How did I make a Floor again? The voice had said that my instincts should guide me, but how would I even get to that point if I didn’t even know how to start? I thought furiously for a while, I’m not sure how long, but once I snapped out of it - after not coming up with an answer I might add - my mana was once again full.
Now that might be something. My thoughts turned to that mana, the feeling of buzzing energy within me. That had to be part of it. It had been how I’d summoned the Leatherwing, after all.
…Thinking of it, I should probably come up with something to call my guardian other than ‘The Leatherwing’. A ‘name’, like I had chosen for myself, seemed suitable. How could I go about naming something other than myself? Or maybe it already had a name and I just didn’t know it? That was certainly a possibility…
No, I was getting distracted. First things first I had to claim my Floor.
I had to expand.
That word struck a chord within me. It resonated with the very Core that was me. I was supposed to expand. And I knew how to. With a mental command, similar to how I’d selected the Leatherwing all that time ago, I sent my mana out and away from myself. My senses went along for the ride, scanning across the far wall of the cave. I scanned across crevices, boulders, pools of water, and some other kind of rock hanging from the ceiling that looked different from the others. Maybe it was special somehow? I’d have to look into it later. I pressed onwards, pushing my mana out further and further. The walls made from rock were much harder to pass through than the open air, but with effort I managed. And once I realized I could use the mana to move and shape the rock to suit my needs, I began doing that as well. Little by little the cavern began to grow. From a few meters in diameter to over a dozen, gaining an equal amount in height. And, except just around where I was laying, I dug away much of the cavern floor, leaving myself sitting perched on a tall pillar. It felt much safer than being on the same level as everything else. Only not quite safe enough, so after a moment I also dug a small hole right underneath myself, leading into a smaller separate cavern within the pillar. There I excavated my own little nest, leaving only enough room for the leatherwing to enter easily and nothing else.
After I felt assured of my personal safety I continued my work with the rest of the cave. I carved tunnels through the rock in a bewildering and seemingly arbitrary manner, making some lead to nowhere and some to sudden deep pits. There was just something about the trickery that felt right to me. Especially the pits with rocks shaped into spikes at the bottom. That one felt exceptional. So good in fact that I made several more and spread them out within the passageways I’d already finished. It was a simple trap, but in the dark and covered with a thin layer of mulch and gravel who knew who it could fool. I hoped it would fool most people, but I had no real way of knowing. I found myself wishing for some adventurers to find me so that I could pit my defenses against them, and paused. Yes, that felt right. That was another thing I was supposed to do. Lure adventurers in with the promise of treasure, then reward the strong and discourage the weak.
That was the duty of a Dungeon.
Expansion was the reward.
With my new insight fueling me I got back to work with a redoubled effort. I sent my mana out as fast as I could, making the final adjustments to what would be my first and for now only Floor. The harder rock I left alone, instead continuing to make the same erratic pathways I’d started with, only now I made them with purpose. They were meant to confuse, to distract, and to slow down any intruders so as to let my guards catch them off guard.
Thinking of it, I should probably make some of those. I felt safe with my Guardian, but having only the leatherwing for the whole Floor felt wrong. Could I make more? No… I searched my mind and found that I was limited to only a single Guardian for each Floor I made, so until I managed to grow enough to delve deeper into the ground I’d only have the single Leatherwing as a Guardian. However that didn’t mean that I had to be completely bereft of other guards. As I scanned through my system interface I learned that I already knew how to make other, smaller creatures. Two of them, in fact. The Shadewing Bat and the Darkfin Manta. It seemed my choice of Guardian creature had given me these related creatures to populate the Floor with. That was nice. I wondered if I could mix and match once I got more Guardian creatures, or if they’d be locked to this first Floor where the Leatherwing was. Whatever the case, I was happy I had them, and I started to populate my little cave as fast as my mana would let me. I made roosts for the bats in the ceiling and along the hanging rocks, and filled the two pools of water in the cave with a few Mantas. Each was costly in terms of mana, but eventually I felt I’d made enough. I inspected my Floor, its many nooks and secret little crevices for my bats to roost in, as well as the pools and channels for my mantas, all together with the confusing layout and some traps for good measure. A profound sense of satisfaction pulsed through my core. It was finished. All I had to do now was come up with a suitable reward for those who managed to clear it, then I could connect it to the outside world.
For a moment I wondered exactly how I was going to do that, before instinct, or the system, kicked in and I knew what to do. I opened up a different section of the system interface, and selected the first and cheapest option, as it was the only one I could select at this level.
Dungeon Chest
Cost: 15 Mana per Clear (taken from future mana regeneration)
Will be filled with a random assortment of rewards depending on the selected category.
