Awaken and fire, dungeon.
Primus beamed through its mind, the operation connecting the newborn to the system as a whole. It was overwhelming. Of course, it was, the poor creature’s first stimulus was a nigh-endless cacophony of sound, touch, sight, smell, dreams, fights, agony, joy and so much more. It was unable to parse the information consciously, instead it was left in a stupor as it passively soaked in information.
Then there was peace, and the dungeon spirit was thankful. It was not sure how much longer, despite the time it was connected being almost zero, it could handle. It would have been a shame to see my immense intellect cut down to a stumbling half-wit, the dungeon spirit thought. Somewhat terrifying, the dungeon spirit still had Primus dormant in its settings, meaning it was just a thought away from vegtibalization. Primus irked its mind so greatly, it felt like it was pulling towards it. Death so close to reality took up so much focus it subsumed all other thoughts, leading the flow of the mind in that unerring direction towards it, turning questions of what if into ideas of actually reactivating Primus.
Scary.
Looking more carefully into its bios the dungeon spirit could gather greater settings connected to Primus, one option prompted a query from the dungeon spirit that Primus could answer, if it did not obtusify a higher order from the system of course. It left that capability alone for the time being. Another being might ask what was going on, what was the system, what is a dungeon, but the dungeon spirit already had these answers from its automatic activation of Primus. And asking what the system is would do no good, as the system simply is and there is no greater explanation for what it does. Besides the option that demanded a query there was some data on Primus, a lot of it gibberish that probably had no worthwhile meaning as the system did love that kind of drivel, but there was an important piece of info. Time till requisition of Primus: twenty-four hours. The entry didn’t actually say twenty-four , that is just a simplified form of what is endless digits extending to infinity. Worthless system drivel.
Interesting, the dungeon spirit thought. While it had gained the ability to conjure vocalized thoughts, general information of the natural universe, and various concepts of mortals, the particularities of dungeons were not among that information packet. Would be no point when it is all right here, I guess it’s a bit of an IQ test. Did the dungeon spirit stay sane while traversing Primus and can deduce simple answers, or is it stuck forever in an understandable void? the dungeon spirit proposed. With its mutterings complete, the system spread its focus onto the various values that made up its capabilities and nature.
Spread before the dungeon spirit was a menu that displayed all that it was at the moment.
Dungeon level:0
Dungeon points:1000
Current delvers:0
Current Invaders:0
Current Denizens:0
Dungeon management:
-
Denizens:
-
All in all, moderately useless. It seems the dungeon spirit truly was newborn, not randomly wiped, though the possibility of that is questionable. On more practical matters, I'm rich!...maybe, the newborn joked to itself. The dungeon spirit hummed as it pondered for a second, then curiously focused on the dashes beneath the lower two options. They expanded slightly into a new list.
Dungeon management :
* Shape Environment(Lvl.1)
* Territory management (Lvl.1)
Denizens:
-()-
-()-
Three of the new listings were blank, for whatever reason. Perhaps because of that fat zero for a level. Zero does in fact mean nothing, so that could explain all the nothingness. Though, hope shone through the two real options. Fluttering its mind over the Shape Environment option, nothing happened, which makes sense because the dungeon spirit had no idea what to use it on. It had no idea where it was right now, nor held any time to observe it. Instead, the dungeon spirit just gained the feeling of trying to move a limb that was not there, which disturbed the dungeon spirit. It was a very nasty feeling that propelled it to its second selectable option: Territory management. With a frazzled metaphorical hand, the dungeon spirit selected the option and immediately flinched back from it. With the use of the ability came an influx of information, density, hydrostatic pressure, chemical make up, crystal structures, shifting particulate, chemical reactions, firing neurons, and more. It created a skull crushing wave like Primus.
