Miles away, deep in the belly of the Dungeon Guild, a map flashed brightly. The light condensed into a single point on it, fading to a dot of warm amber in the middle of a field of black trees, labeled Shatter Forest. There were hundreds of similar dots on the map, varying in color and size.

A man with long, pointed ears and a swishing tail peered curiously at the map, mild smile gracing his features.

“Interesting,” he muttered to himself, “They’re usually purple or blue, in those parts.”

At that moment, two northern dots broke into pieces. The man’s smile grew slightly, a glimmer in his eyes making itself apparent.

“What a shame. Twin cores. Would have become magnificent if not for the shatterkin. Let’s see how this plays out, little Amber.”

—————————

Forced sleep, despite being forced, was overall refreshing. It might just be the fresh air, but I feel like I could do anything, at the moment. And now that I’m not entirely confused and terrified, I can actually think about what’s going on.

I’m obviously a dungeon core, now that I think about it. That might not help much though, since that genre is so surprisingly diverse that I can’t really take any clues from it. One of the more consistent bits is the part about getting bigger when consuming mana, so I don’t think I can stay inside this nest for much longer. Many dungeons can manipulate their surroundings, can’t they? Can I manipulate mine? Can I manipulate my core?

Focussing inward, I have Early look at my core. I want to be able to see the weird blue stuff. I’m a perfect sphere at the moment, so I want to see if I can become a different shape. Perhaps the classic diamond shape would be good? I direct the energy that I absorbed to the surface, and gently push and pull until I get a vague and lumpy diamond cut. Do I need a firmer image of what I want to look like?

This time, I clearly picture the end goal. The energy flows around and inside my core, reshaping me into what I deem fit. The flat faces I was attempting to form suddenly came into sharp clarity, bringing with them a strange sort of mental clarity as well. I could feel the temperature of the air, and see the blue stuff on my own. I do the breathing thing that I had been doing earlier, this time purposefully directing the stray blue towards my gem. I grow more, and realize belatedly that if I continue I would not be able to fit in the nest much longer.

With being able to change my shape, there is yet another question that arises. Am I able to change my density? Theoretically, I might. With the strange changes that had already come along, though, I’m not too sure how it will affect me mentally.

Well, no time like the present. With one final, deep breath, I sort of… mentally tense up, if that makes sense. My core shrinks, but nothing else changes. No blue leaks out, and I don’t get any richer in color. Earlier I had become nearly triple the size of the eggs around me, but now I was the same size again. My view grew from the extra mana, and- wait. Mana?

I had never thought of it as mana before. It almost feels like the word was inserted into my head, only much more subtly than before. Was this an effect of the new system? I have the feeling that it is, with that feeling being similarly inserted into my mind. While I think, mama bird takes off. I can sort of hear her thoughts too, which mostly comprise of ‘food’ and ‘take care of babies’.

They seem to be more complex than before my… rest, though. At least these were words, and not just images. I can control her, too. I don’t want to though, it feels invasive. A bit like grabbing a dog by the scruff and leading it where you want it, rather than pointing to a spot and telling it to go there. Early twittered as she flew among the branches, no longer being dive bombed by hawks and other predators. Were they after me last time? Seems so.

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I don’t want Early to be injured if I ever have to move, though. I need to be able to defend her somehow. I can summon monsters to fight for me, I know now, but that feels too… detached. Like I’m sending a grunt to do the dirty work for me. I want my own body to defend her. Maybe a construct of mana, or a golem of some sort. Could I make a golem out of paper? Do I even still have the paper-making skill? I feel like I do.

I grab some leaf litter from the ground and concentrate. It disappears. What? I know I need some kind of matter to transmute into paper, but I didn’t know that if I failed it would disappear. Or… enter my inventory? I have an inventory? It’s certainly convenient, but I still don’t have paper. Well, until I do. I was simply thinking of what I wanted, thought of the word paper, and then there it was. Like I just bought fresh paper from a store.

Three perfect squares of paper were lined up next to each other, all the size of a post-it note. I want to turn these into origami golems, but I don’t really know how.

27 eszett

Hm? I have more? What exactly was eszett used for, anyways? I get the feeling… ah. They’re a form of reusable currency, and are what you name creatures with and what bring golems to life. One eszett per golem is all that is needed, no matter the size of a golem. They can be used for quite literally anything in lieu of mana as well, but only temporarily.

I bring out and fold a single square into a butterfly, and insert an eszett. The folding itself costs a small amount of mana, as did the ‘animation’, or bringing it to life. The eszett entered, and I felt more than saw it do something. It solidified into a mana heart.

A mana heart is what makes golems ‘alive’ and functionally immortal. If it is shattered, the golem will die, and the eszett will return to me along with one tenth of the mana in the golem. If the body is destroyed, but if the heart remains intact, the golem will respawn within the dungeon’s domain. Interesting. The paper is too small for an entire mana heart, so the entire body seems to become the heart.

My butterfly gently fluttered from the nest, drifting along on a northward breeze. I received sensory information from the butterfly, but it was slightly delayed and staticy. Like a radio signal, I suppose. I want to see how well my butterfly performs before sending out more, and since golems don't need to eat or drink they seem significantly cheaper than sending out Early to survey the area outside my perception.

With that done, I wait. And wait. Early comes back and sits on her eggs again. I continue to wait. Once I realize that waiting will do literally nothing, a metaphorical light bulb goes off. I’m a dungeon core. I should be doing dungeony things, like actually building a dungeon!

So I’m a bit annoyed as I start to carve out a burrow underneath the tree Early nested in. Steps pressed themselves into the soft soil, compacting to a good enough density that none walking would slip, nor would the dirt come loose. These stairs lead down to a single round chamber, similarly compacted. The excess soil is easy to dispose of by just bringing it into my inventory. Never know when I might need it.

In this chamber, I can… Do what? Spawn a monster? I think I could spawn some more sparrows, possibly a spooky skeleton sparrow, but other than that I have no clue. Should I design my own monster? That seems like a good route to take. I want something cute, like bunnies or cats. A bun-cat? Bunny ears, cat face, bunny ferocity… What are you looking at?

Bunnies are beasts so foul and so cruel that no man has fought with them and lived. Ever hear of a man telling a tale of a close call with a hare? Didn’t think so. No one so foolish to face a bunny in combat would live to tell that tale. Those little beasts would make a fine monster on their own, what with being fueled entirely by hatred and rage…

Ultimately, I decide against it. I don’t even have a real need for monsters at all yet, which will surely change in the future. When I have enough resources to properly make them. If someone comes in search of my core, I’ll shrink down and have Early carry me away. That’ll work. Probably.