“I’m only going to have two mob types when the adventurers get here,” Calith said. “And one of them is my boss. Two rooms of fighting scythelegs. My slime’s made some kills, but no animals with sparks. Are those specifically the animals that flee?”
Rathel nodded. “Their spark means they have the potential to form a core themselves. Most of them never do - of the one in a hundred animals with the spark, it’s another one in a hundred of that group that even starts the process of forming a beast core - but their spark does resonate with your mana, and they’ll stay away. Which is why it’s best to lure animals back to your dungeon when you can.”
Calith grunted. Even though they were in her meshsite, most of her focus was on holding together the slime statue of the animal that would be her boss. It was a species of cave gecko that, as far as Calith could tell, was unique to the one cave she’d found, isolated for hundreds of generations. That supposition was just because no mortal name for this gecko species existed. She got to name it, which was something to look forward to.
Her dungeon certainly wasn’t. The setback, courtesy of Kandra’s slimes on that first day of hunting had really done a number on Calith’s overall growth. Hopefully Kandra hadn’t managed a third mob either - but the fact that Kandra’s slimes had spent their first day near Calith’s dungeon had made the animals flee from areas Calith could reach even more. “What about using slimes as mobs?” Calith asked. “Then I can have some variation.”
“They’re slimes,” Rathel said dismissively. “No adventurer wants to fight them, and it’s a rare and special dungeon that can make them interesting. I’ve only heard of a slime dungeon working once.”
“Wouldn’t that still be better than just one mob type before the boss?” Calith asked. The statue was wavering under her control, and she slipped out of the Mesh to put her attention fully into holding the statue together.
Rathel’s thoughts radiated dismissal, until he paused.
Rathel sent a sigh through the telepathic link.
That was annoying. Why was sticky bad? So much about mortals that Calith didn’t understand. But Rathel knew better than her.
The statue wobbled and collapsed into a regular, ordinary slime, except this one had knobby skin that mimicked the gecko it was supposed to look like.
Rathel’s voice was full of an emotion Calith couldn’t process.
Calith went back to the Mesh just so she could sigh properly. She gave the slime an order to go out hunting. “The gecko form isn’t strong enough to handle boss mana, is it?”
Pursed lips and a nod were all the answer Rathel needed to give, but Calith appreciated that he elaborated. “Some geckos can. The one your slime found isn’t one of them. If we had more time, I’d teach you to make a natural gecko, and then lend you some mana to accelerate its evolution. You’d be able to get something out of it that way.”
“Should I still try?” Calith asked.
“No. Your mana is better spent on something else.” Rathel looked back and forth, clearly considering something. Calith waited for him to speak, not wanting to derail his train of thought. “There is an option. But… I need to make sure it’s available to you. I’ve never heard of a Quartz dungeon doing this.”
“Doing what?” Calith asked, but Rathel was already shaking his head.
“Don’t want to give you ideas until I know it won’t harm your core,” Rathel said. “It’s just an alternative method of mob acquisition that may be needed to catch up. I’ll be back shortly. Go ahead and make a new mob with the gecko as a base, and hope your slimes find us something we can use as a boss. And decorate your rooms! You may be able to impress them with that.”
Before Calith could object, Rathel was gone, his remnant going into its default stance. Calith sighed and got to work making a gecko mob.
The resulting creature was at least exciting. It had gone from a few inches to a couple of feet in length, and its legs had moved under its body to give it a stance more in line with a cat than a lizard. Yet, as Calith watched, it shifted down to squat like the reptile it had been. So it was versatile. The creature skittered forward, moving to the wall, and climbed until it had nestled in a corner of the room. Its scales were jet black streaked with deep blues, and it had an antenna coming off the center of its head. There was a bulb of light on the end of the antenna, dangling down. The gecko stretched itself, settling in.
The antenna gave Calith an idea for this room. Rathel had mentioned that adventurers liked traps that didn’t immediately kill or incapacitate, but rather ones that made the fight a more interesting challenge.
