Check-Ins, Curiosities, and Connections

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I spent some time watching Kyr. Ensuring that it was as unnoticeable as possible, I watched and I felt odd. I’d thought of him as my ‘old friend’... But was he? Kyr obeyed me without question, and as far as my vague knowledge of the term could tell me, I wasn’t sure if that counted.

I did know that I was more fond of him than my other creatures, even if he wasn’t necessarily my most powerful creature. Though was there a way for him to become so? I wasn’t sure. But in a way, I hoped there would be.

There was a certain measure of reluctance when I finally pulled my attention away. But as much as I strangely wanted to keep an eye on him, I also knew that he both didn’t need it and shouldn't constantly feel me watching over him. So instead, I cast my focus elsewhere. With a small piquing of interest, I went to find where the Kobold I’d created such a short time ago had gone.

I found him, hunkered down in a slight offshoot tunnel on the second floor. I could see the small, thin scars across his scales where cuts and slashes had healed. His eyes were darting in both directions as well as down.

He quickly darted out from the shadowed corner he’d been in, running towards what I recognized as a Rock Skorpion. When its stinger whipped out towards him, I watched as he reacted. He’d obviously been waiting for it, as his foot was already lifting up almost before the stinger had struck out. And when it came back down on top of the stinger, the Rock Skorpion let out a low hiss of pain.

Not giving the creature time to respond, the Kobold quickly grabbed the thing’s stinger and began using it to slam the creature into the nearby stone. Despite myself, I felt a small bit impressed. He hadn’t been alive for very long, but he was already figuring out how to survive. I watched him for a short while longer, as he ate and returned to his cubby-hole.

I’d chosen him for the bloodline he carried, taking a gamble on my title to aid in his evolutions. Seeing him at least able to contend with the standard occupants of the second floor put my mind slightly at ease towards the risk I’d taken. His evolution would strengthen him quite a bit, and if his bloodline awakened then it would be even more powerful. I was hoping that it might even let him get as strong or stronger than my Floor Bosses.

Speaking of Floor Bosses, I focused down onto the third floor. The waters rippled and swirled with the constant movement and activity. Ignoring most of it, I instead focused my attention on the Darkwater Sharks. I had no doubt that an evolution of one of these would become the Floor Boss of the third floor. There was certainly no chance of me binding Huntress to such a role. Then again, I forced myself to remember, it was always possible for one of the other creatures to surprise me.

I made sure to check through the sharks on the level, seeing which ones were building to their evolutions the fastest. They had barely existed at all yet so none of them were close. But I did want to know which ones I should try and check on in the future. My quick search only brought two to my attention, but neither was particularly impressive as of yet. They were simply more aggressive, and so built towards evolution faster.

With that short check finished, I finally allowed myself to watch what I had noticed not too long ago. In the final chamber of the second floor, there was a wild spar happening. Leira had stalked her way through the second floor, seeking out the Gladiator Skorpion, and she had found it.

The Skorpion was taking full advantage of the shrouded room and its incredibly hard chitin. It kept striking from the sides, and letting Leira’s counter attacks deflect off of its tough armored shell. I could see a dozen deep scratches, but none had fully penetrated. It was obvious that Leira’s claws were capable of it though, if she managed to land a direct hit.

Leira on the other hand, was forced to rely on her hearing more than anything. The Skorpion’s scent was all over the chamber, making it hard to distinguish its location with it. So she had resorted to quick, lashing counter attacks. Her ears twitched constantly as she tried to discern the faint noises of the Skorpion’s legs on the rock floor.

Unfortunately, it seemed to have learned to rely on its stinger against Leira. Its one attempt at fighting her with its pincers having resulted in almost half of the cuts she’d landed on it. I was watching with a sense of amusement as they sparred, almost identical to how they had before.

Leira was too fast and reacted too quickly for the stinger to land more than glancing blows, and the Skorpions carapace was too strong and armored for Leira to damage it with anything less than a direct, heavy blow. They were surprisingly evenly matched. All that told me though, was that Leira would become something truly dangerous when she fully matured. And when she did, I would build an entire floor solely for her.

I could feel my equivalent of a vicious grin as I thought about it. A fully matured Leira as a Floor Boss would be terrifying. I doubted her claws would find anything at all that they couldn’t cut through. My mind was half occupied with watching the two sparring and half with thoughts of what Leira’s floor would be when I felt the sense of wrongness again.

Immediately, my mind shot to the source of it. I drew up short however, surprised. Another creature had washed in through the stream, but this one was very different. It had flailed wildly for the short drop from the stream entrance and into the rock pool, but once it was in the water, it swirled about in quick circles, seemingly trying to take in the new surroundings.

