WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON??
"Ah yeah, seems it may have been a small mistake by our department regarding your start. Well, you've got it now, good luck!"
With no further explanation, and another flash of silent lightning, the strange creature disappeared again, leaving me alone to my thoughts. Where had it come from? Who and why were they watching me?
Did they control our levels?
"GOOD LUCK" ??
With no obvious answers in my memories, nor anyone to ask, I had a look at my new status.
- Level 1 -
- Skill list: Homunculus Creation - Unique -
A unique skill! I had memories of people with those but had never seen someone with one. Have never heard of this skill either...
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Homunculus Creation: User may create a puppet body and is able to take direct control. Puppet status increases with user status.
Puppet may not travel too far from user. Maximum distance increased with user Intelligence at time of creation.
Only one Homunculus may be active at a time. Creating another while one is still active will cause the first to dissolve rapidly.
Cast time: 30 seconds
Cooldown: 48 Hours
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Well that will certainly give me something to do! I immediately concentrated on creating a body next to my core, using the male mage Eric as my template. I watched with excitement as a body started growing from the feet up like one of the monsters within the walls. It had no equipment or clothing, but that could be fixed using dead adventurers. In the last few seconds of the spell it grew hair... And promptly collapsed like a pile of jelly. In my haste I had not envisioned bones or muscles to support it. 48 hours before I can try again.
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For my second attempt I decided to alter the appearance somewhat. Eric was viewed as something of an outcast, but was still recognizable. In my cooldown time I thought about how I wanted my new body to look. Perhaps a young man, given my lack of levels and skills. My memories didn't include anything related to anatomy so I examined some recent corpses to understand how bones worked and connected to eachother. Playing a bit of mix and match with the features, using adventurers I had seen as examples. Brown eyes set slightly wider apart than normal. A rather petite nose with a slight hook, based off a woman currently fighting off some skeletons. A wide mouth with thin lips and high cheekbones. I chose skin darker than most of the locals, a mix between the average citizen of nearby cities and the dark skinned nomad tribes of the far north. Envisioning my new body at about 160cm tall, I once again started the cast of Homunculus Creation. Thankfully this one was able to stay standing under it's own power. Inspecting my creation it looked to be a youth of about 17. A little effeminate but that didn't concern me. After all if it became an issue I could always change it later.
Taking direct control proved to be a little disconcerting. Having spent my whole waking life without true senses like sight and touch, my mind was suddenly loaded with feelings. I could feel the cold stone beneath my bare feet, smell the slightly stale air of the dungeon, hear the distant sounds of combat. I took a minute to sort through these new sources of information while practicing moving my arms and legs.
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Level up! You are now level 2. +1 to all attributes
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I wondered how that happened for a moment, but it appears an adventurer had just succumbed to his wounds as his group was carrying him out of my main entrance. Had that given me a full level? Thinking about it, the average level of adventurers that came to my dungeon was 12-14 so it wasn't so absurd to think a single death would level me. It wouldn't be a really viable source of experience later on compared to monster hunting, unless I planned on destroying cities, but a nice bit of extra gain. +1 to all attributes was insane too! Eric had gained 1 Intelligence every 2 levels, and 1 constitution every 5 as a Sorcerer class. I decided to have a look at my status to see just how strong I could get.
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Attributes: Strength - 11
Constitution - 11
Intelligence - 11
Willpower - 11
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Everything started at 10 and gained 1 every level... That already put me on par with classless adventurers of about level 15 in terms of base attributes. Normally people can pick a class at level 10, which allows your growth to be focussed on certain attributes. Will I be able to choose a class, or is that exclusive to humans? I had never heard of monsters with classes, but I've never heard of one speaking before either, so how would we know. Examining my puppet I decided against re-summoning it. The change in attribute points was nice, but not worth waiting another 2 days. It was time for my first adventure! Picking up a large rock nearby to use as an impromptu weapon I walked out of the small room where my core lived. The closest monster was one of the small bears hidden from sight on the ceiling about 20 metres away, but I knew exactly where it was, as with everything in my dungeon. Walking underneath it I sensed as it dropped, claws out and sharp teeth ready to rip into me. Easily sidestepping the initial drop, I smashed my rock into its head as hard as possible before it could leap at me. Dazed and injured, but still alive, the bear stumbled to the side before I hit it again knocking it unconscious. It needed one more hit before I gained a notification that i had gained experience, and 2 skills! Dismissing the experience I looked at my new skills.
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Skill gained: Heavy Strike - An attack using great strength with a blunt weapon.
Skill gained: Blunt Weapon Mastery - Increases proficiency and damage when using all forms of blunt weapons. (eg: maces staves and rocks)
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Why did it have rocks in there looking like that? Almost as if it was mocking me... Still it was surprising I gained these skills so quickly, I had heard most melee classes needed to spend hours or even days to gain a skill with a new weapon. Not about to complain, even if I had time to as I sensed another bear climbing along the stalactites above me. Slightly larger than the first, I once again stepped to the side, but swung my rock before it even landed connecting with the back of its neck, just at the base of its head. I heard a crack, and the bear fell to the ground twitching pitifully. Another quick blow and I gained experience once more.
I wished momentarily that I didn't have to resummon my puppet to gain the effect from my higher stats, but I guess things can't be that easy. Sensing a lone zombie down a corridor, and the decaying remains of an adventurer just past that, I headed towards it to grab his weapon. He had been using a spiked mace which was perfect for me, unfortunately his armor and clothes had been ripped apart by whatever had killed him. Perhaps I could salvage enough to make a loincloth at least. I tried to sneak as I approached the zombie, but it noticed me somehow anyway. I thought I had been quiet enough, but perhaps they have a sense of their surroundings somehow. Avoiding its arms as it lurched toward me I smashed my rock into its face, breaking several teeth. Without slowing the zombie again reached toward me when I kicked one of its legs, causing it to miss me and stumble a couple of steps to the side. Deciding it would be faster to rush and collect the mace from the dead adventurer I pushed the back of the zombie, unbalancing it further before I ran off. As I approached the corpse my puppet started responding slower to my thoughts, and even stumbled on a rock. A notification appeared, but I willed it to the side before picking up the mace and turning back to the zombie who was some distance behind me. As i walked back towards it my control returned to normal, allowing me to swing my weapon into the side of the zombie's head. Still not dead but clearly badly injured, I hit it once again with an overhead blow which caved in its skull. With the killing blow I gained experience and another skill. I also had a look at the alert that appeared earlier.
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Skill gained: Brawling - Increases proficiency and damage when fighting without weapons.
You are nearing the limit of available range for control of your Homunculus. If you move it any further you will lose control, and it will disolve back into mana.
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Well that was just great, the range limit was almost pathetic! Barely more than 100 metres from my core and I lose control. It would grow as I level but guessing by my current attribute points I would need to be level 50 before I can even reach the stairs back to the first floor! Something would have to change if I ever wanted to leave my dungeon again.