For a moment, I drifted in the dark, insensate. As a dull pain, akin to a spiritual hangover, wracked my mind, I was brought back to attention, and recalled the last few moments before I passed out. With Mordred's aid, I made a Dungeon Rule. Something that, in hindsight, was definitely beyond my own capabilities. Lo and behold, my unconsciousness is the consequences of my actions.
The important part, though, is that unlike the last time I was unconscious - I'm not dying. There's no sinking sensation, no cold dissolution of my mind.
Drifting on a formless current, I once more found myself before that wisp of light. A bubble of some sort surrounded it, and as I drifted within, the paralysis of the void outside fell away.
Now able to move on my own, I examined my surroundings in more detail. The strange bubble was formed from threads of mana, wrapped roughly, so it was actually more like a ball of yarn. The mote of light floated at the center of it, with a smaller, pink mote coiled around it. Taking in the many glows of this unconventional light show, I realized something.
The lights at the center of all this weren't mana - they were different, hazy. The glow was ephemeral, like they would dissipate without all this mana hedging them in.
Thinking back, isn't that exactly what happened the last time I was here? And when this started fading, I nearly died...
"Is this thing my soul!?"
As if answering, the central wisp thrummed at me, a sound that the pink wisp harmonized with. But while the wisps of blue and pink hummed, the surrounding rat's nest of mana shrieked.
The noise ached to hear. If the wisp at the center was me, the pink one is probably my blessing. And that would make that screaming hairball my mana core - which I could tell wasn't supposed to make that sound.
I've never tuned an instrument before, nor have I ever played one, but drifting to the walls of my core, I grabbed a thread of mana, and I made a decision. I would not tolerate that horrible noise. My mana would sing.
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The Hero of Honour gazed out of the window in his room, lost in thought.
It had been almost a week since the Heroes had been summoned. When they had time to converse in their newly-packed schedules, they had spoken at length about their past lives, and the topic, naturally, drifted to their summonings.
It turns out that they all had the same story. The heroes had deals offered to them in their dreams.
The granting of a wish, in exchange for serving the Gods.
Nevertheless, the Hero of Honour harbored some self-doubt.
It hadn't felt right, leaving his home behind for his wish. But his family was destitute, and his wish to save them from poverty had been granted. He hoped they wouldn't hate him for vanishing - but the Gods had made good on their promise, so he would uphold his end of the deal.
As he continued to gaze out the window, at the city below, and the lands beyond, he thought back on something the Hero of Wisdom had told him, an excerpt from some religious texts. Fittingly for their title, the Hero of Wisdom had been reading through whole swathes of the cathedral library.
"According to these texts, this world has two pantheons of deities - divided by strength. The High Deities oversee the world itself, while the Lesser Deities oversee the beings living upon it.
To become a Higher Deity, a God has to destroy their counterpart, and absorb them. But they can't fight each other directly - that would have consequences. So instead, they use Heroes as proxies. That's why they need us - they can't grow without mortal aid."
With that in mind, a burning question intruded - the same question eating at all the Heroes. If Heroes were so important, why was the Hero of Passion off somewhere unknown, while the rest of them were training?
The more he thought on it, the more frustrated he grew.
After a long time spent in thought, the Hero of Honour cast a skill, hoping to sate his wild curiosity.
"[Sense Allies.]"
From his instructors, it had been explained that the System doesn't always have clear descriptions of abilities - a side effect of being made by beings who aren't quite all-powerful or all-knowing. For example, the description of [Sense Allies] only mentions it can help you locate those allied to you, entirely neglecting that the search can be specified.
In this case, he wanted to find Heroes. The skill wafted from his body, sweeping away like a warm breeze.
Immediately, he could feel the locations of the other five in the church, but that wasn't what he wanted. He pushed the skill harder, to be more specific.
"Find the Hero of Passion," His mind burned as he forced more mana into the skill, willing it to work harder, work better. A heartbeat passed, then whole minutes. He watched in the corner of his eye as his mana drained, falling faster by the second.
Soon his mana had fallen by half, but he was committed, so he doubled down. Using every bit of mana he had, he kept the skill running, increasing the search radius with each passing moment.
He spent ten minutes like that, channeling his rapidly falling mana into a skill he wasn't even sure would work. Ten minutes of intense focus, bordering on painful, as he shrived away his mana on a whim.
But his determination was acknowledged. In the moment his mana sputtered out, he felt it - the barest touch of divine aid. His skill stretched the distance, and he felt them - a shrouded presence, dyed a strawberry pink.
Sweat streaked down his face, heaving breaths filling his lungs - even with external assistance, burning that much mana that quickly had left him exhausted, and was probably going to make him sick.
But as he flopped onto his bed, a smile stretched his face. He couldn't wait to tell the others. Unfortunately, his smile didn't last long, as he had leveled the skill, and a golden System box lit up his face like the sun.