She started work on the deep gecko room first. Given what she had planned, she had no need to get too fancy with this room, but based on what she’d seen she had an idea. She lowered the light levels in this room. Controlling that was easy - since her mana was the light source, she could just tell it to get darker when it was in here. It dropped until the room was nearly pitch black. Once Calith added a door to both end of the room so light from either side wouldn’t come in, it was impossible for eyes to see in here - save for the one point of light on the gecko’s antenna. It didn’t even illuminate the gecko properly, just giving off a ghostly glow that seemed to float in the air. Calith added some mist to the room, so if adventurers brought their own light in it wouldn’t help too much. But they would need a way to see, and she had an easy way to do that.
Calith made a tiny quartz sphere, one polished so smooth it would be easy to see, and then put a bit of mana into it. It would put off light - and more importantly, it would carry a command.
While they were waiting for the slimes to come home, Rathel had brought her a book on how to control the Mesh. Absorbing it was difficult - Calith had to go page by page. But one of the more interesting revelations was that the Mesh worked somewhat similarly to dungeon mana, and the same commands that controlled the Mesh could be used by a dungeon to control their own mana in ways that would normally require the dungeon’s active attention. Dungeons had always been able to do this, but only recently had they realized that commands could be made more complicated. The basic command dungeons had been giving for millennia - gears that bind on pickup or on use, whether or not a trap triggers - were just the beginning.
Calith had an idea that would be simple to command - no more complex than a basic binding. But it would look far more complex than it was.
Calith started to write with the mana trapped in the sphere.
The first line was one of the rune sequences dungeons had known for ages. It was the basis of all bind on pickup items, as well as the majority of trap triggers that just relied on someone being in the right place. Modern dungeon rune theory had broken it down to its basic meaning.
If (Mortal Aura In Contact) is True
For a pickup item bind, the follow up line would be Then make (limited compatibility) to (Mortal Aura In Contact) true. Instead, however, Calith went to the runes that had been used to make traps, and followed up that statement with one that dungeons had used for simple flash traps.
Then (Illuminate Mana by (100%)) for all (Free Floating Dungeon Mana) In space (3 foot radius) from (Mortal Aura In Contact)
If the mana had been at its normal visibility, the sudden flash would have blinded anyone who touched the sphere, and left it too bright for them to see for the entire time they held it. But since Calith had set the mana’s illumination in this room to a zero, this would just bring it back up to its prior value - but only within three feet of the person holding it. Now, when adventurers picked up the orbs, they’d be able to see what was near them. The geckos, when not nearby, would just be floating balls of light rushing at them. Calith could easily bundle some mana into orbs that resembled the Gecko’s antenna. Sometimes, a gecko would rush them. Other times, it would be one of those orbs, carrying nothing. It would, hopefully, make the fight in this room the fun kind of frightening.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
That took longer than Calith had expected. She hadn’t even started on the first room when Rathel came back.
Calith explained to him how the room would work, sliding back into the Mesh. By the time she was done, Rathel was smiling. “Oh, that’s perfect,” Rathel said. “I don’t know for certain if they’ll like it, but it sounds like the kind of thing that gets good reviews. It’s just a light trap bound to those orbs, right?”
“Gee, thanks Rathel. Really know how to give a backhanded compliment.” Calith said without thinking. Rathel raised an eyebrow, and Calith winced. “Sorry. Tongue getting ahead of the brain again. But still, when you put it that way, it doesn’t sound that great,” Calith said.
Rathel smiled and laughed. “You’re going to need to get that habit under control. But here’s the thing, Calith. You’re a Quartz dungeon. Nothing you do will be ‘great’ when it’s broken down like that, because you’re limited in what you can do. Don’t define greatness as how impressive it is - define greatness by how well it’ll be received. And by that definition? This is great for your rank.”
That was an odd definition of greatness, but Calith had been proud of the room, so took the praise.