The creature was only half a meter long, and was surprisingly almost eighteen centimeters thick. It had wide-set eyes, and a large-jawed mouth. More striking however, were its scales. Its scales were almost entirely a dull, metallic gold. There was a dusty, dark sheen over the golden color. The fish was.. Beautiful. But seemingly defenseless?

I watched in confused interest as the fish began slowly swimming downwards, heading towards one of the largest tunnels. Two Lampreys emerged from their hiding places, swimming quickly towards the dully shining creature.

When it saw them coming, it quickly sped up, but still wasn’t faster than them. I could feel my attention narrow as I examined it as closely as I could, waiting to see what trick or magic it would have to use. Finally, the Lampreys arrived within tendril reach of the creature, and it seemed to be almost panicking.

As the eight tendrils reached out for it, the fish suddenly jerked randomly to the side. In their attempt to follow, three of the tendrils accidentally collided. A moment later, the two Lampreys realized they had accidentally tangled their tendrils together.

The two immediately refocused on the more immediate threats to themselves, namely each other. All the while, the golden-scaled fish simply swam away, farther into the tunnel. Watching it glide away from the two Lampreys that had botched their hunt, a mixture of amusement and exasperation trickled through me.

Eventually however, it stumbled across another Lamprey. On its own this time, I was glad no additional tendril tangling could take place. Once more, the Lamprey began chasing the creature. Unfortunately it seemed to have seen the Lamprey much sooner this time. The two began to swim through the watery tunnels as the predator chased after it.

The Lamprey was only moments behind the fish, its tendrils starting to stretch outwards when it suddenly dived through a nearby pod of Glowmouths. Two of the tendrils reaching out for it accidentally snagged on Glowmouths instead, halting and distracting the Lamprey with the sudden and unexpected tugging.

I watched, almost impressed, as it once more began gliding away. By the time the Lamprey had managed to disentangle itself and get away from the pod that had started trying to bludgeon it, the golden-scaled fish had disappeared away from it.

I suddenly examined the creature as it swam slowly, trying to see if I could feel any mana coming from it. If it was using magic in any way, it wasn’t something I could detect. I reluctantly touched upon the mind of the Deiron Drowner, giving it the creature's position.The Drowner immediately began to swim quickly through the tunnels, rocketing through the water.

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The golden-scaled fish was none the wiser, simply swimming nearby to another pod of Glowmouths. The Drowner suddenly rounded the tunnels corner, spotting the fish easily. The golden-scaled fish only saw the Drowner at the last moment, flailing suddenly in panic.

I watched, astonished, as the fishes tail slapped the top of the Drowners upper jaw. The Drowners jaw suddenly snapped shut, and the momentum it had built up carried it past the fish, somehow missing it.

After a split second of surprise, I quickly figured out why. The Drowners jaw was heavily specialized to clamp down on a victim and not let go. But the muscles responsible for opening and keeping the jaws open were actually incredibly weak as a result. The wild flailing of the fish had managed to overpower those muscles and send the Drowner shooting past it.

If I had a mouth it would have been agape as I watched it panickedly swim away from the Drowner. Unfortunately for it, the Drowner had easily turned itself around. This time, as it charged forward, it was aiming to grab the fish with its two forward arms. The fish started flailing again as the Drowner approached.

I felt a sudden surge of victory as the Drowners clawed grip settled over its body, pulling it with the quickly moving Drowner. Then I watched, shocked as the mana that was in the Drowners skin began to slowly drain away, into the fishes scales, even as it flailed.

The Drowner dropped it, recoiling as if burned. Before I could contact it to attack the fish regardless, the dusky gold scales had disappeared. I watched, almost in wonder, as the fish had found one of the smaller and more hidden little tunnels I’d seeded throughout the first floor. One that was slightly too small for the Drowner to chase through.

I could see it quickly swimming as fast as it could away from where the Drowner was. Now that I had seen the scales of the fish absorb the concentrated mana, I looked closer. Whereas before when I’d been looking for mana coming out, I could now instead detect the small amount of ambient mana slowly being absorbed into it.

Slightly curious now, I began concentrating more ambient mana around it. Slowly, the drain became more and more obvious as more mana collected near it. I could feel the ambient mana begin to permeate through the creature more and more.

I was familiar with this sensation, given it was present in each and every single one of my dungeon creatures. My dungeon was rather sparse when it came to nutrients, but the constant presence of ambient mana helped sustain my creatures. The mana provided by me pervading their entire bodies, and both strengthening as well as sustaining them. They would still need food and water intake, but the mana helped.

