Bob POV:
"HAHAHA! This kid's great!" Bob laughs out as he watches the dungeon's first battle through a screen.
???: "I understand that you have take a personal interest in this dungeon, but please! Must you watch
every bumbling step he takes?
"Sorry Boss! It's just that he cracks me up! When he's not giving me a migraine that is... " Bob grumbles
a bit but continues cheerfully," I just can't stop laughing when he's so proud of accomplishing something
that actually is just .. tiny! I mean just look at this! Isn't it the funniest thing you've ever seen?" Bob asks
while showing the senior aspect the video of the dungeon's glorious first battle.
???: "While I do concede it may be slightly humorous and ironic, I don't see how it helps you rank up to
senior aspect! Or even get you any credits!" the senior aspect chides Bob.
Bob has an epiphany. " Credits.... What if we take bets on him!" Bob exclaims excitedly.
???: "Bets?" the senior aspect inquired.
"Yeah! It's this mortal thing I learned. A lot of people have died form them in the past couple of centuries
so I decided to check them out. We can put credits in a pool on one of two outcomes: in this case his
survival or death. We can get other aspects to pitch in too and make it a huge pot that goes to the winning
side!"
???: Alright I suppose... so we are clearly betting on his death correct?"
"What? No I think He's gonna live! He's got it in him!" Bob retorts.
???: "Well Let's see shall we? I for one will enjoy the extra money when he dies... Goodbye Junior Aspect."
"And I'll laugh in your face when he lives .... dad." Bob mumbles under his breath to his father's retreating
figure.
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Dungeon POV:
"I mean sure the fight wasn't that huge but still...." the dungeon grumbles.
"Oh well. I guess should be glad I'm still alive and all that."
This incident showed him just how weak he was. He realizes that he needs golems immediately.
" The array has great damage, especially if I can get more of them, but they're far too easy to
break. I need something to tank up damage, and I think this guy can do just that. After that I
can remodel my body. I could probably do some very interesting things with traps! Anyways,
Let's see.... all told a golem costs 700 mana. It sure better be op as hell..... If I consider the
two cores I can take of the purifier, then I have 150 points worth of mana. If I make 134
mana a day... It should take me four and a half days to get a golem."
The dungeon sighs and resigns himself to what is going to be a very tedious week. Firstly, he
uses his 50 available mana to make another lesser crystal core. Once it's completed, he uses
it, along with a lesser core from the purifier, to create an enhanced core.
"If any large group of rats comes by, I'll just turn this into another array!" The Dungeon says gleefully.
"Alright then.... I'll just sleep until I have enough mana or something dangerous comes by...."
As the Dungeon is falling into its first hibernation, a fleeting thought darts across his mind. "I wonder
why they were called cave rat scouts...." But, he pays it no heed.
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2 days later...
In a wererat warren much deeper in the cave....
A brown wererat approaches a larger older black wererat. The gray rat is young and wearing light hide
coverings and a belt with two poorly made dagggers. The elder rat is scarred, and patches of his fur
are beginning to to gray.
The younger rat speaks: " Scoutmaster! I have news!"
"(sigh) you may approach senior scout Twinfang."
"Thank you master GreatBlade." The younger rat bows his head to his superior and steps forward.
"Well What is it? Get on with this news of yours!"
The younger rat flinches," Sorry master! Apologies master! Two Days ago, a patrol of two cave rats
was sent up the cave to scout for any new food sources. They haven't returned yet."
"They probably ran into a clump of breedwort and are still going at it. We have far bigger problems
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
right now, like defending our warren from that cursed goblin dungeon!"
" Yes sir, but still... what if it's.."
" Alright, Alright. I f you're SO worried about two cave rats, then you can lead a group up in a week.
Right now I need you to lead squad Spiketail on next week's raid of the Dwarven village on level 6.
Scouts have reported that some of their guards have left and their food storage is ripe for the picking..."
"YES Sir...." Twinfang gleefully replies while smiling a vicious grin...
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60 hours later....
The dungeon slowly wakes form its self-induced slumber. He was having a.... Dream? He isn't sure
of what that word means, but it just sounds.... right. It was of a group of humans. He was running
towards them, a female and two males, but they always seemed to grow farther and farther away.
"Ehh, never mind that! I can finally make my first golem!
But, before he could finish creating a golem, a window pops up.
With 500 mana you can enhance your Dungeon core! Doing so will allow you to enhance all of your current constructs, create new defensive arrays, and build a core generator. It will also create 50 mana every 6 hours. Do so now?
"SO.... TEMPTING...." the dungeon is struggling mentally. He can be greedy but gain massive growth
potential, or choose the safe path and slog on. Ultimately, he chooses the safe path.
He reasons that," All the cores in the world won't help me if I die tomorrow... No!"
Then, with excitement replacing his greed's disappointment he enhances the necessary cores to
create his first golem. The minor core that is made in the enhancement forms a strange shape.
It looks like a pyramidal lesser enhanced core, but with the tips of a second enhanced core exiting
the centers of the faces of the first.
Next the body of the golem forms. Stones rise out of the ground and shape themselves into what
looks like a five foot tall suit of armor. Earth then rises to fill the armor. Finally the cores enter. The
lesser cores each enter a limb, and form its central, almost bone like, structure. The enhanced core
slots into its head, point-first, and flattens slightly, forming a single diamond-shaped eye. Finally, the
minor core enters the golems chest. it spiders outwards forming veins of crystal connecting to all
parts of the golem. The golem is roughly made and very lumpy, however, to the young dungeon
it is the most astonishing thing it has ever seen, especially once he saw its stats.
Lesser Rock Golem. HP: 500 Armor: 50 Damage: 50 (25 per second) A weak early member of the crystal race. This golem can move through rock with ease to reform its body and attack unsuspecting enemies. Can evolve into a minor rock golem, a lesser crystal golem, or two other unknown paths. Costs 1500 mana to evolve and requires having a minor level dungeon core.
"It's Awesome!!! Hahaha Universe do your worst! I have a real guardian now!"
The universe, of course, doesn't respond immediately.
One would think that after his last challenge he would have known better, as his next great battle is slowly
arriving...
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Hello! Author here! Thanks for reading my little story so far. Next chapter, We'll see the major conflict I ham-fistedly hinted at, and even a few new characters so that the dungeon isn't left just talking to himself. :D It'll be a bit of a huge twist on the normal structure for this genre, but then again, I'm pretty sure I left that behind a while back. I'll see you then,
An Infantile Treant.
P.S.: I know nobody reads this part, but anyways, I've seen a few questions about my name in the comments section, and I'll tell the story of its origins in the next author's corner (which should come out around chapter 5) I'll also do my best to answer any other fun questions, as long as they're not too personal. :D