Breach

I woke for the second time, in the very same spherical chamber I'd carved out. I didn't so much wake up, as I slowly drifted back to consciousness. For several long, long minutes, I could tell I was close to waking but still unable to direct my attention. The instant I coalesced enough to direct my attention and focus, I whipped my gaze throughout the room, only stopping when I'd assured myself that the room was still sealed with only myself and Kyr.

Hastily inspecting myself, for a moment I thought there was no change. Instead, the change was simply difficult to notice. The golden etching of my Name was there, and it was glowing bright with Mana. I could feel the ability to call upon that strange message or system I'd encountered. I knew without knowing that I could now call upon that odd message that told me my status at any time. But beyond that, I could feel a looming shadow inside me. My instinct to create my first Dungeon floor had been building more and more during my slumber, and it had built into something terrifying. It only seemed to be held back by a new, smaller urge to call upon my status and see whatever new changes had been brought.

Before I did that, and let the tidal wave of instinct sweep over me, I turned my attention to Kyr. For a short moment, I almost didn't recognize him. He was still curled about my orb, but only barely. Somehow, he had grown to a meter and a half long instead of the meter he had been before, but that wasn't all. The triangular scale at the tip of his tail had sharpened into a dull, but effective blade. More shockingly though, was the way his scales coloration had shifted, but more than that, was the way his new scales worked. Where he had been blue and green, the two colors had merged to become a single iridescent scale coating of teal. More pressing however, was the single stripe of pure golden scales down his spine. While the scales didn't glow, I could tell that they were ever so slightly producing Mana, helping Kyr feed and empower himself.

As though he felt my attention on him, Kyr began to stir awake himself. His svelte and sleek head rose from its resting place atop his coils. He regarded my Core for a long moment before I realized. His eyes were now purple with a slightly glowing golden circle. Apparently Naming has a much bigger effect on other creatures... As I thought this, Kyr began to inspect the changes in himself slowly and carefully. By the end of his inspection, I could barely hold back my urge to check my own internal changes. I sent him a pulse of meaning, asking him to coil around the base of my column. Only as he moved to obey did I give in.

Obsidian Dungeon Core - Sybas

Names

Mana

Mana Regeneration

2 / 2

63 / 75

+1.5 / Hour

Titles

None;

Well damn. The thought was not entirely undeserved. My Naming had filled my Name slots along with Kyr, but had only expanded my capacity in Mana and Mana Regeneration. Roughly by half in both! As much as I wanted to celebrate this, the moment I'd taken in the changes, my instincts crashed down with massive, overpowering weight. I couldn't think any longer, I NEEDED to make a Dungeon floor NOW!

Lashing out with Mana with more force than before, I immediately and almost instantly carved a fifteen meter tunnel to the side and slightly up, breaking straight through the side of my spherical Core Room. I could feel Kyr shrink back from the sheer force I was forcing Mana forward with. Expanding from the other end of the tunnel, Mana began grinding away, faster and faster. Even through the haze of instinct thrust onto me, I could tell that my Name had somehow affected the efficiency of my abilities, because less mana was carving away more stone. Mere moments after the sweeping wave of instinct had struck me, a ten meter ovoid room had been hollowed out at the other end of the tunnel. The haze hadn't left.

Growing more desperate, I began simply forcing more and more mana into the effort, purposely not paying attention to how much I had left. I couldn't afford to suddenly backstep, I HAD to do this. More and more stone and rock sheared away, ground into nothing. The ovoid chamber was growing more and more ragged as I grew more and more frustrated and panicked. Rugged bluffs and crags of stone were being left behind, outcroppings allowed as I just tried to finish. More and more, more and more, always more. The massive chamber was growing to be near a hundred meters long and near sixty across when it happened.

The wall of rock, across from the tunnel and to the left, slightly above half the height suddenly gave way. The stone simply collapsing beneath the weight, as water began pouring into the room. A second later, my mana-vision let me see as a thrashing shape, a fish, followed the flow of water into the now massive chamber. A mere moment after that, the haze lifted. My mind reeled from the sudden whiplash as the overpowering instinct suddenly released. Only Kyr recoiling as he heard the sound of rushing water drew my attention back, even then, my mind simply trying to recover. Trying to use my mana-vision in the larger room, it was somehow... fuzzy...

