Dungeon: Scarlet Brimstone has risen to level 4. Perk point acquired. Maximum evolution reached.

My last thoughts before evolution were ones of sadness at my single zombie's death before the blackout.

Begin Evolution Selection.

as usual, the trio of options swam across my vision, green screen in an otherwise dark mass of nothing

Stone-tier Evolution Selection Zombie cave (common) Gauntlet (Uncommon) Forge (Unommon) Blood altar (Rare)

Overwhelm foes with a torrent of flesh.

Enables block: Rotten flesh

Enables monster spawn: Zombie wolf, Zombie horse, or Orc zombie

Grants perk: Zombie adept. All zombies get a small boost to all stats, Cost of "Summon zombie" reduced by 4 mana

"Endurance" and "Zombie curse" rise by one level. Zombie curse has two chances to activate, and if it activates both times empowers the new zombie.

EXP gains: Tiny when one of your zombies dies. Small when one of your zombies kills a creature. Large when one of your zombies kills a sentient. Doubled if zombie curse activates

Wear down foes with a barrage of traps

Enables NPC spawn: Tinkerer (Goblin, gnome, or kobold)

Enables block: Trap (chosen from sawblade, arrow dispenser, or floor spikes)

Enables block: Random trap (stone)

Grants perk: Trap adept. Your traps deal increased damage.

Traps costs 1 less mana to re-arm, traps that cost no mana to re-arm will do so automatically

EXP gains: Tiny when one of your traps hits something, large when a one of your traps kills something

Arm your monsters with the finest quality gear

Enables NPC spawn: Blacksmith (orc, dwarf, or treant)

Enables action: Forge equipment (wood)

Enables blocks: Anvil, weaponcrafting table, furnace

Grants perk: Well-armed II, doubling the chance to spawn with equipment, it's bonus, and chance to keep the item on death

Monsters you summon will repair their own gear, and may improve it beyond it's base form

EXP gains: Tiny when a monster uses it's weapon to critically hit or score a kill, medium when a monster repairs or improves it's equipment

Perform dark magic to diminish and destroy.

Upgrades core to blood altar. Consume blood and life force to gain mana. Gain more when this life force is willingly given

Enables action: drain blood, infuse equipment, dark deal

Enables blocks: Stone Brick, 2x rune (wood), each chosen from a random selection of three

Enables monster spawn: Imp, random dark monster (wood),

EXP gains: Constant when blood is turned to mana. Small when one of your monsters kills a creature. Massive when you tempt a sentient creature to your will

Source: Zombie summon Source: Cobweb trap Source: Well-Armed perk Source: 'Darkening magic' perk

The source row was new. I guess now that the system had something to work off, it was telling me which of my choices granted these options?

Zombie room looked gross. I didn't want to rely on these monsters any more than I had to. Gauntlet and forge looked cool, and I would have had a hard time choosing from them until I saw the final branch.

Who gives a damn how every solitary protagonist and their sister had this, Cliches were cliche for a reason. And many such rationalizations gunning it for raw power. I had monsters to drain, humans to make deals with, and so many delicious options. It didn't grant me a perk, but the other bonuses were far too great to pass up

Something in the fourth option cracked and shattered, shards stabbing themselves into my very being. I screamed; world scraping, grinding, crunching itself into place.

And weakly, dizzily, I looked around.

My walls converted from cobblestone to smoother, more refined stone. I felt a jump in size again, counting my edges with Selection. 7x7 ceiling, 7x5 walls, 1x1x1 self-

Wait what?

I focused my observation on myself from above, full picture visible. I was no longer a eight-sided glass dice, not to the naked eye. The construct registering as me was instead a stone basin, with a polished silver bowl and four crimson struts. The floor was sloped upwards, alternating between this grey brick and a newer one I couldn't identify until it reached this basin. In the four corners of the ceiling, glowstone shone downwards, illuminating my slope. I could feel a comforting warmth from them, the first time I had felt either since my shower as a human, and knew right away I was supposed to protect these things.

And so, I summoned up by status window.

Scarlet Brimstone, Blood altar. Core Attributes Skills Actions Life force 60 / 60 Observation 3/10 Infuse equipment 50 mana Spawn Monster 20 mana Mana 3 / 200 Command 2/10 Conjure block 5-10 mana Break block 1-5 mana Mana gain 40 / Hour Patience 2/10 Cantrips (1 mana) Runes 0/8 EXP 0 / 55 Selection 2/10 Place block Drain blood Effect rune x0 (Choose) Level 1 / 9 Inscription 0/10 Dark deal Support rune x0 (Choose) Perk Points 1 Summon Monsters Conjure Blocks Spawn: Imp (30), Zombie (20), Dark slime (10) Stone brick (2), Cobweb (5), mossy cobblestone (10) Monsters: None Inventory: empty Perks: Well-armed (monster), Blackening magic (zombie) Expand Status Window by trial and error

It had grown more than I had! My old skills, blocks, and summons remained, interwoven with my new ones for a prospect that oozed evil. Literally in the case of that dark slime. I always thought slimes were cute, and slime girls even more so-

