Chapter 4: Axle. Tick Tock went the clock.

I needed a way to measure time, as I could not tell if a second or an hour was passing. This whole a single second could be a 100 years thing that was not going to work. This led me to contemplate what I knew about creating time-measuring devices. Clocks.

I decided I was going to have to give creating materials a try. This was another fundamental ability the dungeons had within the books that I had read, and I had a feeling deep within me that I could do this as well. I imagined it was going to be much the same as consuming the rocks, but instead of directing my Qi to dissolve the rock around me, I was going to insert the Qi into a mental projection of what I wanted.

Within my subconscious mental landscape, I projected an image of a tiny sliver of quartz crystal A few finger lengths away from the small thumb size rock that was at the center of the Dome, and which I presumed to be me or at least what housed my consciousness. Directing my Qi into the projection, the translucent imaginary image began to drink in the Qi. After about 5% of my Qi pool was directed into the tiny crystal, it solidified. Appearing out of nowhere directly where I had intended within the alcove that I had created.

Next, I created a small silicon board about the size of a thumbnail That I materialized directly underneath the small crystal Shard. The quartz crystal was raised off the floor slightly as the silicon board formed underneath it. The silicone board was larger than the crystal and took another 10% of my Qi to create. I was going to have to do some experiments later on, to see just exactly how much Qi was used in the creation of objects and materials. But first, I had to build the tools to even begin to get accurate measurements.

Creation was odd and easy. If I had absorbed the material, then I would have a fundamental knowledge of how to structure the quantum particles, then the atomic particles, and finally, how they linked together in larger molecular chains. My Qi easily moved within the area of my influence and sought to create what I intended to bring into being. I noticed that when I used this process of Qi matter conversion, the subconscious part of my mind I could access would constrict slightly.

The last step was almost too easy. All I did was direct a small amount of Qi to produce a tiny Volt of electricity and direct it into the quartz crystal. This activated the quartz crystal's piezoelectric effect, and with my heightened senses and frame rate, I watched as it began to oscillate at 32,768 times a second. To me, each back-and-forth looked like a slow vibrating ping-pong game.

I was beginning to get the distinct feeling I had three portions of my mind. Me, the conscious part, the subconscious that I could interact with and give tasks to, along with something deeper and hidden that I could not fully feel yet.

Now came the magic of this subconscious mind map thingy. I portioned off a small amount of my mind and had it watch the crystal and count. Every 32,768 oscillations, it would increase the seconds' number on my internal display I was creating. I portioned off another part of my mind, and every 60 seconds had it increase the minute portion of my internal clock. I did this until I had an automated system that would count all the way up to years and was displayed in my mind's eye. Creating the simple beginnings of a HUD.

Time: Year: 0. Months: 0. Weeks: 0. Days: 0. 00:00:01.

I now had a self-automated way of telling time. When I let the automated parts of my subconscious run, I could feel that the clock took up only 1% of the subconscious mind map to operate.

With this done, I could now see how long it actually took to fill my Qi pool up. I dissolved more stone and pushed my influence out more and more. I noticed as my Qi dropped to zero that my influence could be expanded past the rock that I had dissolved.

Checking my clock, I waited to see how long my Qi absorption would take.

12 hours, that's how long it took, nearly half a day. When my Qi was full, I continued to wait and kept track of the pressure that I felt. Wanting to see how much time I had until it became an overwhelming urge to expand. That took about another 12 hours, and when I could hold off no longer instead of expanding my dome because I was currently beginning to become worried about the structural integrity of my small alcove due to the fact I had no idea how much dirt and pressure was actually pressing down on top of me, I forced my Qi into the rocks around me and expanded my influence to about double.

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This did not immediately alleviate the pressure building inside the alcove I had made. However, instead of a drip-drip of Qi entering me, it felt like a tiny, pressurized spray being forced into me. Measuring the amount of time once again, I realized that when the amount of Qi pressure inside of the room was that high, it only took about four hours for me to completely refill my Qi pool. However, the amount of Qi pressure inside the room was not reduced fast enough, and in only about two hours, it was once again an overwhelming urge to expand.

I would use the Qi I had gathered to expand my dungeon influence, creating a vacuum within me that the wild Qi would filter into. This alleviated the Qi pressure slightly, but as I experimented, I could tell the pressure was growing.

