Year 52, Month 11, Day 29
It’s going to take a few hours to rebuild up my mana so I won’t have a way to escape in a pinch. For the meantime, I need to address the new environment I have leapt into. Sending spores out is the first step. I can’t see any mana signatures in my immediate vicinity so my vision is just a void.
Activate Death Field.
As the spores begin to land I notice that for the first time in this lifetime, I am no longer in a “man-made” area. I can’t feel the heat like I used to but my Heat Resistance is activating and I can feel the steady beat of the sun on me. Wherever I am, it is hot.
The spores gently land on what seems to be rough soil scattered with crystalline looking shards. For some reason my assimilation isn’t pulling anything in so I can’t tell for sure. Actually that is weird, assimilation has always been passively pulling in the objects around me. What caused it to change? Why now?
First things first though, I may have the heat resistance but I can already tell it’s not enough. Wherever I am, it is extremely hot. I may even find myself melting if I don’t get some protection from the heat. I do worry though, I should be able to create a barrier from the sun but there seems to be something more to this heat. There is almost an almost transparent red mana suffusing the entirety of my surroundings, even the air. I couldn’t see it at first since it is so faint but clearly some magical effect is at play here.
Activate Gravitational Control.
Using the shard materials scattered about I make a dome about a meter around my form. It takes several minutes and nearly depletes my already low mana reserves but it did seem to help reduce the ambient heat. Using the rest of my mana, I pulled the ash and soil together to insulate around the outside of the crystalline dome.
While working however, all of my spores seemed to burn up, reducing my vision to those left in the dome with me. I can already tell that the heat was reduced significantly, though I may have incidentally created an oven for myself. I’ll wait for my mana to regenerate before burrowing deeper into the ground, that should be the safest way to find relief. In the meantime, I need to find out why Assimilate isn’t working.
Can I see the info status on my skills?
[Skill Status Window:
Reincarnator's Blessing - Active
Advanced Assimilation - Restricted
Roll - Active
Written in Stone - Active
Regenerative Structure - Restricted
Mana Sight - Active
Mithril Shell - Restricted
Echo Mimicry - Active
Void Storage - Active
Dungeon Native - Inactive
Basic Appraisal - Restricted
Heat Resistance - Active
Basic Telepathy - Active]
I understand why Dungeon Native would be inactive since I’m not currently in a dungeon, but why are the others restricted?
[According to available records in the Database, realms have a regional effect over the skills and abilities of those inside. Realm effects will reduce or deactivate skills viewed as conflicting.]
Interesting, so this is a realm. Clearly some kind of magical realm but the question of whether I can return to the world is unknown. Should I remain here and explore or should I try using the Astral Key again?
The Astral Key’s description seems to paint the picture that it would only take me from this realm to another. I would essentially just hope that the next Realm was less immediately hostile but there’s no guarantee. I could very well be transported somewhere far more hostile to my form than this heat.
Does the Database have other available information about Realms that I could have access to?
[No other information about Realms is currently available. Appraisal’s capabilities are currently restricted.]
Useless as usual. That’s okay, it’s about what I expected.
There must be some way to escape the Realm and make it back to the wider world. If the Astral Key opens a portal in, then there must be something capable of opening a door back out. It could operate similar to a dungeon where the only way to exist is through defeating the boss or returning through the entrance? That’s assuming the logic of video game dungeons and the dungeons of this world operate the same. It looked that way based on my dungeon experience but I can’t say for sure.
Next thing is to start exploring and getting a better picture of the world around me. Problem is that without assimilation, I won’t be able to make much progress underground and with my spores burning up, I can’t make progress above ground either. What to do… What to do…
I guess I’ll start by moving downwards as far as I can with Gravitational Control, after that I’ll have to think of something else to try.
It was a slow process but eventually about 10 meters below the surface, the heat has reduced to the point that my Heat Resistance is tanking it no problem. Now that there is no more immediate risk of cooking myself, best to look through my skills again to see what I can do.
Most of my Passive Skills can’t give me anything at the moment but maybe I can create a golem? That would be an option for maybe digging out the soil for me, though again the problem of where to put the dug material remains. Digging down before, I just would move it above me and fill in the space I left before. Actually creating the golem would use some of the materials around us to create it but would it actually be very strong or effective?
