I had not one but two choices to make, intoxicating high of the jump in power leaving my mind to race. It was like leapfrogging from wooden tools to diamond, but in my jump seeing how much far higher there was to climb.
Perk Selection
Generic Perks Signposting Healer Mana compression
Can place signs within (100*tier cubed) blocks of yourself directing people to you
Signs are translated into the local language
Placing a sign costs 1 mana for every hundred blocks away it is placed, rounded up.
Can spend 1 mana to heal 3 hit points to a creature in your Dungeon, once per minute
Healing instead damages undead
Can compress 30 mana into block form
Can turn blocks into 10 mana
Zombie Perks
My mood soured as I read over the generic perks. Was this a joke? The extra attention from Signposting wasn't even something I was sure I wanted, Healer was a flat-out negative option with my one choice of monster, and Mana compression needed me to generate mana at speed worth giving a damn about?
I tried to take a second to breathe, to regulate my emotions, but couldn't. I felt the memories of my heart try to beat I felt my lungs try to feel air I felt trapped I-
A loud curse echoed through my moss stone walls. My single-armed zombie looked right at me, shrugged, and went back to milling around. I'd command him later. After I looked at the rest of what I could choose from. I focused my attention, scanning across the second half
Perk Selection
Generic Perks
Zombie Perks Rage Dead Nerves Blackening Magic
Zombies gain a small amount of strength
Zombie claw and weapon attacks hit harder
Zombies will pursue any nearby enemy, regardless of command
Zombies gain another level of endurance, reducing debilitating effects and their duration to half power
Zombies lose a considerable amount of dexterity
Zombies gain the Shadowbolt spell (1 MP, 1d4+1 damage, 30 block range, stops healing)
Zombies lose some strength and a bit of endurance
Rage sounded awesome! I wouldn't have to order my zombies around, and they'd be able to bruteforce their way through most early invaders before taking any real damage. And would be better to get my soldiers feeling something than have them just shamble around. I almost wrapped my will around it, but stopped myself. Remembering how much I had kicked myself for not picking stuff that synergized, I looked at the block selection
Block Selection
Generic Blocks Wood Sandstone Clay
Low toughness, flammable
10 mp to conjure
Below-average toughness
15 mp to conjure
Low toughness. Slows beings slightly
5 mp to conjure
Trap Blocks Deadfall Wall Spike Cobwebs
Drops a block from it's inventory, dealing damage based on it's weight.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
destroys the block if it hits, places it otherwise
Costs 1 mana to re-arm, cannot me re-armed while enemies remain
Stabs from a wall, dealing direct damage
Costs 10 mana to place and 5 mana to stab, retracts after use
Slows down all who pass, friend or foe
Destroyed by swords. Drops string on breakage
Costs 5 mana to place
The generic blocks looked awful. I was never one to build art within the game, and the abundant stone was as tough as I needed it to be.
Trap blocks on the other hand, would make it much easier to eliminate any invaders. Especially if they were smarter than that mole. A stone block to the head was nothing to mess with, and a wall spike could take out weapon arms. Cobwebs would screw with enemy footing I guess?
Until I looked back at several features of myself. I would only gain the levels I loved so much by having my monsters kill things, not my traps. And it would suck to have to make sure my traps were working hard enough to count, but not so hard they'd deny me that precious EXP.
And that's where I found the synergy. I could slow enemies down with cobwebs while my zombies wore them down with shadowbolts. Any that survived would still have to deal with them in melee, not to mention the added range. Cobwebs and Blackening magic, here I come!
I tried not to think about how I was ripping off a dark magic spider, and looked at my activity currency. Ability fuel. Mana. It had restored even more during my selection and outburst. And saw a faint dark glow to my zombie's eyes, replacing the dull yellow from before.
7/120. I needed to get more patient, or failing that a way to do something actively.
I broke some of the cobblestone on my floor, replacing it with the moss stone from my inventory, and my mana gain ticked up by one, back to 26 an hour. I felt gears turn in my head, as my exposure to the world hadn't risen.
Was it the moss stone? Why was it of all things magic-absorbent?
I looked around the opening the mole came from, shifting my Observation field towards the opening in my wall. I saw my back wall slide out of my vision, leaving me feeling unprotected. vulnerable. gross. like the back of my pants had split open.
I tried to focus on what was ahead as opposed to what was behind. As my cube of vision moved forward, the front edge swallowed a ton of air. I could feel it, more than i could see it, my vision of surfaces and creatures absent; i took it for granted within the confines of my own volume. The stone and air ahead seemed first random. but as I focused within I could see a round tunnel, two blocks wide in all directions and curving upwards in a wide arc after a short diagonal shaft to the tunnel I had dug. I shifted my vision upwards with considerable force. The tunnel itself curved around in nearly a full circle, widening outwards to a larger cavern.
And just as importantly, A way out.
Skill: Observation has risen to level 3.
I wove together a command for my zombie.
"Go up the ramp and kill any living creature you come across."
Skill: Command has risen to level 2.
The zombie trudged away, former joke weapon of a stick looking more like a rod or short staff for conducting it's new spell.
I couldn't see what happen, but I felt a disruption in the flow of mana to my sides. No doubt it was casting something.
Your zombie has slain: Bat. +1 EXP.
After some delay, I felt the same small disruption from a bit higher.
Your zombie has slain: Giant rat. +3 EXP.
Another delay. Another rise. Another notification. My single soldier reached the edge of my cube of influence, and all I could do was hope.
Your zombie has slain: Bat. +1 EXP.
I mentally cheered it on. This zombie was rising up in the world, and was going to take me with-
Your zombie has slain: Human. +5 EXP.
I tried to gulp. Messing with humans this early was a death sentence.
Your zombie has died: +1 EXP.
I knew I was in some level of trouble. The best I could hope for was to not be looted while I was out.
"But I didn't have much choice, did I?" I thought as the world began to spin, blur, and blacken.
Dungeon: Scarlet Brimstone has risen to level 4. Perk point acquired. Maximum level reached.
Begin Evolution Selection.
My status window:
Scarlet Brimstone, Monster room Core Attributes Skills Actions Level 4 / 4 Observation 3/10 Spawn Zombie 20 mana EXP MAX Command 2/10 Conjure block 5-10 mana Mana 5 / 120 Patience 2/10 Break block 1-5 mana Mana gain 26 / hour Selection 2/10 Place block 1 mana Perk Points 1 Perks: Well-armed (monster), Blackening magic (zombie) Inventory: 1x mossy cobblestone Expand Status Window by trial and error Monsters: 1x one-armed zombie