Rathel continued. “Also, the fact that you made this room as a Quartz dungeon will be good if you do decide to make your profession command writing. Saying your first ever finished room used trap commands in a novel way? That’ll make some of the dungeons take notice. In the meantime, it’s going to make those fights fun for you to watch. Once you’re able to create memory tablets, you’ll have to record some fights in there and send them to other dungeons.” Rathel rubbed his hands together. “Fights in interesting rooms often fetch a good price.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” Calith said. She wasn’t sure about getting a job in general - it really seemed like she didn’t need much that she couldn’t make for herself. Except for advanced Patterns, but those were more of a want than a need. “But I won’t have anything to show if I don’t get people in here, and that requires a boss. Please tell me you have a solution there?”
“That’s what I was coming to tell you,” Rathel said. “The method I have in mind can work for a dungeon of your rank, but it requires a pattern. I can get it for you - but it’s a bit more expensive than your avatar was. More than you’ll be able to pay back with shells anytime soon. I can, however, get it now - and then set you up for a loan. You’ll pay me back in Abyssal mana instead of shells.”
“How does that work?” Calith asked, silently cursing. She hadn’t intended her thoughts about money to tempt the universe into proving the need, but apparently it had taken the challenge.
Rathel leaned in. “Rather simple. There’s a crymon that looks like a flowering plant. It evolved to drain mana. Naturally they’re no threat, easy for a dungeon to kill before they take root, so we’ve modified some of those plants - they’ll take some of your mana, and then transfer it through the mesh back to me. But… it’s not a perfect fix.”
Those last few words made Calith hesitate. “I take it there’s a downside?”
“It’ll drop your mana grade by a full letter,” Rathel said without hesitation. He’d been expecting her to ask, then. “Long term, it’s good - fighting against the mana drain strengthens your long term growth, and you’ll go up grades quickly at your rank. But it will still cause that drop, and it will also slow your mana regeneration down by a small amount. We estimate on average a five percent reduction.”
Calith pursed her lips, thinking. It didn’t seem like a terrible idea, but the idea of having something eating at her mana bothered her. “Can’t I repay you in shells over time instead?” she asked. It would delay her just buying patterns, but it would at least be easier to repay.
“I suppose that is an option,” Rathel said. “But honestly, the crymon is better. You’ll be done with that quicker, and I just want enough abyssal mana for a new boss. I’m opening a low tier wing, so I don’t need much. I can convert some of my profane mana, but… this way is better for me, in terms of my growth. Although it won’t hurt you much - I wouldn’t suggest it if it would.”
“Let me think for a moment,” Calith said, holding up a finger. Rathel had given her no reason to distrust him. Calith did like the idea of keeping her shells freed up to buy patterns from other dungeons, especially if she was going to be competing with Kandra. But… “So here’s my concern,” Calith said. “I trust you. I have no reason not to trust you. But implanting something in my mana pool that’ll eat away at my power? I need to verify that it’s safe. Teach me how to search the Mesh. I’ll ask some questions. Once I’ve confirmed what you said, which I’m sure I will, I’ll take it.”
Rathel looked at her closely. “That is smart. Trust but verify. Still… time is short. Do you swear you’ll take the offer once you’ve verified what I said?”
“I swear it,” Calith said.
“Good.” Rathel set up. “Then I’m going to go and get that pattern once I’ve taught you how to search. The quicker this happens, the better for you.”
That seemed reasonable to Calith. The task of searching was actually fairly simple to explain - she had to create a mob out of the mist in her meshsite, then give it a word or phrase to look for. The effort involved in making a mob without using mana, but out of mist, was the reason Rathel had waited to teach her - and it was a lot of effort right now. Calith knew she’d eventually be able to do it quick as a reflex, but in this instant it felt like an immense task.
A scytheleg popped into existence, except it was completely grey and had small wings for hovering. “Debt flowers,” she said, using the common term for these things Rathel had given her.
The scytheleg vanished into the flow of the leylines, and Rathel turned to follow. “Finish your first room decorations while you wait,” he said. “See if you can get something as interesting as your second room, and you’re sure to get so many five stars.”