Honestly, I might be better off just using Gravitational Control. More mana efficient and probably about the same time cost.
…
I am an idiot. I completely forgot about my Void Storage. Not only do I have items in there but I could also store some soil in there to give myself more space to work with. Let’s check what I have again.
Out of the remaining magical items, I have no real use for any at the moment, but I may be able to get some uses out of the other mundane items. I have the Chest of the Lost Expedition, Sword of the Heroic King, Pendant of House Thalor, Hide of the Desert Wyvern, Trilobite Specimen, and the Emerald of the Green Vale. Admittedly the emerald, sword, and pendant seem useless for the time being but I think I may be able to make use of the others. The chest’s usefulness will depend on what is inside.
My first instinct would be assimilating the Desert Wyvern hide to try and get a skill for dealing with heat or soil but since I can’t assimilate, my options are more limited. I think I want to open the chest before deciding on my next steps.
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At this depth, the soil is beginning to have a bit more rocks and such mixed in but I don’t see any more of those crystalline materials found on the surface. That makes me think that they were some kind of glass, stone, or obsidian created through the extreme heat. Something useful to try and get assimilated at some point if possible. In the meantime, I opened up a space a bit below me to put the chest. I hit much more solid stone in the process which could be also useful in the future.
For the meantime, I was able to break off a piece that acted as a piton or spearhead to help me pry open the chest. However, to my dismay I realized that there wasn’t a physical lip for me to pry open. This chest had been magically sealed. I should have expected that. That’s probably why it had been sealed away.
So do I break it or try to open it through mana? I expect the vault owners would have tried to break through with mana before since they seem to have fairly capable mages at their disposal to have created such a secure vault. Maybe breaking it is the only option? I expect they wouldn’t have tried to do so out of fear of breaking whatever is inside, but I have no such reservations.
I mean I don’t have anything to lose. Sure I could destroy a valuable object or unleash some lost evil, but really I don’t have many other choices. My quick tries at trying to break open the chest with Gravitational Control or the stone spearhead but had no real success. My next best idea was to crush the chest with gravitational control and my own weight.
So over the next few hours, I prepped by cutting out a slab below the chest with tedious sand abrasion and Gravitational Control but eventually I had a piece of stone I could move with gravitational control and use to crush the chest.
I was able to move the slab above the chest with some clever abuses of Void Storage but pretty soon I was prepared to be able to crush this chest and break it open. Moving the soil that had been holding my spherical form a few inches above the slab brought my full weight to bear on the chest.
Using Gravitational Control at full strength, I pushed for about 5 minutes before hearing a loud crack in the chest’s frame. Whatever wood this chest was made out of, it is stronger than most stones I’ve seen so far but now that it's cracked, I was able to make quick work of breaking the rest open.
Securing myself above the chest and storing the stone slab in my void storage, I finally was able to take a good look at what I had. Before my spores landed, I was able to recognize a mana source among the items. Gray surprisingly. I could see a crystal shard, some kind of metal mask and gloves, and a rune etched plate like the ones used to trap me before.
After levitating the items up, I returned the stone slab so I could take it out of my void storage. You know what? I can’t identify them right now since Appraisal is restricted but I think I’ll just go for it. I placed the Desert Wyvern hide with the other items from the chest below.
Activate Summon Golem.
[Only one Golem can be supported at this time. Currently supporting zero golems.]
[Which template would you like to use for the new golem?
- Spherical
- Trilobite (Destroyed in the process)
- Wyvern (Destroyed in the process)
Other templates can be found by obtaining instructions or the remains of other creatures.]
Well a sphere won’t be super useful I expect and I don’t need the golem to fly, I’ll choose the Trilobite.
[Creating Trilobite Golem from Hide of a Desert Wyvern, Rhenardian Rune Plate, Ceremonial Bronze Arachnid Armor of the Rhenard, and a Shard of the Primordial Flame. Please wait.]
Oh wait, those sound like items I could’ve used differently. Wait!
