Status, I think clearly, as my period of inactivity starts to get into activity.
“Name: Charlie.
Gender: neutral.
Alignment: Neutral
Level: 0.
Experience: 8.419/16
Mana: 10.071/4 “
Mana Regeneration: 1 per 24 hours.
Ressource Nodes/Types : 2/1(Mushroom)
Upgrades:
Layer (Layer / Number): 0/2, 1/0, 2/0, 3/0, 4/0, 5/0, 6/0, 7/0
Activity: 1/week
“
I realize what is wrong. The small rock sphere in the middle of the area is burning, hotter and hotter. Too much mana stored. It is an uncomfortable feeling, so I try my best to dissolve it.
I focus on the idea of the “Pimple Mushroom”, and keep it in mind.
Cold thoughts, I think, as clearly as possible, and when I feel the familiar presence, I am relieved that the thoughts , even though none of them are there yet. I get my thoughts in order. My problems are pretty apparent.
1. I have too much mana, and it feels uncomfortable.
2. I think it can be solved by expanding.
3. I play around with the idea of mana storage.
It makes sense. I would call it a circle. A circle ends at the same place as it begins, like one of the ripe big bulbs that hang from my shrooms. I can think of some way to deal with this, and decide to just ask.
“Cold thoughts, how can Increase my area?”
“UPGRADE DUNGEON CORE, LEVEL 1, COST 5 XP. YES/NO?”
I am more than happy to consider this. I have enough experience, and quite honestly, the heat is getting pretty bad.
“Yes. ”
I feel the change immediately. The Core almost jumps as it nearly doubles in size, now as big as the ant that had been digested. Due to my experience in measuring, I can tell that it is now the size of 2 millimeters.
Good stuff.
I try “status” again.
“Name: Charlie.
Gender: neutral.
Alignment: Neutral
Diameter: 2 mm
Force: 0.001 N.
Level: 1.
Experience: 3.429/16
Mana: 10.080/12
Mana Regeneration: 1 per 24 hours.
Mana Storage: N/a
Ressource Nodes/Types : 2/1(Mushroom)
Upgrades:
Layer (Layer / Number/ cost for next Level): 0/2/4, 1/0/4, 2/0/8, 3/0/16, 4/0/32, 5/0/64, 6/0/128, 7/0/256
Activity: 1/week
“
Okay, that is a bunch of more information. I take a while to digest it all.
I start with the numbers. I get the concepts behind numbers, and decide to use the few bits of math I remember. After all, if I knew how much, there would be a sort of plannability.
So, 4 4 8 16 32 64 128 256….
If I went easy on it, it seemed that it was the base price. After all, I have already upgraded layer zero, so it makes sense that the system costs more. IF I hadn’t, I would most likely have faced a clean line of increasing numbers. 2 4 8 16 32 64 128 256.
It also tells me that there is a thought there, behind the seeming madness. If I just took a normal progression of counting and gaining experience that way, I was much more likely to take the lower numbers first. Their costs were reached faster.
So, the basecost follows a mathematical formula, BaseXP = 2^(N+1) , with N standing for the layer to be upgraded. That much makes absolute and undeniable sense. The advancement cost however is a bit more tricky.
First 2, then 4….
Let's assume it continues the same way as I would assume, so we would have (Number of Upgrades)*BaseXP
That spells doom for the higher level upgrades, as that sort of cost will quickly get prohibitive. Either, soon I will be fighting masses of ants, up to my eyeballs in a wiggling mass of ants and whatnots, or I will be fucking about doing something more horrific then drowning an ant in mushroom liquid and making it fertiliser for my shrooms. I shudder to think about that.
Alignment worries me something too, because I have very vague memories of that, but I put that on the long bench. My actions are my own, and if I am judged for being myself, bring it on.
Diameter, I have honestly no idea what that was about. Was it trying to body shame a Rock Marble? Would be just like cold thoughts…
By seeing the pattern that the roots had made, I can do a comparison. Right now, I am about as big as the ant that ran into my pimple mushroom lengthwise. If I was 2 mm, and previously, I was half as long, it was an easy guess to make that I am growing the same way (hopefully). But, since I am consistently growing, and the upgrade has disturbed that, I was unsure about how well that would go.
The Bit about the Force astonishes me.
I understand Force. The concept is not off to me. Turning potential energy into work. The implications however…
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
I test it out by flipping my focus to the very end of my area, that now came closer to measuring 8… I stop myself, and measure with confidence. That is 16 now. The radius around the core is 16. I have grown big !
I think about the measuring standards. MM, I know that from the same place as that cursing and profanity was glorious, and that smiling has something to do with teeth, was millimeter. 16 Centimeters…..
Why was I thinking about “vectors”?
