without air and they have essence here, but I thought that it’d be barren otherwise.

I was wrong. I did not connect the dots.

Essence provides everything that is necessary for living. This includes oxygen. I saw a movie once and did a bit of research on oxygen-rich liquids, I think what’s happening here is something like that. Apparently, once your lungs are actually filled with water you don’t feel like you’re drowning anymore- but coughing out all the liquid when you’re done is as painful as ever. In any case, I have a whole bunch of non-aquatic animals living underwater quite happily.

I mean, it’s not densely populated or anything, I’m pretty sure this is just a buncha critters who got swept away by the river and trapped underwater, but it’s actually more populated than my upper tunnels due to the whole, ah, meat wall the adventurers strategy. I should think up better instructions to give them. I literally just told them to attack any human that entered the tunnels- except Mr. Crow who scared me and still scares me.

Anyways, rats and lizards crawling on the floor, a few larger animals, and birds flying underwater. Insects too. It’s all awkward- none of them know quite what they’re doing and haven’t had time to adapt. Other than the birds, none of them are actually swimming- I suppose they lost all their buoyancy with the air in their lungs. Some big hops tho. It’s kinda hilarious- the cats are WAY overshooting.

I’m sorry Boarsaur. I thought you were too stupid to figure out you were drowning, but it was actually me panicking for no reason.

It’s also oddly peaceful. While their continued existence is assured, they continue to eat each other up top- an empty belly is an empty belly. Down here? The bellies are all full of water. The only reason to hunt is fun and only a small subset of them have those particular instincts I suppose.

There are plants too- cacti and flowers and shit. They should absolutely be overwatered. They’re not. Does essence not just add resources- does it regulate? Why did that not work for my subcores? Bleh. Maybe I should let ammonia build up in one and see if that triggers anything. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth though- and a worse taste in their brainjuice! Eyy!

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Coughs.

Anyways the plants are growing strangely. Presumably it’s connected to buoyancy. The entire place is extremely eerie. Lovecraft would shit himself. I should take the time to give them all webbed feet- shouldn’t be too complicated. Later. The boarsaur has almost reached the water.

Moving down here is very nice- I haven’t actually moved underwater before. Inertia is still a problem, but I don’t have to worry about my weight. I can just grab the walls and slingshot myself. Whee! I must be going ten miles per hour! So fast! Heh. Maybe I can make myself a cart system or something. Or wheels. Wheels are absolutely possible. Just slap an axel on my bottom half and make sure my roots don’t get caught in anything. I’d do it now, but big n' scaley just fell into the water and I need to skedaddle before he catches up with me.

Shit, he can track me by the mood music. Sorry borb, gonna have to mute you. I’ll just open up the original essence pipe exit and plug the redirect.

Yeah, I know. It’s only temporary. ‘Shh, shhh. Quiet, sleep time.’ Wonder how long that will work. Borb is increasingly able to spot that some thoughts aren’t his. So proud of him. Inconvenient though.

Excitement and discovery of an unnatural flooded ecosystem aside, what am I gon do with Crow Jr.? I confess, my intentions a not entirely charitable. I want to be a good person as a holdover from my old life, but the biological underpinnings of empathy are gone, or at least greatly diminished. I think dungeons primarily judge things by three metrics: Do I own it? Is it useful? How much do I know about it? The best things are useful, mine, and known. Things that are not useful are uninteresting- dangerous, of course, counts as useful. I don’t like things that don’t belong to me. And, of course, The Unknown Is Scary.

I find the thought of becoming a sociopathic monster abhorrent. Might be my fate but I can practice good mental hygiene and do good deeds- or at least attempt them- so I will save Crow junior but I also have good logical reasons for doing so. Mr. Crow is a powerful person who can protect me so his gratitude is valuable. This will establish my reputation as a benevolent being and thus lower the number of people who want to kill me. Those who seek my aid will have incentives to help me as well.

The risk isn’t too bad either- from the limited knowledge available to me, will has no direct effect on personality and doesn’t destabilize the soul. If it drains the soul in some way- if his soul is not big enough to support it- I can call him back yet again and feed him the same processed ectoplasm I feed upon. There is a large amount of room for problems I’m completely unaware of, but the risks I am aware of are quite manageable.

To be honest though, none of that is why I’m doing it. Why? Because I want to know. I saw a hole in a soul. What happens when I fill it? I have an excess of will available- what happens when a human has that much will? Is the will the same as willpower as seen in my last world? Will he gain control over mana and become a wizard like his grandfather? Can will even be transplanted with this method? Or any other method for that matter. I want to know. I need to know- the same need that has driven me to experiment for hundreds of hours to try and map the genomes of birds.

Ultimately I’m going to do it because of curiosity. Morality and potential gains are just the cream on the bagel. This leads me with an uncomfortable question that I don’t have the answer to: If it was immoral, illogical, and injurious, would I do it regardless? Curiosity killed the cat…

But satisfaction brought him back.

Ah, there’s an exit. Urgh. Levering myself out of the water is hard. I wanna go back already. Ah well. Build a lil cart, add some lil axles, and some nice fat rubber wheels and I’m ready to go. Doubt the boarsaur- I should name them- can follow me anyways. They’re dense as hell and I’m not just talking about their brains.

...Oh, that fucker can JUMP. He almost made it- his claws are too damn sharp to get a grip on the side. I’ve no doubt he’ll keep trying until he succeeds tho.

I’ll, uh… I’ll leave a decoy. Big ol’ plastic pearl with a single coat of shell to make it look and smell right.

Have fun with that, big dude. Bye.

I have mad science to do.