Year 52, Month 2, Day 9
I’m not sure what I should do. Clearly something is approaching me. Something with mana. That has to be a threat of some kind, right? Fleeing seems the most logical choice, but I could end up leaving the frying pan for the fire. I have no way back to the vents that I’ve found yet so wherever I go will be new.
Instead, I think my best chance is to just remain closer to the Mana Stone deposits so I have plenty of warning time to hopefully slow it down and get some info on what this unnatural feeling mana is. I don’t know enough about this world to have any idea what this could be. I would be more sure if I was sure about where exactly I am, but since all I know this is at least partially a mine, there are too many possibilities. Unless giant fire demons are green here, I can’t think of any immediately obvious aura threats found in mines.
I rolled as quickly as I could back. I have found I can increase my speed some by using Dust Manipulation to propel myself ahead which helps to keep me ahead of the approaching mana sources. I do find it strange, however, that these glowing mana sources feel more like a mist than a single source, unlike the Mana Stones.
I’m about halfway to my destination when I get the first tug on my senses. Something just entered my spore field. The spores will naturally move into the air when disturbed so I’m able to get a fairly good look at the lower body of the entering humanoid. Despite the distance, my vision is clear showing anywhere in my spore field if I’m focusing on it. I can tell it’s humanoid size and shaped already but until the spores settle, I can’t say which kind for sure. The spores fall into the grooves and crevices showing the unmistakable form of a skeleton walking down the hall.
Undead, great. I’m not sure how threatening these are to me since I’m not organic but their mechanisms could be different. The green mana must be some kind of necromancy or soul magic because it envelopes the whole skeleton's body. Now that it is closer, the fuzzy mist has cleared into the defined body shape around the skeleton with a condensed area right around the head area.
There’s no way I can fight a skeleton at the moment, I’m barely four inches round at the moment. I need to remain unseen and hope it turns back after finding nothing or the other creatures I encountered before taking care of it. That last possibility would raise its own problems however, so I’ll hope to simply wait it out and hope to remain unseen.
Maybe waiting it out is a bad idea. Multiple other skeletons just entered my spore field and based on the fog behind, it seems there are plenty more behind them. Perhaps 15 have entered the spore field proper and perhaps double that are still outside my range. Hard to tell for sure.
This looks like a necromancer's invasion force, but how on earth did I wake them? Could it just be a coincidence? Could it be they detect souls and I simply got too close? I have no clue. I keep coming up with questions I can’t answer and I don’t enjoy this feeling of walking in the unknown.
The first skeleton is still about 30 meters away from me so I have time, but what should I do? My camouflage is useless if they have some kind of soul sight, but if they don’t I should be able to stop where I am and wait it out. Is that worth the risk? Otherwise I just need to keep rolling and hope I don’t run into other dangers in this mine complex.
Thinking it through, the humanoids from before didn’t react to me or the spores so they probably don’t have any soul vision. I can’t say for certain there isn’t a stronger one out there who does but I do have enough evidence about the skeletons being able to possibly see me that the chances seem to be better if I simply keep running.
Full speed ahead. I am rolling and moving as fast as possible, but I opt to be using my Spore Propagation rather than Dust Manipulation at the moment so I can increase my vision and slow down my pursuers. Based on the rough map of the vents, I want to get as far from this area as possible. Hopefully finding an exit.
Since my spores reach much higher now I’m able to briefly make out the general makeup of each room as I pass through. A hallway into a storage area, down another hallway, and through a dining room. Luckily I haven’t encountered anything else yet but I am losing ground bit by bit.
The skeletons have just left the mine into that first hallway and should soon pass the room where the humanoids had gone to rest. My hope is that the humanoids are able to raise some kind of alarm and take out the skeletons.
My hope dies in vain as 6 skeletons break off and enter the room opposite while the rest continue their march. The rest completely ignore the room with the mining humanoids. To make matters worse, since I had last checked, about 20 had crossed into the spore field in their march. I’m almost certain now, for some reason, I am their target.
Time to keep moving, they’ll catch me eventually if I don’t do something. I continue down another hallway and into another room. The furthest and largest room connected to the ventilation system. It’s an entryway and as I approach the far end, my spores reveal a large stone door sealing me in.
I start to check the border of the room looking for anything I can manipulate so that I can try and open the doors but to no avail. The skeletons have separated into another group going down one of the hallways I had ignored. I can try and double back and try to find something else, I have about 25 meters of buffer room. Otherwise all I can do is sit here and await my fate.
A moment to think before I decide to risk it. I’m not inclined to sit still and do nothing when possible. So if I have a chance to accomplish something, I’ll take it. I turn back and start moving towards the steadily approaching bony legion.