Though, it was not Primus. Musing over the data and experience, the dungeon spirit found it was quite dissimilar to its first experience in life, invigorating now that it took a step back. Unlike Primus, it was completely capable of observing the data presented by this sense, though understanding did not necessarily come with it, unlike Primus. With renewed curiosity the dungeon spirit dove back into the sense, slowly it became apparent where it was. It was in the dirt. Earth. Soil. Terra. Dirt, that is where it was born. Its sensibilities a little dinged by the revelation, the dungeon spirit went back to analyzing what it could do. With its new sense that allowed it to observe its surroundings over an unknown but seemingly short distance, the dungeon spirit gained another sense, that most similar to a limb. One didn’t need to see a limb or feel the surrounds of that limb with skin to know where it was, how it was oriented, and that it was there in the first place. A unique feeling considering it had never felt it before.
Slowly, the feeling matured and grew in detail and focus. To the dungeon spirit, it oddly felt like it wielded a cacophony of limbs that grasped and pulled. It could even imagine each muscle, rotation of the joints, and stress each limb felt. The dungeon spirit chuckled as it imagined what it would look like if these aberrations were visible, a tangle of limbs reaching out and often pulling at the maximum flexibility of a joint, contorting just to reach a little further or a little faster. Satisfied with the feeling it started to activate these limbs truly, and 6they reached and fought, pulling in… something. In their hands they held no matter and energy, but space. Or the ability to rule said space? It was not a parsable thing. They took what they held and pulled through a barrier of sorts, though not one set in any three-dimensional coordinates. The handfuls of space resisted conquering, spreading out like rain drops hitting the ground, but eventually they were pulled through with a little pop.
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So, I believe now terraform must be activatable, I can feel every iota of matter within my borders now, if not I will be calling Primus and complaining while the ability remains, the dungeon spirit though. With a tensing and relaxing of its mind similar to a quick breath, the dungeon spirit reached out with its terraform ability. It relaxed fully as a brick wall of wrongness didn’t collide into its face, instead it basked into the feeling pressing on it, the ability to command. Different from the Territory Management ability, Shape Terrain did not have any mental constructs to go with it, but it did unlock a feeling in its mind. With authority, the dungeon spirit pulled at the dirt surrounding it, more or less just willing it to happen, creating a chasm devoid of matter an unknown distance away from its core. Said chasm quickly imploded as the dungeon spirit's will faded, pulling the dirt which was there back in, along with shaking up the core. It didn’t do much to the dungeon, just as if any other gem in its territory had been moved slightly.
Nice, but what if you just delete the dirt? The dungeon spirit questioned
Reaching out again, it imagined the dirt just disappearing, which did not happen. With a spark of thought, the dungeon spirit instead tried to change the dirt into air, which failed greatly. The oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, and other atoms threw themselves against each other, causing an explosion as they pushed apart violently.
The dungeon spirit was stumped for a second till it counted much less material being in its control than before. It seems some of the air just dispersed through the dirt. Hmmm. Well it’s a start, but let's focus on getting a hold of everything first, the core righted itself. It was concerned with its blank entries, more so than the pretty steady hold it had on its Terraforming abilities. It was pretty sure it knew how to proceed there, any way.
Roving its attention over the menus, it quickly found what it had missed. Ah, I am just stupid, good to know the dungeon spirit disparaged. Those little marks under the Denizen option were seemingly like the dashes, so it clicked on one of them.
Denizen Selection:
Silvermite:
* DP:400
* Spawn cost: 90 DP
A small creature around 10 pounds in weight and made up of stone, though marked with the element of chaos, it is much more fragile than its appearance may lead one to believe. Their main attack versus large creatures is to latch on with their 10 limbs and use their element to weaken the enemy with a swarm attack. The touch of these creatures caused strong tingling and weak numbing sensations wherever it touches.
Dust Sprite:
* DP: 500
* Spawn cost: 200 DP
These sad aberrations are spawned from those left to starve to death. They appear as a brownish humanoid the same size as a human and hold the ability to directly affect the real world. To an uninformed, they are an extremely hard entity to kill, as to do so one must find and disperse their pile of dust.