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I awoke, a warm breeze wafting over me. I briefly wondered how a breeze could blow this far underground, but I'm not a cave expert. As for untangling my core, I had barely managed a fifth of it, but I could already feel a difference - my new body felt more... me.
This time, I could sense the deluge of System messages before they appeared, and the glow wasn't quite as blinding. First came leveling notices - from building the Rule, no doubt.
Level Up!
Pushing beyond your limits has granted you massively boosted experience!
Your current level is 5. Your maximum level is 5.
Evolution not yet available.
Skill Level Up!
Mana Manipulation has reached Lv.4!
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Set Domain has reached Lv.5!
Forge Monster has reached Lv.3!
You have learned: Establish Rule!
Trait Level Up!
Mana Transpiration has reached Lv.5!
You have learned: Core Refining!
I leveled up across the board, and gained two new abilities - which are pretty self-explanatory. I learned [Establish Rule] for doing exactly that, and [Core Refining] is clearly for screwing around with my core.
Before I check descriptions, though, I want to know why Evolution isn't available. Activating the System Query, I'm once more grateful for it - I'd just be floundering otherwise.
Query: Why Can't I Evolve?
Your evolution is being bottlenecked by the following:
- Your Vessel is damaged.
- You are currently refining your Core.
- The Dungeon has not been opened.
So for whatever process evolution entails, I need to fix my blade, finish my core, and complete the [Open the Gates] questline. The questline is immediately feasible, and I'll finish my core eventually. That leaves fixing my Vessel the only uncertain condition. Before I do the quest, however, I want to read those new descriptions.
Establish Rule
You can now establish and maintain Dungeon Rules. This skill only has three limitations:
- You must be able to clearly envision the Rule's effects upon your domain.
- The Rule cannot render the dungeon impossible to clear.
- You must be capable of gathering the mana required to create and maintain the Rule.
This skill does not level.
About what I expected. Anything I can imagine, but not unbeatable. [Core Refining]?
Core Refining
You have begun the process of mana refinement, preparing your core to store and wield mana in greater quantities than before.
This process bottlenecks your progression until completed.
Progress: 18%
I did a little less than a fifth, then. Still, I'll only need to nap four, maybe five times to finish it. Onto the quest - what's next?
Open the Gates, 7 Open a Dungeon Gate. Reward: [Monster Design: Weeping Wisp]
A Reward! That means I'm on the last step of the Quest! System, how do I make a Dungeon Gate?
Query: Dungeon Gates
A structure created by dungeons to connect separate locations. Most often used by dungeons formed far underground, so as to have an entrance on the surface.
Other recorded uses include traps, randomized mazes, and even as an emergency escape for the dungeon core.
To create a Gate, you need to concentrate your mana on a location within your dungeon, and will it to connect to another location of your choosing.
I suppose I should have expected that answer - like everything else in my dungeon, I just need to throw mana at the problem while thinking of my preferred solution.
Using my monsters as glorified cameras, I search for the ideal spot to place the dungeon entrance. I checked inside buildings, examined the roads, considered where I hid the treasure chests... until one of my monsters gave a wordless suggestion. The knight pointed upwards, at a crystal pillar in the distance. It was perfect. The crystal jutted from the ground, high enough to give an overview of the ancient city, while also being on the edge of my domain, meaning any would-be Delver would have to pass through the majority of my dungeon, and by extension, my monsters, to reach me.
Using [Set Domain], I carved an entryway - forming a archway to place the gate in, along with a long, sloping staircase winding around the crystal spire. It may be dramatic of me, but I want to make people gaze upon my entire domain when they step in here.
With the entrance built, I willed my mana to create the gate. A river of power flowed from me, sticking to the archway. A frothy blob of mana congealed, making the gateway resemble the head of a bubble wand, humorously enough.
For a few minutes, the pooling mana continued to thicken, roiling in place. And then, it bubbled over, the entire crystal flashing bright as the sun as my mana shot up, crashing through the cavern's ceiling, escaping the confines of the earth. Eventually, the turbulent energy calmed, and the gate solidified - a wall of pink, liquid mana stretched across the archway. Honestly, it still looked like a bubble wand.
A flash of the same shade denoted the completion of my quest, and the arrival of my reward.
Open the Gates, 7
Open a Dungeon Gate.
Complete!
Reward: [Monster Design: Weeping Wisp]
As soon as I claimed my prize, my next quest appeared, and I began creating my newly-earned wisps - I need as many monsters as I can get, since the next quest unlocks my Evolution!
Call of the Abyss
Repel at least 10 Delvers from Dungeon: [The Lost City of Umbra.]
[Rule: The Noble Knights] has altered this Quest.
Reward: Skill: [Core Restoration]