The two disks they managed to disable seem to have disappeared, there is no sign of it anywhere on the ground nor are there any remains of the thing that may have been used to disable them. My 300 mana, gone! The stony grounds are as spotless as a baby's bottom, a sapient stone's baby?
I take my time and walk towards the forest where the trees are big and the gaps small, once within its confines. I refilled just enough of my armor's Latent Mana to remake the armor's camouflage effect. Then walk a few minutes to come out of the forest from a slightly different angle to keep an eye on the dome and everything in it.
"BACK INTO HIDING LIKE THE VERMIN YOU ARE!!"
Guess she can't keep track of me under camo, good! I'm gonna recover some mana for a while, 'Updates, and battle summary. Thanks.'
** DING **
Status condition: Poisoned. Rhinorrhea and Irritated skin.
Skill level up, Poison Resistance 1 > 2
Skill level up, Poison Resistance 2 > 3
Status Healed: Poisoned
Skill level up, Mana Sense 11 > 12
Spell mastery rank up, Wind Arrow Intermediate > Advanced
Combat summary
Enemies slain:
Goblin lv 5 x 27
Goblin lv 6 x 33
Goblin lv 7 x 26
Goblin lv 8 x 41
Goblin lv 9 x 61
Goblin lv 10 x 16
Goblin lv 11 x 23
Goblin lv 12 x 12
Goblin lv 13 x 25
Goblin lv 14 x 11
Goblin Shaman lv 15 x 2
2458 syscred and 17588 exp awarded
You are now level 6
Congratulations. You have created a new Novice rank spell. As its creator, the spell will grow with you as your understanding of it grows.
Please name the spell…
Skill level up, SYMPHONY 7 > 8
Skill level up, Fear Resistance 6 > 7
Congratulations. You have created a new Journeyman rank spell. As its creator, the spell will grow with you as your understanding of it grows.
Vermillion Lord of Storms… spell logged
Skill level up, Taunt 5 > 6
Skill level up, Visualization 12 > 13
Skill level up, Mana Manipulation 17 > 18
Combat summary (hobs)
Enemies slain:
Hobgoblin lv 15 x 16
Hobgoblin lv 16 x 3
Hobgoblin lv 17 x 1
305 syscred and 3105 exp awarded
'For the novice spell, Latent Coating. Thanks!'
It seems The System could also garner the name we plan to use for a new spell even as early as before its first cast as long as we mention it once, so resourceful!
About time to allocate two levels worth of atri...
I abruptly see, on my peripheral vision, some commotion from inside the barrier dome right as I was gonna check my Attributes… sigh, later then. They seem to be mustering up a last stand, arming themselves with any tool available and getting into formation. A few of the older Gobs are in charge of command; shield to the front, spear-like second row, then a combination of weird items for the rest, it's really more chaos than order the further behind they are. Although, comically, they're facing where I was previously. Probably expecting me to come out of the forest from where I entered.
Unwilling to relinquish the momentum I have built up, I made my way towards the dome from where I am, approximately 1.45 on a clock when seen from their point of view. As expected, none has the level of keenness necessary to spot me while under camo.
Stopping when approximately ten meters divides me and the barrier dome. I find myself getting excited at the chance to once again try out my new spells, hastily, I cast Vermillion Lord of Storms right on top of the dome. The ordinary Goblins never had an inkling of what was happening above them, though the three shamans, recognizable from the mana link between them and the barrier had begun restlessly eying the mana build up above and beyond the dome's roof.
Their faces get increasingly ugly in their panic as the mana builds up and coalesces into the Vermillion Lord and even more so when, at its behest, the storm begins. Lightning started regularly striking the barrier at the Lord's delight, is it sentient? I stare at it for a while before once again making plans to bring the barrier dome down.
Hmm~, the storm peters out as I brainstorm internally, but still come out blank… lets try, Latent Coating, I create a two by two meter coat of hydrochloric acid on top of the dome, it's sadly the only acid I know of, but besides sizzling like a BBQ nothing happens…
So I approach and carefully place my hand on the dome, having been kinda wondering what this feels like since seeing it appear and is now making use of the opportunity. Feels like touching hard nothing, like there is something solid present, but also doesn't feel quite real.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
As their focus currently lies on me, one of the six disks hidden in my armor quietly flies up and, while remaining out of view, dive down into the earth through a small tunnel I'm molding on the go. Turns out, there is a layer of actual earth in this large cavern that goes deeper than how much I can sense through Mold Earth. The disk managed to come out under cover of the closest shack, five more followed it in before I closed back the hole. Fortunately, the Dungeon Core is too busy creatively screaming at me to notice the little bit of changes on her dirt.
The shamans died one after the other, instantly bringing down the barrier. Then another Gob-massacre ensued, helped along by the remaining woe-lifes that had yet to fade from being too far out of range. Soon after both the Dungeon Core and the chamber grew silent, I stood alone in the village ruins taking in the battle's end for a moment…
** DING **
I command the woe-core in my possession to regenerate my mana, then compress the rest. Which forms a smooth clear bluish gem that feels to be the size of a tennis ball, 'Inspect!'
** DING **
Mana Core (125 / 125)
'Inspect Mana Core please'
** DING **
Mana Core. Formed when a large amount of mana is compressed solid and kept active, a clear bluish gemlike object is formed. It holds and regenerates its own mana as if any ordinary creatures, albeit at a rate that would, despite the size of its mana pool, allow it to gain everything back in 24 hours. Size is dependent upon the mana it contains, the more the larger. Fades into ambient mana when all available mana is spent.