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I have two hallways that the skeletons haven’t reached. The nearest hallway had only three rooms versus the eight along the second hallway, but reasonably, I can only reach the closest to have enough time to search more than one room.
The first room was a bedroom, barely anything of note to use. The second also was practically empty. However as I entered the third and began to spread my spores, I got a notification.
[Reincarnator’s size has increased, Reincarnator has leveled up.]
[Skill Acquired - Echo Mimicry. Active. Reproduce sounds or vibrations that have been recorded within 1 meter of the Reincarnator. Sound reproductions are centered on the Reincarnator.]
Neat and very useful, I’m sure, but how is that supposed to help me right now? I wish I could shout. The panic is starting to set in. What do I need to do to survive this? I’m almost 8 inches across now, I’ve got to be able to assimilate something in this room to help me defend myself.
That’s when I finally begin to take in my surroundings, looking for something, anything. I’m in a storage room of some kind. Perhaps an armory? There doesn’t appear to be any Mana Stones but I do see what might be weapons leaning against several tables. I search and explore, using swords as ramps to get on the tables. However, nothing appears to be small enough for me to assimilate.
My spores begin to assault my senses. I’ve been distracted and failed to notice how close the skeletons were. Ten just entered the room and are approaching my location. Why am I so special??
Activate Silt Camouflage.
No change in their movements. Slow and steady, approaching me, reaching out. These spore covered skeletons are all around me and there is nowhere to go.
Activate Regenerative Structure: Bone
This way if they attack me directly, I should be able to regain some health from assimilating some of their body. At least that’s what I hope. I pull what little dust is around me into a shield and spear. I need to defend myself.
I try to stab the approaching hand reaching out to grab me but it doesn’t seem to even crack the bone. I’m pushing the shield as hard as I can but soon the bony fingers break my dust shield and close around me. I’m stuck in its grasp. Using the dust in range, I try to cut and pry myself out but the skeleton seems unaffected.
I don’t understand what use a skeleton has for me. Does it want to eat me? That doesn’t make any sense based on the skeletons I’m familiar with from games and fantasy but this is a real world. I try to contain my fear and face my destruction with confidence but nothing comes. It is simply grasping onto me, unmoving.
Like drones awaiting instructions, the skeletons remain standing still, but I’m trapped with no way of moving. Suddenly the skeleton holding me begins to move towards the door. Am I going for a ride? The others seem to reach for the weapons scattered around the room. How strange. Does it think I’m some kind of weapon perhaps?
A green notification obstructs my view of the skeletons and for a moment I am stunned trying to process what it says.
[Adventurer’s have entered. Defend the dungeon core.]
What???
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Reincarnator: Ja̶ʍҽʂ Ha̶ʅvҽʀʂoɳ
Form: Stone of Adaptation LVL 3
Size: 20.3 cm
Next Level: 50 cm
Skills
Reincarnator's Blessing II. Passive. Increase size gain by 10%. Increase luck by 2. Improve relevance of skills upon leveling up.
Advanced Assimilation. 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 30 minutes. Can store up to 3 different properties or skills at once.
Magnetic Body. Passive. 50% more likely to attract smaller or equal sized objects within a radius equal to 1/4 size. Attract all magnetic objects within a radius equal to 1/2 size.
Regenerative Structure. Passive. Forms a barrier around the core preventing undesired particles from being assimilated. Blocked particles will slowly regenerate 1% of damage every 10 minutes. Bone particles are twice as effective.
Spore Propagation III. Active. Release a cloud of spores that can settle on surfaces within 2 meters and grow, creating a network of mold that can serve various purposes such as spreading influence, detecting movements, and reducing the movement speed of creatures that make contact with the spores by 30% for up to 5 minutes.
Roll. Active. Movement by rolling at a speed of 1/5th size per second.
Written in Stone. Active. Store up to 15 memories in the core that are available for access by Reincarnator at any time.
Dust Manipulation. Active. Manipulate dust within a 1-meter radius to form barriers, simple constructs, or directed attacks. Barriers and constructs last up to 10 minutes or until destroyed. Attacks deal minor physical damage.
Iron Shell. Passive. Gain a hardened exterior similar to iron, increasing physical defense by 50% and boosting physical attack power by 20%.
Silt Camouflage. Active. When active, become nearly invisible to the naked eye for 1 minute. Movement reduces the effectiveness, but still provides a 50% increase to stealth.
Mana Sense III. Passive. Detect nearby mana sources. Different mana types are distinguished by different colors.
Echo Mimicry. Active. Reproduce sounds or vibrations that have been recorded within 1 meter of the Reincarnator. Sound reproductions are centered on the Reincarnator.