After feeling the addictive burst of energy Raz gained from consuming mana via his ability, he became a little sidetracked.
[Mushling Pov]. Another beautiful day in the cavernous grove, the moss is shining, the water is running, and the sounds of death is echoing- Wait, sounds of death? The mushling gets a little confused at the sound of that but then shrugs its arms. It went back to picking tiny little flowers and slowly made a bouquet. The mushling wandered over to some bugs and played around with them a little, enjoying hearing their little chirps of playfulness. The mushling then put the assortment of flowers on its head like a tiara then grabbed a grasshopper half its size of it, about 9 inches tall, and cuddled it in its arms. A blissful time came over the mushling, enjoying every second of it.
The mushling closed its eyes, the nice feeling of absorbing nutrients through its roots, cuddling with its pet, and feeling the warm feeling of blood dripping down its arms filled it with happiness. It then slowly opened its eyes, blood was never something it enjoyed… and why does it feel blood right now? The mushling saw that its pet was cleaved in half, a bone claw thing slashing it cleanly in half. The bug made a sorrowful noise stretching its front limb to the Mushlings face and gently caressing it before going limp. The mushling then looked up at the intruder. A weird monkey-like creature that stood tall and had weird fur covered with blood and holding a bone claw in its hand. The mushling looked back down at its dead pet and tears welled up in its eyes.
It held the dead pet against its body and watched as the monkey-like creature winded back its arm to swing again. The mushling kept its eyes closed as it accepted death to happen upon it, and if the blow doesn’t kill it, it would never hurt more than the sorrow it feels within its heart.
“Actually, I am going to let you live. You seem different, stay here. I will be back, and if you move I will strike you down.”
The mushling heard weird noises coming from the creature and opened its eyes again to see it walking away. The mushling slowly lays down its dead pet and covers it with dirt. Vowing that since its life has been spared it will avenge its pet with the blood of the monkey creature.
[Raz’s Pov]
[You have killed 8 Mushlings of varying strengths! You gained 80 XP and 40 expendable mana! 8 Dungeon Points also acquired!] Raz checks his status to see the changes and grins. He was a mushling away from leveling up! But his curiosity has now gotten the best of him. He wanders throughout the cavern to get back to the clearing and sees that whatever dead body was there has moved, but there is still a humanoid shape creature on a throne. It has green skin and a featureless face except for eyes that are closed. It looks like it's made out of vines but is very intricately created as it's barely noticeable. Raz against his better judgment slowly walks out into the clearing in front of the creature on the throne.
“Excuse me! Sir, Ma’am, Thing? Weird question, but are you friendly?”
The creature slowly opens its eyes and a voice that comes from the air around Raz reverberates.
“I am Celsti! The Vine Lord! You have entered my territory and will pay the price! You must know of me since I am the great Celsti, known far and wide for my prowess! In fact, I will tell you such a story! When I was a wee vine I grew and grew, until I started touching an Essence Pond where I began to sap its energy awa-”
“Uhh Celsti? Are you going to try to kill me? Or are you going to just continue to monologue and flashback while I stand here?”
“Insolent fool! How dare you interrupt me! I will continue to speak till I see fit! The last person that came here was so barbaric and instantly tried to steal my throne! So it will do you good to just stay there and listen!”
[Inspect]
[Celsti: ????????????]
Raz sighs softly then plops down on the ground lazily watches and listens to the Vine Lord. He doesn’t want to offend Celsti because the [inspect] can’t give him any information, and Raz doesn’t exactly want to fight it since Celsti is the first person he has met who could talk. So Raz sits there for three hours as the Vine Lord rambles on and on about its life and other boring topi-
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“And that is why by my most amazing grace I shall become your patron!”
Raz snaps out of his stupor as he hears that mind-boggling statement, he quickly stands up looking bewildered and confused.
“P-patron?! I don’t want no one to rule over me!”
“Mmm but as your patron I can obviously tell you that you in fact do want me to humbly rule over you.”
“What?!? Where did you get such a conclusion!”
“By the way you listened, you must be very loyal, so I shall use you! You will spread the good name of Celsti the Vine Lord across all the land!”