I act more on impulse, then on rationality.
Vectors, I realize, are applied forces. In a way. It seems simple enough, from what I can presently recall. Take a vector, any vector really. It is force, used at a point, in a direction.
I try it out on one of the remaining tentacles of the burst balloon of Mushroom that still seems the same color. I visualize what I want.
“FORCE “Vector” ATTEMPT DETECTED. COST: 1 MANA. Initiating?”
I confirm, it snaps with a crack, and the still good part flies through the air, and lands on my core rock.
“ADD MATERIAL TO BUILDLIBRARY? COST 1 EXPERIENCE”
Again, I call cold thoughts colorful profanity, because it did not turn down its volume. I think about that for a while. 1 Experience is nothing.
Yes, I think.
SPORE ADDED. YOU ARE NOW ABLE TO PRODUCE “glowing pimple Mushroom”
And I suddenly know what Mycelium and Spore are.
And, what the build library is for.
Information floods over me, and through me. I see how spores could change into Mycelium as long as there was enough medium, and how it is easy to increase an existing mushroom by feeding it. I realize instantly how it is basically the same. And my brain , or whatever equivalent rock marbles classed as core have, fills in the rest.
A glowing pimple mushroom doe not exist all by itself. It exists first as a spore that can settle pretty much anywhere. Once launched, the roots as I had called mycelium before will grow, and open a chamber in between them by transmuting mana to mycelium, to liquid, and to making the base of the mushroom.
In and of itself, pretty neato. I would congratulate myself, and after a bit, I do so. No one else seems to give a shit.Well done, me.
The trick is that different mushrooms are connected to the same network. If the spore was hypothetically carried away a long distance, it would form into its own, but a short distance, and it could be integrated into its own network. The concept of Mushroom circles. One entity, multiple mushrooms.
IF I could have smiled, I would have.I have no mouth, but I smile.
“MULTIPLE FORCE “Vector” ATTEMPTS DETECTED. COST: 4 MANA. INITIATING?”
I confirm, and a very weak popping noise is heard, as 4 spores that had not existed before are yeeted off of my core. I have aimed the force well, and feel my mana drop. The Spores land at the very edges of my area.
I have to dig into my reserves, and use my saved mana, but I abuse a wonderful thing, in that I know that as long as a single connection exists, it counts. Mushrooms will do the rest, and if they need to, they will make more of it.
I stretch myself, and start printing off the bit that is still stuck to my core. I draw the connection from my core to the new nodes, and I am down to less and less mana, but finally, I check.
The spores have ceased counting as spores, and count as one organism.
I am reasonably content with that, and watch the thin white lines. I can feel as the lines act like organic wires, helping the mushroom catch flow mana. Pretty well done, if I am allowed to say so myself. I survey the situation.
My core is at the corner of my area. On the wall, there is a mushroom, that I will call wall mushroom. The other mushrooms form a pentagon on the ground, and act really well. I can feel the other mycelium connections growing, and do nothing against that. As I said, Mushrooms do mushroom things. Best not to interfere.
I check the flow, and find that the flow has calmed down somewhat. That is concerning. I use my focus, and carve channels, but stop halfway through. What if an ant gets an idea, and comes when I am resting? I look at the entire thing, and after a second of thought, I leave a path for the flow.
I mentally name the 5 floor nodes of the mushroom ABCD and E. A to C, C to E, E to B, B to D, D to A. I remember that symbol from somewhere, and am happy to report that the increased flow along the mycelium structures in the ground causes them to branch out, as if to catch as much as possible. Not bad. That will continue by itself, and reinforce itself . The increased but shaped flow helps the nodes on the ground grow faster and better then the node on the wall.
I spend some time watching the nodes grow, and branch out, the flow just hitting right, when I notice a single ant making its way towards me.
Poor thing seems to be stumbling along the rock floor, clearly in a bad shape. It only has three legs that still work, and it has minute amounts of leakage.
I think about the situation, as it seems to pull itself forwards.
I could let it die. I have it on the good authority of my mind that mushrooms are not too picky of an eater. Mushrooms are pretty well known to eat anything organic. Left alone, soon, there would be a spore in that ant, and there would be XP…. but would that really count?
I mean, I know about the law of the jungle, only the strong survive, they thrive, they get the food, and all that, but …
I did not feel very jungle-like.Jungle like is, in my next to non existant memories, pretty mean. I do not feel mean at all.
Yet
There is a weird part inside my brain that is weirder than usual. Maybe it has to do with having too little activity, but I have to think of the ant from before. How it struggled, and succumbed. The movement, the sinking into the hole of the mushroom…
I have to think of myself. Just having grown by double, having not one or two but six nodes of a mushroom network, that turned Mana into sugary liquid. I have to think that it will be the same for me if I grow, and I have a picture of me at the helm of an army of terrible Pimple shrooms in my head, making enough liquid to drown oceans of ants…
I could grow like that.