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But that wasn't why i was here. I had two runes and a perk to choose from,

Perk Selection

Magic Perks Arcane Tutor Desperate draw Enchanted gift

Learn 2 basic spells and one wood-tier spell

Your monsters increase their mind stat by 1

Your monsters spawn with a random selection of spells, scaling with their mind stat

Increase the rate at which you absorb mana by 1% for every 1% missing mana

When you spend mana and conjure gear, every 5 points spent has a 5% chance to enchant it

Evil Perks Blood magic Spreading curse Serrated gear

Can spend life force instead of mana on actions

Regain life force at the same rate as mana or at the same proportion, whichever is less

When one of your monsters kills something, Zombie curse activates at one-third the likelihood of the best value among your zombies

All weapons you conjure or create gain the serrated property (doubled likelihood to cause a bleeding wound, but armor is 50% more protective against these weapons)

So many good choices! Unlike the trap-bearing options from before, i could see myself working with all of these. I guessed it was because I had made enough choices so that the perk generator actually knew what I wanted, or failing that it was a string of lucky options. Weirdly, nothing even mentioned runes. Time to look at those...

Rune Selection

Effect Runes Thirst Ignition Force Your spells drain mana from foes, scaling with the damage they deal Your spells heat foes up, increasing chance to burn with mana spent Your spells knock enemies away, force scaling with mana spent

Support Runes Capacity Speed Range Increases mana storage by 5% (10) Increases actions per hour by 20% Increases range of all actions by 10%

And... wow. No mana generation rune, but these were a wide selection. Effect runes looked like they solely benefitted spellcasters, but any dungeon could enjoy support runes. Did I even have spells?

I looked over my status window again. "Cantrips" was a term i knew all too well as a kind of spell, and I had three. Place block couldn't do damage, and dark deal was far from an attack, but my eyes fell on one.

Drain blood. It already synergized well with runes of thirst, even more so if I found a way to deal more damage with magic. I was barely using my capacity and was limited in rate by mana, not speed.

Range it was. Followed by Thirst.

The perk choice was more difficult. I already had a strategy forming of increasing my range as far as possible and sniping much as possible with blood drain. I wanted to do something for my monsters, protect them so they could protect me.

Since when did I care this much?

Blood Magic and Desperate Draw were right out. They helped me in ways that were, albeit useful, boring. Spreading curse and Enchanted gift were made what I was already doing better, but Arcane Tutor and Serrated Gear were the real game-changers. More magic meant more options, and I was a big fan of all my monsters having a way to drain blood.

I thought back to my original zombie. it could cast a shadowbolt, but didn't drain any mana away from me in the process. It's status screen even displayed 3 mana, before it walked out of my range of vision. Would monsters only regain their own mana if they had blood dra-

Wait a second

What was drained was blood. And the only one who could convert it was me.

My will submerged Arcane Tutor, glowing on it until it burst into a swarm of butterflies that flew towards my basin and melted within, raw knowledge filling my mind.

Spell acquired: Poison Spray

Spell acquired: Tremor Stomp

Spell acquired: Corrosive shot

Poison spray looked like a basic attack, and corrosive shot a more advanced one. Tremor stomp made me question how I could as I was short on legs, until I thrust my will at the ground on one of the sides of my realm.

I'd blink if i could at the impact. It felt like a heavy invisi-bowling ball fell on that corner, every square inch of that corner of my perception field shaking.

"Note to self, do not do that indoors." I commented, waiting for my headache to fall

And as I did, my mana rose. I felt better about this whole thing, no longer lacking toys to play with.

Skill: patience has risen to level 3. Bonus mana regeneration applied.

I greedily checked my status again, seeing the uptick in skill- and more importantly, in mana gain. It had shot from 40 to 50 per hour, meaning almost a mana per minute. And I was determined to push it even higher.

I broke a stone brick in the back corner of my wall, willing part of myself into the hole it left behind. An older, more vital part.

Mana gain 51 / Hour

The mossy cobblestone was working exactly as intended. Three more blocks got replaced with moss stone in a straight line, before I felt hostility. My systems locked up, and I knew this only meant one thing.

An Invader

My Status window:

Scarlet Brimstone, Blood altar. Core Attributes Skills Actions Life force 60 / 60 Observation 3/10 Infuse equipment 50 mana Spawn Monster 20 mana Mana 0 / 200 Patience 3/10 Conjure block 5-10 mana Break block 1-5 mana Mana gain 55 / Hour Command 2/10 Corrosive shot 3 mana EXP 0 / 55 Selection 2/10 Cantrips (1 mana) Runes 0/8 Level 1 / 9 Inscription 0/10 Place block Drain blood Thirst rune x0 20 mana Perk Points 0 Poison Spray Tremor Stomp Range rune x0 10 mana Dark deal Summon Monsters Conjure Blocks Spawn: Imp (30), Zombie (20), Dark slime (10) Stone brick (2), Cobweb (5), mossy cobblestone (10) Monsters: None Inventory: empty Perks: Well-armed (monster), Blackening magic (zombie), Arcane tutor (magic) Expand Status Window by trial and error