Pain sparked up within Raz’s chest as Celsti waves its hand, a vine shot from the ground into his chest and he felt some sort of foreign energy invade his body. All of the energy moved from his chest to the back of his left hand where a green tattoo appeared, having the shape of three curling vines coming off of a branch to meet together.
“You are now obligated by my law and rule to work under me! Your first operation will be to spread my name!”
[Ding! A new quest has formed! Spread the good name of your brilliant and awe-inspiring patron, Celsti the Vine Lord!]
Raz shakes his head in exasperation as even the system is agreeing with Celsti.
“Fine! But what do I get as a reward?! I must get something for being under you!”
“Is not working under me well enough? Or that I spared your life? Hmm, greedy servant… Fine! I will grant you a wish! Something within my own power.”
Raz heard those words and contemplated his ideas but finally decided to ask for something a little risky.
“Do you by any chance have a powerful item that could substitute as a soul or something for a sacrifice?”
Celsti continued to stay seated as it pondered over the answer. It then stands up and waves its hand. A vine popped out of the ground with a shiny crystal at the end. Energy radiated off of it, it was obviously powerful in some way.
“This is crystalized Essence Pond. A rare item that holds mana in its purest form. You can have it, feel blessed my servant!”
Celsti throws the crystal over to Raz who hastens to catch it. He puts it into his pocket and then slowly backs away, bowing superficially to Celsti before returning to the plant area. Ignoring the cabin and not deeming it necessary to go to it since he wants to be as far away as Celsti as possible. Raz backtracks and finds the little mushling with a flower tiara on its head again overlooking a dirt mound. He grabs some nearby vines and plants to create a makeshift rope. He ties the rope around the mushling against its discretion like a leash and began to pull it along.
“Come along little one, I am naming you Wee Snaw, but your nickname will be Mystery.”
The Mushling hisses at Raz but is unable to do anything, the mushling is obviously frailer and smaller in general than its brethren. It’s about a foot and a half tall with more vibrant colorations of red and white.
“I am also going to say you are female for simplicity's sake. We are going to go on an adventure together, but if we see a scary wolf thing then I am throwing you at it.”
Raz tugs on the leash and the mushling slowly shambles along. They reach the tunnel and walk till they reach the spot where Raz had closed earlier. [Move Earth.] The ground that covered the entrance into the tunnel slowly splits open, revealing blinding sunlight pouring in. The mushling hisses loudly at the sunlight on its poor dark attuned eyes. They move out of the tunnel and sit on top of the mound, making sure there weren’t any monsters. Then Raz tied the other side of the leash to his wrist.
“Alright Mystery, I am gonna look at something. You best behave yourself! Call if you need something.”
He gently pats the mushroom cap of Mystery then pulls out the crystal he gained from Celsti. [Inspect].
[Crystalized Mana Essence! One of the most pure types of mana. A high-ranking item that can be used as high-ranking material!]
He tilts his head at the lackluster information and puts both hands around the item. He pours in forty-five of the mana he gained from consuming and five of his own.
[Dungeon Creation]. A beam of light shoots from the crystal into the sky.
“Crap, that revealed my position! This is bad, turn it of-”
[Ding! Congratulations on making your first dungeon core! Feed the core a type of mana so that it may pursue that type!]
[Start of the main questline! Create dungeons for your own purpose! Make them grow! Defeat the Tyrants! Good luck!]
The light then shuts off from the crystal. It begins to hover over the ground, seemingly absorbing the mana within the air. Raz remembered he has to feed it and quickly looks around for an interesting item or mana to use for the core. Turning on his [Dungeon Sight] he sees earth, plant, and air mana around. He quickly calms himself and begins to contemplate which type he should when he suddenly got a horrendous idea. He slowly pulls out the bone claw and sees a mana type he doesn’t recognize around it. He begrudgingly pushes the claw against the core. White brilliant light moves from the core to around the claw, swirling around it. Dark-colored mana explodes from the claw and joins in the tornado that is slowly growing bigger and bigger. The swirl of ebony black and quartz white creates a deep contrast as it suddenly implodes into a small dot. The small dot teleports into the center of the dungeon core. A shockwave blasts out of the core, hitting the surrounding trees with a powerful force. Raz slowly walks up to the core and cups it into his hand.
[Congratulations! You have discovered and created a Necromancer Dungeon Core! Good luck!].