I absolutely could.
NO doubt about it.
I would like to see anyone try to stop me growing like that.
I also think of myself as an intelligence in a rock marble. An intelligence filled with things like the knowledge about smiles. An intelligence that not long before debated with itself if it existed.
Would such an intelligence actually kill an already broken foe? Should it?
I could grow to a size quite quickly, killing everything that it came into contact with. No doubt about that. My mind showed me images of ant hills, thousands of ants, each of them worth 10 XP…. It also allows me to guess what would happen if I were to drown an ant hill full of ants. I am just a marble. A very tiny marble, in a world that could do damage to an ant. I think about sitting in the glow of my mushrooms, and just counting, again, for a very long time.
Carefully, I make a decision.
I scrape together the rests of mana that I have at my disposal, and use my focus. With the utmost care I guide the ant closer. Come on, little buddy. You can do it. Bit by bit, the ant crawls closer to my core, to the light. I have a flash of an image in my mind. Scared. Hurt. Alone.
I can’t cheer it on, but I try. I was once smaller than you, and look where I am now. Big as you. Glowy. Six mushrooms. You can do it. I guide a bit of the sugar to a place I have picked out, it is a nice big piece. I use the last of my mana to take care to make it a big piece. The ant is small, like me. 2 millimeters, what can such an ant eat per day? Its own body weight? How to weigh?
I create with a bit of the mana, taking care to never use the last of it, a tiny cave out of mycelium. An ant does not need to have a lot of space, and it seems the mind agrees with me. What else does an ant need? Food, shelter…. Mate would be good, but that can be taken care of later.
I steel myself, because a part of myself knows what has to be done.
“Cold thoughts? I want that ant healed. ”
There is a pause. I can tell that the ant has gotten the message, because it goes towards the lump of sugar
“NOT POSSIBLE. ”
That one is new. I had expected something with costs or something… not the break in the routine. The pause as if it has to look something up.
“How do I make it possible”, I think as clearly as possible. It annoys me how Cold Thoughts simply wants to tell me how it is. It has not told me that it is possible to make glowing mushrooms. I have found that out myself. That means, on a very real level, either it did not know, or it wants me to find out myself. I hate situations where I do not know all the rules.
“ANT #3694133281 IS LISTED AS RANDOM ENCOUNTER”
I felt myself grow agitated.
“Then I want to give it a name. Its name is Langton. ”
“BUT …”
“Now, listen here. I can name things, right? IF a thing is named, it is not random. If it is not random, the listing is false, and it is possible to heal it. I want it healed, and restored. Not an ant like this, this ant. Because the ant's name is Langton. IF it is useless to name things, because named things can be ignored, consider the fact that I have named you. ”
I wait, and can only hope.
“PROCESSING”
That is… Something different than I have come to expect. My threat had been a bluff, but I could not care that much. I have spent entirely too much time alone and without entertainment. If cold thoughts could do this, it would tell me much more about what was possible then if I asked cold thoughts directly.
“CHECKING PREREQUISITES. FOODS PRESENT. SHELTER PRESENT. ANT “Langton” HAS ACCEPTED. ANT “Langton” NOW LISTED AS MINION. ”
I feel the drain, and give a little bit more. I am cutting it dangerously close, but it makes sense. Langton the ant would be safe and secure. I watch as Langtons form rests inside the diminutive shelter, already looking better. Enough sugar and liquids are present, and in terms of entertainment, I am pretty confident I can find him something to do. I have entertainment.
I rest myself into my bed of stone, and as a last gesture, think of Cold thoughts. I get next to no reply, but feel the presence. I hope a simple gratitude is enough.
“Name: Charlie.
Gender: neutral.
Alignment: Neutral
Diameter: 2 mm
Force: 0.001 N.
Level: 1.
Experience: 1.124/16
Mana: 0.297/12
Mana Regeneration: 1 per 24 hours.
Mana Storage: N/a
Ressource Nodes/Types : 1/1(Mushroom)
Upgrades:
Layer (Layer / Number/ cost for next Level): 0/2/4, 1/0/4, 2/0/8, 3/0/16, 4/0/32, 5/0/64, 6/0/128, 7/0/256
Minion: 1 / 2.
Minion 1: Ant “Langton”
Activity: 1/week
“
Not bad. I had managed to cut it pretty close, but I can easily do better than that. I relax, as much as is possible for a marble with ambitions of grandeur, and try to regain some energy by focussing on the counting of the drips of mana. I may have nearly exhausted myself, but now, not only was there a resource node, but I also have my first minion.Not bad, not bad at all.