> Initializing…
‘What happened? Oh no, I’m late!’
> Spell Slime mutation discovered: Destablized Amber Core
> Spell Slime Species Adaptation available
* Pirate slimes - When chaotic members of society become social, they use pact tactics to make theft a priority. Rare, result of friendship in population.
* Amber Corrosion - Forgoing any sense of self, these slimes are no longer individuals, but a collective of destruction. A slime that only grows stronger with age. Epic, result of [data destroyed]. Warning: Extremely hostile.
* Permafrost Ooze - An ancient and secretive species preserved by the frost that never melts, a species so cold they are immune to most fire magic. Uncommon, result of environment and ‘ancient’ class species inside of dungeon.
‘Wait, already past this part. The adaptation was already selected.’
> Species selected: Amber Corrosion
> Warning: Members of this species only view each other as allies. Their highly corrosive form will turn on any perceived threat.
> Amber Slime has become endangered. If the last member of the species dies, it will-
‘Wait, it was already dead? What killed the amber slime?’
Through the fog of groggy circuits, it took System time to properly catch up with all that had transpired while they were indisposed. Now awake, they had to search the dungeon for the mana signature of a species they didn’t create. Inevitably, the remains of the amber slime were located within a tree that oozed sap through its bark as it fought off the infection of cellular instability. Even in death, the amber slime refused to be passive and not try to kill everything it touched.
The tree, despite its poor health, remained in good spirits as it stalked several other slimes. Spell slimes as the amber evolution line was culled to extinction. Between the tree monster in poor health, and a dead evolution line, System realized this would be a reoccurring theme no matter how refined they made their work. The dungeon would always do its own thing and produce subpar results.
With no way to change the past, System focused on the tree it didn’t create. There was no need to think about how the dungeon core was an idiot that cursed everything it touched. Those would be unproductive thoughts to have. Instead, System dove into the backlog of work, starting with the stats of the tree that shouldn’t be.
Race: Ancestral Cottonwood Conifer
Name: N/A
Spawner: N/A - Seedling Regeneration
Speed: 0.5
Strength: 33
Int: 15
HP: 150
Emotion: Distrustful
Diet: Cannibalistic Manivore
Racial Ability:
Seedling Inheritance
This monster can not be revived. Upon its death, the strongest of its offspring will inherit its strength.
Special Ability:
Destabilized Strings
Woven with the dungeon’s ability to erode anything, the weblike structure that creates its entire body is able to dissolve anything into its mana.
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This tree was… a powerful monster and a potent tool. With its ability to convert everything it touched into edible mana, it would fill a niche the slimes abandoned as the all-consuming cleaner of the dungeon. Its rooted nature made it a tank that would become the center of future battlefields.
As eager as System was to have such a powerhouse in the dungeon, they realized there was a catch. Everything in this dungeon had a fatal flaw, this tree would be no different. So without surprise, System found this monster had two.
Its distrustful nature means it would acknowledge few, and attack everything regardless of teams. Second, was its inheritable title of ‘ancient,’ A semi-unique title that would not only handicap all of its offspring to suffer from genetic drift, but the title grew more potent the longer the holder was alive. An ability that would become a hindrance every time a new tree rose to become its replacement.
With all its secrets revealed System watched as the newest tree of the dungeon explored its surroundings. It snapped up a dying ant as it slowly carved a deep groove through the ant graveyard, splitting the location in two with its movement. Every corpse in its path it dismantled for food as it collected their arcane cores.
A possibly concerning habit for a tree, but System was still behind in their work. They had one last announcement they needed to send.
> Dungeon Intelligence Increased by 3
The acknowledgment was enough for System to notice there were thoughts that pushed against them. Real, actual thoughts that originated from the dungeon itself as it spoke.
“Dungeon wants to build traps”
Still no identification of self, but desire and dungeon instincts were on full display, along with the ability to clearly communicate with System. It was a moment they had longed for. All resentment and connotations of the Core being dense- in more ways than one- were dispelled in an instant.
System was happy to fulfill the request.
> New Trap Discovered: Acidic Pinecone - Seeds of a tree capable of eating away at anything. Their destructive power contained within its spiked shell.
> New Trap Discovered: Snare - Woven string designed to catch and ensnare those that stumble upon it.
System could feel it. Thoughts from the dungeon as it processed the new information, and the ambient mana were redirected as it acted upon its discoveries accordingly. Pinecones grew from the tree, where they fell into the grasp of waiting slimes. Though it took several attempts for the slimes to learn how to survive both the tree and its seeds, they hauled their new weapons to…. other slimes?
The dungeon had decided the best place to put an acid trap was inside an…. acidic slime.
Connotations of a dungeon incapable of higher thoughts crept back into System’s mind. It didn’t matter how smart someone was if they didn’t use it. With great effort, these thoughts were not voiced, as System was above insults, or implying they held any ill will towards their master… their very, very, stupid master.
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Moving through the foothills of the mountains was a glimmering light. Polished till it shined like a mirror, and imbued with so much magic it had its own light to reflect, several armor-clad warriors marched through the hills.
The shortest figure of the group took the lead. A magnificent beard showed his proud dwarven heritage, and his armor matched. His steps were as sure as his clenched jaw.
He wasn’t just marching forward as the leader of the group, but because he was pissed.
“I can’t believe it. Forced out here to clean up the mess of that wanna be mage.” No sign of exertion was in his voice, unlike those who tried to keep pace. They dedicated their breath to surviving the walk too much to interrupt the man’s tirade.
“Called himself a clock winder, like it was some grandiose title. Said it like he was some lord I needed to bend knee to. Congrats, your entire life is dedicated to telling me the sun is going to set. Then he gets ‘hand selected’ to go do some work, which now we have to go fix because he clearly took the money and ran.” His tirade became less and less legible as it morphed into a scream of pure frustration that echoed through across the mountains.
With his rage fully acknowledged by the world, he turned back towards his group to find they had caught up and promptly dropped their supplies, unable to take another step. Packs and bodies alike sprawled out in what would become their camp in the barren field of dirt, on the far side of the hill that hid the dungeon.
They had no idea of the menagerie of danger so close to them, but System did. System watched them from afar with birds, and now directly as the group settled down to rest just inside of the dungeon’s domain. They were prey the dungeon was too distracted by Shimmer to notice. She held the secrets to farming, and the dungeon wanted more danger trees.
The lack of oversight gave System room to work. They took the mana the delvers exuded in their sleep, and wove it back into the environment, encouraging the lone patches of grass to spread. There was no danger, not yet, but it allowed life to take root in this unused part of the dungeon.
It was tedious to command grass to grow, but that was System’s job. They would make sure dungeon run smoothly, no matter how monotonous the work was. They would watch grass grow, and test mana for impurities to be filtered out. It was a to do list a mile long, yet System knew at the end would be the freedom to do what they enjoyed most: Study.
The dungeon needed information on humanoids, but killing them would be impossible so far away from the monster’s spawn points. The travel time alone would prevent the swarm tactics they so heavily relied upon. Their armor was metal, and if ‘recycled’ would increase the durability of every monster. Packs that hid items and trinkets that could be studied and their knowledge applied.
The test subjects rose with the sun, only to find a field of grass had replaced the barren field outside their tents. They cursed and bickered, but it was what the tallest member in the thinnest armor said next that made System’s chrome processors skip a beat.
“Think we might have to stay here for a few days to finish the map?”