This was going to become a problem because as I could see the raw Qi floating inside of my alcove, I could also see the density increasing. As the density increased, the Qi particles began to run into each other in an unorganized manner. This created a variety of effects, from small sparks to tiny snowflakes being formed. From the few observations that I made from the random interactions, I realized that they could potentially become extremely hazardous to my survival. Thus, I was forced to Expand not only my dungeon influence but the actual physical volume of my dungeon body, or else a tiny eldritch horror might randomly spawn right next to me. No, nope can’t have that happening.

I also realized that this was probably the reason why dungeons had to eventually connect to the outside world. Because without a pressure valve, the internal body of my dungeon would become inhospitable even for me. And considering I was inside of my body, that was not going to be a good thing.

Now, this all sounded very dire considering I was at a critical mass level of my experiment; Luckily, due to my ability to increase my frame rate, I had all the time in the world from my perception. I decided I was going to have to do a sort of stability test for the rock around me. I was going to send a shaft straight out as far as I could. I lacked any precise measuring tools for distance, so I was left with using familiar body parts. I knew my hand and another body part was about eight inches long, or twenty centimeters long. The shaft would be one hand wide and one hand long. I could have also used another body part to measure, but I didn't think that would be appropriate. When I worked with Qi in the physical world and the subconscious mind map, I could sort of project the feeling of my hands that I could then see.

I gathered my Qi and began to dissolve the wall directly in front of me, or what I was going to call the front. I did this as fast as I could in a straight line with my imperfect hand measurements. I dissolved some granite, some iron, basalt, and igneous rock. The tunnel continued to grow and grow until it was 25 hands long, and the wall of rock that I was dissolving abruptly ended. At this point, I only had 60% of my Qi left and quickly shifted from dissolving the rock to projecting my dungeon influence into the cave I had found.

I used 50% of my Qi, quickly turning it into a vapor-like substance, and sent it wafting through the subterranean cave. There was a small pool at the center of the room that bubbled with steam and was fed from somewhere deep below. Along the edge of the pool was coarse sand and dirt. The pool bubbled up and fed a small stream that disappeared back into the depths of the earth when it hit the cave wall. There were white mushrooms growing along the bank of the small stream and pool.

“Yes! A cave, free room to expand. It’s like buying a house and finding out it has a secret room built into it. I can’t wait to build traps and create mobs, and have adventurers come. I hope they’re nice or at least fun to mess with. I am going to be the best dungeon ever!” I still need to figure out how to actually talk. This shifting back and forth between internal monologue and trying to speak is getting old. But whatever, a cave, I better check to see if there are any nasties in there.

Not detecting anything immediately dangerous, I slowed down my frame rate, accelerating the world around me, and waited another 12 hours for my Qi to be completely refilled.

Time: Years: 0. Months: 0. Days: 2. 12:45:34.

With my Qi now full, I directed my attention to the small white cave mushrooms that were growing along the shore of the small pool. I tried directing my Qi to consume the mushroom but was immediately blocked by a force that was intrinsic to it and covered it.

"Hum, looks like it's going to have to be dead for me to absorb it." I thought and tried to say. I really needed to find a way to speak and someone to speak to.

Wasn't I supposed to get some cute dungeon fairy or brightly colored wisp that was going to guide me along the path of being a dungeon? Apparently not yet, or not at all, damn it.

How to Kill a Mushroom 101. Start by creating the mental image of A granite block about one hand length in each direction. Position the mental image of the granite block above said mushroom. Ensure that the height of the granite block is sufficient enough to cause enough damage to squish said mushroom. Infuse the mental blueprint with Qi and wait for gravity to take effect.

“Splat!”

Well, less of an actual splatting sound and more of a whooshing one, but I think you get my meaning, nonetheless. I focused on the now-dead mushroom and began absorbing the organic material. This process was a head rush almost as intense as when I had consumed my first drop of Qi. A swirl of information entered my mind about the genetic structure and the composite atoms the mushroom was made out of. Its life cycle, what it ate, and even how much water it needed to consume. I now intrinsically knew how to create a blueprint of a mushroom and that I could create it by the same process that I had created the granite block.

Deciding to immortalize this momentous occasion, I moved the block along the ground and up along one of the cave walls and set it along a ledge that I had created. The very first item I had used to kill my very first thing. I do believe that this might become a theme of my dungeon, immortalizing the grand inventions I was going to create to waylay and hinder adventurers. But adventurers and all that was for a later time, a much later time. I never understood why dungeons were forced to open to the wide world before they were actually ready. Sure, there was a point in time where the inflow of raw wild mano would exceed the amount my core could absorb and my ability to create new rooms, but that wasn't for a long time. Until then, it was time to prepare, for what I had no idea, but I imagined it was going to involve a lot of blood and death.