I had already decided that my current situation was intolerable the moment I had figured out what was going on. In my current state, I was entirely at the mercy of the world and its inhabitants, with negligible ability to control what happened to me. This is because I had somehow been transformed into a room and hallway embedded into a hillside, with a blue orb on a pedestal in said room that I instinctively understood was now me.
The instant I realized this, a menu screen popped up in my vision. It read as follows.
As a new Dungeon, you can choose one type of Minion to start with without spending resources to develop them. Please be aware that you cannot change your starting minion, and that it will have a significant impact on your theming.
-Goblin
Intelligence: Dubious
Strength: Low
Speed: Fast
Utility: Low
Autonomy: High
Cost To Summon: Low
Your standard fantasy fodder, Goblins are small green humanoids with a vicious streak a mile wide. They have little to recommend them, aside from the fact that they can be fielded extremely cheaply and can fend for themselves in harsh environments. This means that Goblins can spend up to six hours outside your dungeon before going feral, meaning that they can forage resources for you effectively.
-Giant Spider
Intelligence: Smart Animal
Strength: Low
Speed: Fast
Utility: Moderate
Autonomy: Moderate
Cost To Summon: Moderate
Spiders are members of the arachnid family characterized by near-universal venomous bites and the ability to spin webs out of extremely strong silk. This particular species has been enlarged to the size of a large dog, allowing it to fight on a somewhat even footing with intruders. A Giant Spider that spends more than three hours outside your dungeon will immediately go feral and stop responding to commands.
-Skeleton
Intelligence: Cunning
Strength: Moderate
Speed: Moderate
Utility: Low
Autonomy: Nil
Cost To Summon: Low
An animated pile of bones held together by magic, Skeletons can be quite effective combatants given their low summoning cost. They are clever enough for the occasional bit of creative problem solving, and about as strong as a normal human. That said, they will immediately collapse into inert bones if they ever leave your zone of influence.
-Clockwork
Intelligence: Cunning
Strength: High
Speed: Slow
Utility: High
Autonomy: Low
Cost To Summon: High
Mechanical constructs using mana for power and control systems, Clockworks are intricate creations which require a large expenditure of mana to summon. That said, their physical power is unmatched among starting minions, and they are easily customized to perform a large number of utility tasks when not defending you. Clockworks can optionally be fitted with an on-board mana battery which can sustain remote operations for an hour before shutting down, but a clockwork deactivated in this manner can easily be restarted if more mana is provided.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
It only took me a few moments to make my decision. According to this strange interface, I was a Dungeon, meaning that if I did nothing I stood to be continually ransacked by adventurers in search of loot or XP at best. This was not a fate I would allow, meaning that I needed a way to move under my own power. If I wanted to become independently mobile, I would need to build my own means of movement, which would require immense motors, control systems, and other machinery.
Clockworks for my starting minion had the potential to get me the vast majority of what I would require in order to pull this off, as they by definition would contain motors, sensors, materials, and control systems that would work under the local laws of reality. Thus, I made my decision.
Notice!: 1* Basic Clockwork summoned!
Current Mana: 5/20 (1 Room + 1 Corridor)
Mana Regeneration: 10/day (Core)
Upkeep: 1 (Minions)
Net Mana: 9/day
Feature Unlocked: Clockwork Customization
Directly next to my core, a humanoid machine took form. I estimated that it was 1.7 meters tall, and it was covered in shining brass panels, save for the occasional gear partially extruded from a joint.
Next, I needed some additional security. The immediate possibility that came to mind was sealing off the entrance, but some part of me immediately rebelled at the idea; no matter how much I wanted to seal myself off from the world and simply build without interference, that option was closed to me. Well then, if I couldn't simply hide, could I make a door? Another twinge of pain, and I changed my line of thought to "could I make an extremely durable minion keep guard in the entrance?" This option, thankfully, seemed to be easily available.
With what I wanted in mind, I asked aloud to no-one in particular "Now how do I get at the Clockwork Customization interface?"
Designer Interface: initializing
I really missed the ability to grin. Engineering munchkinry, here I come!
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It was roughly an hour later when I had the door working to my satisfaction; as it turned out, the cost to summon a Clockwork wasn't based entirely on size, but also on how many different things you wanted it to do. Fortunately for me, there were only three different functions for my door extremely tough minion. The first was an extremely heavy-duty lock made out of steel I had painstakingly adjusted the alloy composition for. The second was an eight-digit combination keypad which would only allow the door to unlock when the correct combination was input, and last was a linear motor which allowed the door to automatically open and close itself when it needed to.
Compared to the immense complexity and versatility in even my Basic Clockwork, this door was simplicity itself, and that meant it could be cheap, even when the layer of armored steel was almost half a meter thick.
Clockwork Blue Print Saved: Armored Combination Lock Door
Still, I had three mana left over from that, which meant I could come up with a few more adjustments. First order of business was the corridor leading to my Core. At the moment, it was a literal straight shot. Anyone who opened the door could easily open fire on my core, and there wasn't anything I could do about it. I quickly queried my interface "How much does it cost to remodel a corridor?"
Basic Construction Costs
-New Corridor: 2 mana per 20 meters
-Adjust corridor: 1 mana per corridor
-Finish walls/Floor: Increases mana capacity by 1 (2 mana per 20 meters)
-New Room: 5 mana per 100 m2
-Move/adjust Room: 2 mana
-Finish walls/floor: Increases mana capacity by 2 (5 mana per room)
I tried to nod and achieved precisely jack squat doing so, before I adjusted the hallway into a vague S shape, removing the clear line of fire from the door. This left me with 2 mana left, which I decided to put towards some significantly more lethal defenses in case someone managed to either hack the lock or bash down my armored door. Another couple hours of tinkering later, and I had a rudimentary machine gun turret aimed down the longest straight part of my twisting hallway, ready to lay down a hail of lead on anyone who entered.
Notification: There is someone at the entrance of the Dungeon.
Dreading what this could possibly lead to, I shifted my perspective to just outside my entrance, interested in evaluating if the person outside was a threat.