“Don’t think I can top that, but I do have an idea,” Calith said.
Rathel gave her a nod, then vanished, leaving behind his remnant.
Calith got back to work. The scythelegs were fast and agile foes, and they could climb with surprising grace. She could work with that. She used her mana to plant a few dechwood trees in this room - her outdoor slime had found a few fertilized egg from them, and that contained the pattern for the whole tree. She could make a few, let the Scythelegs hide in the trees, and then have them burst out and surprise adventurers. Not much, but it was something, and the trees looked impressive even if growing it from that had been simple.
Wait.
Right as Rathel returned, looking confused, Calith poured her mana pool into the tree.
The dechwood sprang to life from the template, then started to shudder. Its roots bored into the floor, and Calith summoned soil under them so they’d have something to feed on. The branches started to merge together until it had two large branches, coming off the side like arms, and the bark in the center of its mass split into a giant, toothy grin - moments before the mouth sprouted rows of needle-like teeth that jutted from its mouth. Its size was the only drawback - because Calith couldn’t give it more mana, it hadn’t grown to the height of a full tree. It was only about eight feet high, and its arms left plenty of space between the wall and the boss. Calith had an idea for how to fix that, but right now she returned to the Mesh and gave Rathel a grin. “What do you think? I’m calling her Cathar, the Matribark.”
To her dismay, Rathel frowned.
“Like… matriarch? But I changed the arch to bark?”
Rathel waved his hands. “Not that, the name’s fine. Some dungeons put too much weight on that anyway, so as long as you’re happy with it, you’re fine. The problem is the boss. It can’t move. Tell it to fire any ranged attacks it has at the wall in front of it and behind it.”
Calith did so. The tree opened its mouth and let forth a stream of pressurized water that turned into steam - water with the heat and pressure of that found around deep sea volcanos. The tree could twist a full two hundred and seventy degrees, leaving only an arc in the back that it couldn’t target. “I can put a trap back there,” Calith said.
Rathel rubbed his chin. “Do, but only activate it if there is someone with a tank aura back there. If the group is smart enough to get its melee attacks in the blind spot, no need to punish them.”
Calith quirked an eyebrow at Rathel. “Seems like ‘stand where it won’t hit you’ doesn’t require that much intelligence.”
“You’d be surprised,” Rathel muttered, before speaking more clearly. “Realistically, it doesn’t. But it’ll make rookie adventurers feel smart - especially the Nubs.”
“What’s a Nub?” Calith asked.
“It’s what adventurers call those who are going into a dungeon for the first time to forge their initial core. They need dungeon mana to make that step. It means No, Unknown, and Blank - the three phrases that appear on uncored adventurer’s profile. No core, Unknown specialty, Blank mana capacity.”
Calith nodded. “So… think the boss works?”
“One problem,” Rathel said. “It’s immobile. What’s to stop a group from standing at the entrance to that room and pelting him with ranged attacks, letting the tank protect them so they only have to heal the tank from the ranged damage.”
“I was playing with trap generation earlier,” Calith said. “And I have an idea.” She started to work as she explained to Rathel how the trap worked.
By the time she was done, Rathel was grinning. “That’ll do nicely,” he said. “I did still get the pattern, by the way. I can return it, but… I’m going to hold onto it. If you want, we can discuss it later. If you don’t want it, I’m sure a future mentee dungeon will.”
“Why not now?” Calith asked.
“Because you’ll be distracted before you’re done. I checked while I was away - An Ominous Sounding Name is almost here.”
“What’s their na-” Calith said.
Rathel reached out and held a finger to her lips. It was the first time she’d been touched by another avatar. Physical sensation was new - the clothes on her body were part of the avatar, so they didn’t really feel like anything, nor did the mist under her feet. It was odd to find Rathel’s finger felt so… fleshy. “Don’t,” Rathel said. “Just call them AOSN.”
Calith grinned and nodded. So. Adventurers had arrived.