[Material’s influence too high to be completely modified into designated template. Golem’s form being adjusted.]
Doesn’t look like I can stop it. I just have to hope that the golem will actually be useful.
[Golem summoning complete.]
Quickly summoning some more spores so I can get a clear view, I saw my new companion. It was made from a mixture of stone and wyvern skin to create a strong exoskeleton and was supported by many spiny bronze spearlike legs. The head was made from the same materials as the exoskeleton but it also had large powerful looking bronze coated jaws. Most surprisingly, the interior and eyes of the golem shone with a bright gray mana flame. Actually, looking closely, it wasn’t gray. On a small scale, the mana was actually a tumultuous mix of every color of mana resulting in the total view appearing as a kind of gray. How strange.
[Would you like to give your new summon a name?]
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Reincarnator: J̶̵̷̶̷̫̍a̶ʍҽʂ Ha̶ʅv̷̗̊ҽʀʂǭ̷ɳ
Form: Stone of Adaptation LVL 8
Size: 2.9 m
Next Level: 3 m
Passive Skills
Reincarnator's Blessing II. Passive. Increase size gain by 10%. Increase luck by 2. Improve relevance of skills upon leveling up.
Advanced Assimilation II. Passive. Upon direct contact with objects of similar or lesser size, the material or biological organism will be assimilated into the main body. Assimilating a material gains its properties or one skill for up to 45 minutes. Can store up to 3 different properties or skills at once.
Roll II. Passive. Movement by rolling at a speed of 1/4th size per second.
Written in Stone II. Passive. Store up to 20 memories in the core that are available for access by Reincarnator at any time.
Regenerative Structure II. Passive. Forms a barrier around the core preventing undesired particles from being assimilated. Blocked particles will slowly regenerate 1.5% of damage every 8 minutes. Bone particles are twice as effective.
Mana Sight II. Passive. Clearly see mana and mana sources within 3 meters.
Mithril Shell III. Passive. Gain a hardened exterior similar to mithril, increasing physical defense by 110%, boosting physical attack power by 55%, and the effectiveness of mana-based abilities, spells, and mana control by 25%. When stationary, stealth is increased by 55%.
Echo Mimicry II. Passive. Reproduce sounds or vibrations that have been recorded within 1.5 meters of the Reincarnator. Sound reproductions are centered on the Reincarnator.
Void Storage II. Passive. Store up to 1.5 cubic meters of materials or objects in a small, personal extradimensional space.
Dungeon Native. Passive. While in a dungeon environment, mana capacity is increased by 20%, mana regeneration rate is increased by 10%, the effectiveness and speed of Advanced Assimilation is increased by 15%, and Death Field provides more detailed information about affected environments, including hidden threats, resources, and material information.
Basic Appraisal. Passive. Gain access to basic information from the Database about any item in direct contact with the Reincarnator.
Heat Resistance. Passive. Reduces fire damage and heat effects by 10%.
Basic Telepathy. Passive. Creates a mental link between unshielded creatures within 5 meters allowing telepathic communication.
Active Skills
Gravitational Control. Active. Exert a force on and control particles smaller than 0.5 m to form barriers, simple constructs, or directed attacks. Enables the ability to levitate objects and control the effects of gravity on the Reincarnator. Damage, durability, and duration are dependent on materials used.
Death Field II. Active. Release a cloud of necrotic spores that can settle on surfaces within 2.5 meters and grow, creating a network of mold. The spores increase vision of physical objects, detect movement, and accelerate decay. Creatures in direct contact with these spores are slowed by 35%, natural healing is reduced by 11%, and all living creature’s stats are reduced by 1.5%.
Dungeon Mastery. Active. Assimilating the core of a dungeon allows for the option of replacing the Dungeon Core, rather than gaining skills and size. While in a controlled dungeon, the Reincarnator can create and manipulate structures such as walls, barriers, and simple traps within 10 meters. The complexity, durability, and types of structures available depends on the Reincarnator’s size and available materials.
Summon Golem. Active. Creates a golem from nearby materials that will fight or perform specific actions until it is destroyed or the Reincarnator’s mana reserves are depleted. Currently one out of one summon slots are being used.