I look at the dagger I made but has since rarely used, it's also made of compressed mana. 'Inspect'. X2.
** DING **
Nanite dagger
Nanite. Formed when a large amount of mana is shaped then made solid, this causes a slight reduction to its mass and results a crystal-like material that is light and decently durable. The mana contained inside of it has been rendered unusable due to its stable state and is found to be impotent until broken down back into its original state.
Alrighty~, 'thanks.' So one contains active usable mana while the other is too stable and therefore can no longer be used as a mana should and has become a simple object. Though, I faintly remember this dagger being made from only about 300 mana, while the Mana Core was made with the mana from more than a hundred Goblins. So maybe what I did was more materializing the mana, which automatically compresses them from a loose state into a more compact and stable one. Like gas to liquid or solid. While the spell actually compresses the actual mana itself so much it becomes something solid, while still retaining it's full properties and capability. Which is why it needed so much mana. Experiments for later.
For now, the dungeon. Five of my disks return into their slot on my armor, while the last one I use to once again scout the village. The shacks mostly consist of living quarters, some obviously shared, though a few are definitely private dwellings. Nothing really worth talking about besides mundane gears and tools, the only object of note is a treasure chest that appeared on the clearing that lays in the middle of the village and the biggest shack, which is maybe four times larger than the second largest available, coming up to be about as big as a badminton court.
I disk-checked the smaller shacks and open grounds first of all, then wishing to leave opening the chest for last. I now find myself standing before the entrance to the big shack... procrastinating by watching the corpses fade into the ambience, I have a bad feeling about this.
But, resolved to get this over with by today, I finally step through.
Inside, I found a dozen women in similar conditions to the ones found outside. "Tsk! This is why these idiotic Goblins are pests!! Besides being a destructive bunch. What kinda taste does one have to think of them as their own children." I muttered.
"YOU ARE MISTAKEN, THEY ARE MODIFIED HUMANS I MADE TO BE PASSIVE, UNFEELING AND UNTHINKING. ONLY ALIVE TO SERVE ONE PURPOSE. THEY HAVE THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM OF A GOBLIN THAT CAN CONSUME ANYTHING AND CAN SURVIVE THROUGH ABSORBING AMBIENT MANA."
'Inspect!"
** DING **
Human, CoG modified lv 2
Okay, the others show similar results, different levels… But why is she explaining herself? "Even so, that you can create humans but choose Goblins instead is disgusting. Are the five women outside I found in a state similar to these ones here, something you made too?" I ask, as two disks methodically end the lives of each woman in the building. I then stepped outside and started lighting the building on fire and stood there watching it burn down. "Imagine the good it would bring to have a dungeon in all its capability to create necessities out of mere mana and if it actually supports mankind."
She didn't answer.
After the fires die down, I approach the treasure chest. It is approximately one meter tall and 1 x 1.5 meters wide and long. I thicken the armor on my arms by taking some out of my back, then carefully open the chest. No trap sprung, so my armor slowly returned to its previous state. Inside, I find a ring, a belt and a book.
'Inspect.' X3.
** DING **
Ring of Allure
+2 Charisma
Belt of Endurance
+65 Maximum Stamina
Skillbook: Battle Order
Grants skill Battle Order
Unfortunately, they're not directly useful for a caster. The ring and the skill book, judging by its name, probably complements each other to assist someone in a leadership position, a position I do not want to take. So I slightly opened up the armors around my torso to wear the belt before covering everything back, and stored the two other items in my repository.
'Stamina.'
** DING **
Stamina: 178/270
I steadily make my way towards the only other corridor, directly opposite of the one I came in from. Charisma and stamina loots, in a goblin dungeon?.. Stamina I understand, as it's useful for any situation. But, Charisma? Battle Order… useful for a leader, the Hob outside was their leader… The roaches attacking me, the Hob shouting before its death... huh, whadya know, Hobs actually do hold leading positions among the Goblin society. I shrug and make haste.
Feeling confident, I opted to skip my usual disk-scouting process. And so, after walking forth for a few minutes, the corridor comes to an end into a similar but much smaller stony chamber. At the far end, hovering majestically on a pedestal is a multicolored crystal. And right there in between us, is a massive creature with dark green skin, clearly made of pure muscle. Standing at about 2.5 meters tall and holding an unearthed tree, approximately twenty centimeters in diameter and maybe two meters long, as if it were a club.
'Inspect.'
** DING **
Ogre lv 30
Well damn! No way I'm getting through that.
"I WOULD LIKE TO OFFER YOU A DEAL." The Dungeon Core suddenly boomed out, making me jump a teeny bit, lucky she can't see me… right? "WALK AWAY NOW AND I PROMISE YOU NO MORE OF MY CHILDREN SHALL LEAVE MY DOMAIN UNTIL THE END OF EARTH'S ONE YEAR PROTECTION PERIOD."
So she is still considered a denizen? A portal simmers into existence near the wall to my right, its swirls oh so invitingly when compared to the sights of the Ogre. "OR STAY AND DIE!!" The Ogre swung the tree stump its holding menacingly at me, its glare promising me pain and death.
I guess it might be the better option to exit and live to fight another d…
** DING **
Quest received
DUNGEON TAKEOVER
Task: Slay the soul residing within the Dungeon Core and assist The System in taking control of the Dungeon.
Fail condition: Death / Leaving Dungeon premises
Rewards:
* 1 SysPoints
* increased affinity with The System
Penalty:
* N/A
Accept?
Y / N
** DING DING DING **
Assist me, embrace the path less traveled and I shall assist you in exchange
Eh?