Which is why it was so odd to be feeling that spread slowly through this golden-scaled creature. I was too curious to stop it, though I did keep a close eye on how it felt in relation to my regular creatures.

Suddenly, I was surprised when a message crossed my mind.

Congratulations!

You have discovered the process of Assimilation!

If a creature willingly takes in your Ambient Mana and you accept them, or they have a natural Mana Absorption, you are able to assimilate them into your Dungeon!

You may assimilate the creature, Golden Carp.

Please Select your decision!

Yes or No?

I considered it for a moment. The creature hadn’t displayed much in the ways of useful traits. On the other hand, it was rare for me to gain a creature through any means. In the end, I decided to accept.

You have assimilated the creature, Golden Carp.

Golden Carp (Exotic) : The Golden Carp is an extraordinarily rare creature, due to many reasons. It is incredibly rare for a Golden Carp to be birthed in the first place, given its extreme recessiveness and a required collection of mana to be present at the birth. The second reason it is rare is that the creature has only one defensive or offensive feature of note, its scales. The golden scales for which it is so named have a natural and powerful mana absorption, making it nigh immune to magic. Unfortunately, the creature is vulnerable in all other manners. Though perhaps, there is a glimmer of something beneath, hidden within the Golden Carp.

I knew that had to be some kind of magic carp… I was barely finished thinking that when another message passed through my thoughts.

Born Namer

For Assimilating your first creature, you have gained the capacity for another Name!

Oh. Oh, that’s good… That made the decision more than worth it. The ability to Name another creature would be… Beyond useful. Before I focused on that however, I felt down the new connection I could feel between me and the Golden Carp.

The description had labeled it as an Exotic creature. I’d only ever seen one of those before, but I’d felt that it was a tier above Rare and below Mythical. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why the creature was given such distinction.

The description of it was absolutely right, the only real defensive or offensive features were its mana absorbing scales. Everything else was just a really shiny fish. After a frustrating time trying to divine some answer about it, I eventually just put it down to rarity, its scales, and the odd hint at the end of its description. I directed the Golden Carp to Huntress’s old nest to wait for when I’d transfer it down to the third floor.

Meanwhile, I redirected my attention to the new Name slot I had just gained. Trying to decide what creature should be named was proving to be more of a challenge than I’d initially thought. My newest Guardian creature, the Kobold was tempting. I wanted to see if him having a Name would aid in his first evolution.

On the other hand, I had two Floor Bosses that were Unnamed. It wouldn’t hurt to bolster their power in this way as well. Beyond that, I was almost certain that the next Guardian creature I would choose would be the Orthruan Serpent, and I would surely want to give it a Name as well. More than that, if one of the Darkwater Sharks had a good evolution then I might want to give it to that as well.

I could feel the circular nature of my thoughts as all the sides were arguing with each other in my thoughts. Finally, I forced myself to calm and think about the options individually.

The Floor Bosses already had their power bolstered by the boons they received. So for now, the Name should go to something that didn’t have that benefit. I needed multiple powerful creatures, not few.

I would wait on the Kobold, given I’d chosen him as a Guardian creature based on a gamble for his bloodline. If he started paying off in some way, or his evolution was good at least, then he would get a Name.

Bringing it down to the Orthruan Serpent and a potential evolution of a Darkwater Shark simplified matters. Both would be in the future, and so it came down to seeing what evolutions the Darkwater Sharks gained. If there was a truly good one, then it would get the Name. If not, then the Name would go to the Orthruan Serpent.

I waited for a moment after thinking it through. After a moment, I went through it again, ensuring it made sense. Once I was satisfied with my decision, I returned my attention to the Golden Carp. The distinctive creature was swimming in slow investigative circles, looking around the empty nest.

With a brief brush of my mind, I directed the Carp to go to the rock pool. Once it was there, it took a miniscule amount of mana to open the tunnel I'd previously made to the third floor. I’d decided to leave it mostly intact, so that I could transfer more creatures between the two if I needed. It also helped save mana on those occasions, if I didn’t need to carve out the whole tunnel but simply open and close it.

The Carp emerged into the bright third floor and seemed stunned for a moment. Then again, the third floor was quite a bit more colorful and bright than the dark underwater tunnels of the first floor. The Carp recovered quickly however, slowly making its way downwards. I watched it go with more than a little frustrated interest. Despite that however, I decided to let it live on its own.

Assimilation hadn’t gained me its schema, but I had experienced that evolution was a far more powerful thing than just sheer numbers. My hope was that it would eventually become something worth the trouble it had given my first floor creatures.

It was passing through a pod of Giant Glowmouths when my attention shifted away, seeking out the next part of my dungeon that required my attention.