In the Terse Elements dungeon, the eye vine in the dark worldlet reached as far up as it could grow, instinctually trying to find more light. The long, then branch pushed a few blinking leaves up and hit a barrier. The eyes on the leaves gazed steadily up into nothingness. The branch stretched further and the leaves bunched up and flattened against the nothingness. A root nodule sent out a few questing tendrils, looking for an anchor point from which the vine could stretch further. As the roots twisted and dug around in the air, the eyes on the leaves widened. The eyes were sending a sensation of seeing something while also sending a sensation of seeing nothing. This conflict of sense information triggered an influx of mana to the branch and leaves. The eyes on the leaves flashed and their focus seemed to sharpen. The group of people harvesting the dungeon at that moment would have described the eyes as “piercing”. The roots caught onto something, and the tip of the reaching vine pushed through to a different space.
*clunk*
The eyes on the vine blinked in the sudden light. The roots sank into cold, hard ground, and the leaves shriveled a bit in the cold, dry air. The air was so dry and cold that water and mana were sucked up into the end of the vine. The mana did not manage to pool at the end of the vine, instead, it was sucked out of the vine into the mana-less air.
_ UNKNOWN SPACE DETECTED IN VOID CAPTURE. Quarantine Protocol Initiated. Quarantine Will Remain In Effect Until the Captured Space Has Been Sufficiently Investigated and Deemed Safe By Qualified Persons _
The mana flowed out of the end of the vine so quickly that patches of the vine flesh and leaves started to crisp and burn. The eyes on the leaves screwed themselves shut as though in pain. The dungeon and plant instincts reacted by trying to close pores and pull back on the mana flowing out of the vine. The flow of mana and water slowed a little, but as they built back up in the vine, the suction force increased. A tug-of-war between the dungeon mind instincts and the suction of the captured space went on for several minutes. At times when the mana pooled in the end of the vine, some of the mana was funneled into the burned patches. When the vine fully healed, the dungeon and plant instincts gave one last pull on the water and mana.
_ Forced Mana Evolution Attempt Underway. Select Upgrade Path for ‘Poison Berry Vine (Low Light Vision)’:
- Evergreen
- Vampiric Slime
- Do Nothing
_
_ Random Selection. “Evergreen” Selected _
For this particular vine evolution, the System was obliged to assist the dungeon vine to stop the mana escaping before the evolution could finish. The mana swirled and pulsed sluggishly. The mottled green leaves of the vine rolled up and collapsed in on themselves. The mana pulsed again, and the skin of the vine turned a rough shaggy brown. With a final pulse of mana, the watery sap in the vine turned thick and the leaves transformed into solid dark green needles. The thick sap held on to the mana trying to escape the vine. The needles closed up their minuscule pores to stop water vapor from escaping into the dry air. The flow of mana across the vines in the dungeon settled into a new equilibrium.
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Violet Danderpuff had fallen out of his chair with a yelp when the System shouted the quarantine message in his mind. He flew over to the visual scanner and frantically flew the viewpoint around the dungeon, trying to figure out what happened. The harvesters in the main worldlet hadn’t yet noticed that the portal behind them was covered in a solid layer of mana. Violet followed the dungeon vine branches down their length, investigating each worldlet. He nearly overlooked the dark rainbow worldlet, as it was in the back of the main worldlet and hardly ever had visitors. He followed the vine up into the darkness, passing hundreds of little rainbows. He found the new portal at the very top of the space where the tallest vine shoot disappeared. He wouldn’t have seen it without the dark vision features of the visual scanner. He moved the scanner through into the “captured space”. He briefly saw a dead grey world, illuminated with a pale white light, before the visual scanner fuzzed into static and collapsed.
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“Oh no oh no oh no no no no…” He held his head between his hands as he stared at nothing and quietly panicked. A flash of light from the dungeon core broke him out of his mental spiral. He turned at shouted at the dungeon core. “No! no, it’s not good! This is, in fact, very bad!” He paced back and forth in the air, rubbing at his forehead. “I skipped-I mean, I missed the class where we learned the protocols for investigating a captured space. It just seemed like such a waste of time because it NEVER HAPPENS! No dungeons find captured spaces except maybe once in a thousand years and there are millions of dungeons. I just-I wasn’t going to need it!” Violet slumped to the floor and put his head on his knees. “This is not fair.” He moaned.
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“Dan.”
Dan struggled to tie a broken leather thong on the side of a basket full of blue millipedes. One of the creatures had gotten a lucky shot at the basket and soaked it. Dan didn’t look forward to carrying the dripping weight back through the forest.
“Dan!”
Dan looked up to see Jan pointing at the dungeon exit. “What?” He asked.
“Dan, look!” Jan waved her pointing arm up and down for emphasis.
Dan looked toward the exit. A translucent green panel covered the dungeon exit portal. He frowned in confusion. “What’s that?” A few of the other harvesters turned to look. The protector, the person who worked for Hill Lord Andebert, walked up to the panel, and pushed on it. It didn’t move. The harvester group started murmuring to each other in concern. Dan tried to remember the protector’s name, Hana? Hana stepped back and kicked the panel. They swore and rubbed their foot for a moment. Hana unslung a heavy club and struck the panel with a few heavy blows. There was no visible effect on the panel. The murmuring from the harvester group increased in volume.
Hana addressed the group. “Does anyone have magical skills? Any detection or anything like that?” Their voice was strong and clear, betraying no fear or concern.
Dan waved at Hana. “I have a basic analyze skill.”
No one else spoke up, so Hana waved Dan forward. They spoke to the group again. “A few of you turn around and keep watch for new creature spawns.” The protector watched long enough to see that at least a couple people turned outward to keep an eye on things.
Dan jogged to the panel and used his skill, What’s That? On the panel. The results were a bit unclear.
_ Solid Mana. Density: Extreme. Authority: System _
“it’s, um.” Dan stuttered for a moment. “It’s solid mana, made by the System.”
Hana looked skeptical. “Your ‘basic’ analyze skill told you that?” Basic skills would rarely be able to analyze mana constructs of any kind and even advanced analysis skills couldn’t tell who created something.
“Yes.” Dan said. “It feels strange though.” He squinted at the panel and used his skill again. He got the same result. “It’s like I’m reading a sign, instead of using my skill.” He rubbed the back of his head in confusion.
Hana sighed. “I see. I suppose we just have to believe that for now.” Hana tapped their lips. “Wait here a moment while I think.” Dan stood awkwardly by the protector for several minutes, listening to the murmuring harvesters behind the two of them.
Hana dismissed Dan and addressed the harvester group. “The hill lord assigned me to be the protector on this harvest. As protector, I speak with the authority of the hill lord with regards to protecting your lives. I will not tell you the situation and then I will tell you what we will do to stay alive.” The protector paused a moment to take a deep breath. “The System has blocked off the exit of the dungeon.” The noise from the harvester group increased as many of them spoke their disbelief or surprise. Hana raised their hands to quiet them, then just spoke over the noise. “Any of you can gain an analysis skill and check for yourselves later. For now, we must organize some defenses and make plans to gather food and water. We are lucky that the dungeon did not choose to attack us this time, but we cannot be sure that will continue. I will make assignments for now.” Hana re-slung their heavy club and approached several harvesters to make assignments.