The sensation of pressure from without trickled into the dungeon mind space. The sensation joined the sensory information that fell like rain across the dungeon mind. Upon reaching the ground, the sensory rain was absorbed by the mushroom network and the roots of the new vine. The new vine continued to grow, incorporating the sensation into its flesh. The pressure stopped, and the dungeon mind space did not react.
The pressure returned, more sharply. The sensation arrived in the mind space from a clear direction. The mushroom network absorbed the energy of the pressure sensation in a small area and dispersed the energy along the network fibers. Some of the energy flowed into a piece of intact dungeon instinct that dealt with dungeon protection. The instinct classified the pressure as “void intruder” and broadcast an alarm. The mirror star reflected the void intruder alarm across the illuminated section of the mind space. Several bundles reacted to the alarm with danger, fear, and hide messages. The new vine absorbed the alarm and the responses of the bundles. Plant instincts and dungeon instincts reacted to the danger message by reinforcing the dungeon vine and the flows of mana that separated the dungeon spaces from the void—the primary defense mechanism against void dangers. The mushroom network carried fragments of defense data to the new vine.
The pressure relented and the dungeon defenses reduced to normal levels after the alarm ceased. After a while, the pressure resumed at a different location. When the sensory rain from the pressure fell on the new vine, A ghostly branch formed above several of the branches. The ghostly branches held energy and data, but only one of them was in the light of the mirror star. The mirror star reflected the message of the ghostly branch as “alarm, danger, defense”. As the pressure continued, the ghostly branch in the light sank grew more solid while the other ghostly branches dissipated. The dungeon defenses rose in response to an alarm. When the pressure dropped, the ghostly branch sank into the vine branch below it. The dungeon defenses again returned to normal.
The pressure returned every few days, always from a new location. The ghostly branch reappeared each time, triggering the defenses and growing more solid. Other branches on the vine began to manifest their own ghostly branches with similar messages. The ghostly raven avatar found that landing on a ghost branch let the raven absorb the branch. The alarm message was not nice, however, so the raven chose to stand on the more real vine branches and observe. The curiosity of the raven was incorporated into many of the ghostly branches.
After two weeks, a second pressure joined the first. The two pressures came and went at different intervals, moving to new locations each time. The sensation of pressure had a few bundles reacting with discomfort which was incorporated into several ghostly branches. The feeling of defense was echoing around the mind space almost constantly and the dungeon defenses remained raised.
Suddenly, one of the pressures inverted and became a sensation of removal or draining. The other pressure remained, so the dungeon’s response of raised defenses remained. The drain grew stronger for a few days before moving to a new location. The draining sensation returned more sharply and the sensory rain for the drain fell on the frog bundle. The frog bundle sent “weakness, hunger, distress” into the mirror light. The main ghostly branch of “alarm, danger, defense” dimmed, partially dissipating. The mental energy flowing into the dungeon defenses slowed and the defenses lowered slightly. The pressure and draining spiked, causing a flood of “danger, weakness, distress” from the information bundles. The ghostly raven cawed anxiously.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
The spider tree weasel information bundle raised its head. It bared its fangs and projected “fight!” The flying horse trembled and projected “flee!” The clam squeezed its shell more tightly and projected “shell!” The mirror star grabbed these reactions and reflected them everywhere its light could reach. The plant and dungeon instincts went haywire.
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Hana was glad they had kept the camp at high alert after the second knock. There had been a couple weeks before the danger, but standing guard for no reason wasn’t as bad as dying for no reason. The danger from the dungeon was more complex this time. The dungeon vine branches alternated growing, flowering, dropping leaves, and dropping endless fruit. Some of the fruit didn’t spawn anything and one of their scouts reported them as “regular vine fruit (probably poisonous)”. The dungeon creatures attacked in waves for a while before turning and fleeing as fast as they could. The creatures sometimes turned on each other, something the humans had not seen during previous attacks.
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Jan held Pan, trying to comfort the toddler and stop his crying. She made a shooing motion at the young raven who would not stop cawing. “Hush! You’re making Pan cry!” The raven did not hush and continued to caw and hop back and forth.
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The dungeon defenses rose and fell chaotically and unevenly around the dungeon spaces. The pressure and suction were alternately rebuffed or ignored. When a particularly strong defensive surge shook off both the suction and the pressure, the two forces began to hop around the dungeon, quickly moving from location to location to attack the defenses.
In the dungeon mind space, ghostly vine branches flickered in and out of existence as the mirror star reflected a complicated soup of emotions and reactions. Mental energy drained, surged, swirled, and flooded through all the mental constructs as various instincts activated and deactivated. The ghostly raven cowered under a thick vine branch near the base while it observed the chaos. Occasionally, the sound of a toddler’s cry would echo quietly from the raven.
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Nearly at the same moment, the two attacking forces pulled back from the dungeon. The turbulence in the dungeon mind space continued to drive the chaotic actions of the dungeon. A spike of pressure and suction struck at one singular point on the dungeon defenses and broke through.
*vrrrp*
Two wizards appeared in the main worldlet, near the main vine body but facing outwards. One wore green robes and carried a sky-blue rod, the other wore blue robes and carried a mauve painted staff. The wizards raised rod and staff up and let out victorious shouts. They immediately whirled to face each other, throwing up magical shields and activating automatic defenses.
_ Higher Life Intruder Detected. Select Automated Response:
- Attack
- Claim (Unlikely)
- Dominate (Unlikely)
- Ignore
_
The wizards shouted questions and warnings at each other. They pondered the situation for a moment before shouting again, each in a different language.
_ Random Selection: “Dominate” selected _
The wizards both looked up at the vine body, clearly confused, as they felt and effortlessly rebuffed the domination attempt. After a moment, they resumed shouting at each other.
_ Random Selection: “Claim” selected _
_ Random Selection: “Attack” selected _
A few dungeon creatures poked their heads out from hiding to get a look at the wizards. The creatures charged forwards to die instantly on the wizards’ automatic defenses. The wizards did not notice the dying creatures.
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Violet lifted his head from the dungeon map he had been sketching on a piece of paper covered in mathematical symbols. “Hold on. Who is that?” He looked over at the wall of visual scanners. The two wizards were front and center on the scanner for the main worldlet. “Oh!” Violet dashed over to the scanner and activated a listening add-on he half remembered from school. It took him a few tries to get the sound to work right. The voices of the wizards shouted into Violet’s face. “Wizards!” Violet shouted again, to no one. He listened to the shouting for a dozen seconds before his face fell in confusion. “What? They don’t speak the same languages? Where did they come from?”