Zamor Frog:
* DP: 500
* Spawn cost: 80 DP
These large amphibians secrete a sticky and slimy ooze from their skin which they can launch with magic at foes, covering their eyes and ears, or slimming their hands, so they can’t hold a weapon. The ooze is flammable, though. Around 8 pounds in weight.
Dungeon fox:
* DP:400
* Spawn cost: 120 DP
A fox like one might have seen anywhere, but boosted in size moderately and intelligence greatly. A normal fox might posture and run, but a dungeon fox will always fight with its full ability always, and with its intelligence it is much, much mightier than a normal fox. Weight averages at about 30 pounds of teeth and muscle.
Dungeon Muppet :
* DP: 300
* Spawn cost: 90 DP
These cute creatures are known for their ability to mimic bright flowers, tricking bugs into the reach of their maw. The average Muppet weighs around 20 pounds and is unlikely to be able to kill a human, but as a dungeon variant they gain intelligence that allows them to wield weapons and craft bush traps and an advantage in weight, putting them around 30 pounds.
Dungeon Katydid:
* 300 DP
* Spawn cost: 50 DP
These upgraded Katydids are twice the size of their biggest relative, averaging a foot long. Their mighty bite can easily leave large gouges in unprotected humans, and with their upgraded intelligence their ability to dodge and attack the right places is increased, making them a real menace.
Granger spawn:
* 400 DP
* Spawn cost: 100 DP
Only having passed the stage of a hatchling, these creatures are stuck to water and its immediate surroundings as their roaming ground. On land, they are very weak though, their dexterous and strong forelimbs yet to mature, leaving only their four fanged maw as their weapon. These creatures have a weak alignment with water, but an alignment still. 15 pound in weight
Barb Goblins:
* 600 DP
* Spawn cost: 200 DP
These are the first in the line of tortured creatures with a basis in blood magics, regeneration, and great smell. They take the form of a goblinoid about 30 pounds in weight with barbs under their skin that regrows. Any time they move too vigorously, their barbs pierce their skin, enraging them into a berserker state and creating weapons that can create shallow gashes on naked skin. They are easy to evolve, like all goblins.
Cataclysm lizards :
* 500 DP
* Spawn cost: 150 DP
These powerfully named creatures are in fact believed to be heralds of cataclysm, not the cataclysm themselves. They weigh around 25 pounds and resemble monitor lizards. They do have an element affinity for fire, though it only manifests before their birth. when they are in their eggs, they manifest this affinity by blowing up in an explosion if damaged, causing much harm.
A whole lot of choices. One could get caught up in them, scanning the descriptions and costs to check for any numerically superior option. But, there was no superior option. Really, I have it all figured out:it doesn’t really matter, just choose what you want, because that’s really what is important. Letting digits get in the way of one's natural opinions and emotions is illogical and leads to a life void of satisfaction , the dungeon spirit scoffed with a sense of intellectual superiority. Though, what is this evolution thing? Under the gray goblins option, it says they are easier to evolve. I suppose it must be some process under which the goblin would change… the dungeon spirit thought, though the only way to find out the specifics was to ask Primus. The dungeon spirit shivered at the thought, but refused to let fear control it. Primus, what is evolution? The dungeon spirit asked, and received.
Huh, well I was right. In a dungeon, as a denizen levels, it will evolve into a greater a race. If it is unique enough, it will create a whole new race.
As interesting as that concept was, and how interesting it made the goblins, the dungeon spirit had already picked as soon as it saw the options, two slots, two picks. In the dungeon's imagination, it conjured a great mountain created by the formation of the dungeon, that dungeon being a ring spiraling into ever colder winds. Sadly, there were no ice flavored spawns, but that just means it would have to obtain them later. Now, it could just focus on the near future of its grand plan. A gorgeous green deceit.
Wait, the dungeon spirit thought, interrupting its musings at a relation, I can’t make a nice lush forest to lure delvers in if I'm in the arctic or something, it would be kinda lame to be an ice dungeon in an icy area. Thankfully, the solution is easy: ask Primus.
Where am I?
And then it knew-no, then it understood