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The system didn’t really give me a lot of information on that one, but I found that I already knew a lot of how this was going to work instinctively. Dungeon Cores like myself had a certain dominion over creation, apparently. It was how we turned mana into creatures to defend ourselves, and how we could carve out and create our Floors. However this was mainly due to the connection we had to the system, and many of its functions were either instinctual or beyond the conscious control of the Core itself. The rewards was one such function. The mana came from me, but I couldn’t fully decide what the reward was going to be. I frowned as I realized that part. I didn’t really like the idea of not having control over my own Dungeon, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it at the moment. Once I grew stronger and could create more things, I could certainly give out rewards by just leaving them around the place. But changing the rewards from the Floor Clear was beyond even the grandest of Dungeons. I sniffed, metaphysically of course.
I’d just select something crappy then. That would show them.
…Actually, never mind. If the reward was crappy nobody would want to brave my dangers to get it, and I’d have nothing to do. That would just get boring.
Let’s see here, what were those categories again?
Mineral Chest
Armor Chest
Weapon Chest
Random Chest
That last option seemed unnecessarily vague, so that one was out on pure principle. And why was one of the options “mineral”? Maybe because I was in a cave right now? Still, it didn’t quite fit with the weapon and armor chests. After all those who’d challenge a Dungeon like me did so in order to get stronger and gain experience, and how minerals would help with that I had no idea. That one was out as well. I also didn’t really like the idea of giving weapons so early, since they could very well be used against me. Armor it was.
Once I selected the chest, I programmed in the command to release it upon the defeat of my Guardian, although it pained me to do so as I didn’t want my Guardian to die. But such was its purpose.
At least its death wouldn’t be permanent, and I’d just need to wait a while for it to respawn. Actually that was true for all of my creatures, I realized. Similar to the rewards being given from my future mana regeneration, as existences made from mana they would not ever truly die but instead come back after a time at the cost of my mana. The risk of death was carried only by myself, and was why they were the ones doing the actual fighting.
I put the final location of where the chest would appear into place. I moved to pushing outward, making a slope upwards from one of the far walls, going even further away from my cave. It was time to make the entrance, and finish the Floor.
Some time later I’d managed to carve out a sloping passage through the stone and then through a section of softer soil before finally breaching the surface. I paused there for a moment, taking in the open sky and the sun. It wasn’t exactly seeing what I was doing, but something pretty close I thought, and even without eyes I could still appreciate a nice view and a cloudless sky. I was in a meadow, and I could faintly make out some trees swaying in the wind surrounding me. A forest clearing then. A good spot for an entrance.
Now the system restricted how far I could spread along the surface, but making a proper entrance was something I could do.
Before I could get to it though the voice sounded once more in my head.
Great job finishing your Floor! You’ve cleared the introductory tutorial and can now be considered a proper dungeon, and my work here is done. Before I go though I have a couple final things I want to mention.
Firstly, your purpose is to challenge, reward, punish, and expand. How you do so is not that important, but cruelty and too much death of those exploring you will likely lead to your destruction. Nobody wants an unfair challenge, after all.
I’d already figured most of that out, and wasn’t planning on doing anything unfair anyway. The strong should be rewarded, but people should also be urged to grow. If I made things too hard then those who’d need to challenge themselves the most would never have the courage to do so. And at that point I’d lose my purpose, wouldn’t I?
The voice continued.
Secondly, as you’ve noticed the System is taking care of some of the things outside of your control. That can be temporary, if you become good enough at manipulating the different elements of mana to achieve a similar effect without its assistance. You will notice that your choice of Guardian strongly affects which of those elements you will come to favor, in addition to the pure mana used for expansion and construction. Therefore if this is a path you wish to go down, getting many different Guardians is something to look into. Such breadth comes with its own difficulties, of course.
Achieving independence gives you… well independence. You will get much more freedom in how you structure your Dungeon and your rewards. But it of course comes with more responsibility as well. Still it is a path you could go down, if you wish.
The voice paused, before finishing with. That’s all I had to say. Good luck, young Veos.
Thank you, voice. I sent it politely, but before I could begin thinking over the voice’s words a fresh prompt from the system appeared in my vision.
Tutorial Competed!
You have now taken your first step as a young Core and are ready to emerge into the world. Your requests from the Dungeon System Interface are over for now, however some might still happen on occasion depending on circumstance. These are not mandatory, as they are “requests”, but they are strongly recommended, as the system would not request something that would damage the Core.
Now go forth! Dig down and spread into the veins of the earth, and provide challenge to those who seek power!
Floor Finished!
Tutorial Completed Perfectly! Tallying delayed rewards…
System Inventory opened!
Received Random Creature Template [Mundane]!
[Swift Descent] skill unlocked!
Leatherwing Guardian choice grants +10% proficiency with Darkness-element Mana!
Leatherwing Guardian choice grants +10% proficiency with Blood-element Mana!
Leatherwing Guardian choice grants +5% proficiency with Water-element Mana!
Experience gained…
Level Up!
[1 New Dungeon Perk Available]!