It took me a moment to feel that the mana was drifting out of my control, small amounts draining down the underground cave system I'd accidentally broken into. With the Cave not counting as part of my Dungeon floor, apparently the opening into it was draining small amounts of my mana away. Without thinking, I simply reacted. A wave of mana and stone exploded in the room as I warped a thick barrier of rock across the opening. It shuddered for a moment as the weight of the water pressed into it, before more and more rock grew and supported it.

Despite my inability to breathe, and my lack of lungs, if I could I would have been panting. A hesitant hiss from Kyr drew my attention for a moment. Sending a short feeling of reassurement, I realized just how low on mana I was. Despite my incredibly low amount left, I could feel that ambient, sensory mana begin seeping up and saturate the new first floor of my Dungeon.

Tiredly examining the room, I was surprised at its shape. I'd carved both the tunnel connecting to my Core Room and the Core Room itself in perfect shapes. Aside from the surrounding area around the tunnel, the chamber had a decidedly.. natural feel. The way I had let outcroppings and natural formations stay along the edges had produced what looked like a rough and rocky natural cave. Halfway through my inspection, I noticed there was a source of light near the far end of the floor. Looking closer, it was the fish! A small, five inch long creature, it was thin and white scaled. But the scales beneath its mouth had a natural glow, some kind of bioluminescence.

More than that though, I realized it was dying. The water that had carried it into the first floor had originally been deep enough for it to survive, but when the water that had gotten in before I sealed the hole spread across the large room... It was flopping on its side, trying to get at any deeper patch of water. It only took me a quick glance to know that it was going to live a depressingly long time before it'd eventually die. With no small amount of pity, I sent Kyr a message with the fishes location. For the first time since I had started carving, Kyr started moving. Slithering forward, he was easily large enough to not have to worry about the thin film of water.

Reaching the fish, it was only a quick lunge and it was done. To my surprise, I felt something infinitesimal detach from the fish's body. Before I knew it, it had split into two. The smaller of the parts drifted to Kyr and the larger made its way to me. Whatever this was, it was only barely detectable with my mana-vision, and as soon as it entered each of us, it dissipated and became impossible to detect. Surprising me even more, was the message that followed it.

You have gained the schema for : White-Scaled Glowmouth

White-Scaled Glowmouth

The White-Scaled Glowmouth is a completely subterranean species of fish. It uses the glow below its mouth to attract small bugs and mates. A White-Scaled Glowmouth is almost entirely harmless on its own, but in large pods they can do significant damage by simply ramming themselves into any potential predators.

Huh. Well, that's certainly interesting... I had gained a schema.. Using that ever so useful ability to draw on internal knowledge I quickly knew what it meant. A Dungeon was created by its Core, but it was populated by it too. A Dungeon would gain Guardian Creatures as it grew more powerful and created more floors, and they would always be stronger than normal creatures. But by killing creatures within the Dungeon, the Core could gain their schema, allowing them to create that creature from pure mana.

A moment after I learned this, a surge of excitement flooded through me. Oh, the possibilities! More than that, I'd also learned through the killing of the fish that creatures of mine could grow more powerful by fighting and killing. Survival of the Fittest was the ultimate rule in a Dungeon. As much as I wanted to immediately start testing this newfound knowledge and power, I held myself back. Out of my entire pool of seventy-five mana, I had only three left... Or.. I had. Now I had a small fraction more. Can.. Do I gain mana from the death of creatures in my Dungeon?!

The urge to start testing only grew stronger, but I also knew that I had no good way of testing it until I had more mana. Oh.. I'm going to have to wait a long time... Aren't I....

In the end, I did have to wait quite a long time.

In the end, I decided to wait until my mana was full once more. Which led me to wait for an agonizing two days! Halfway through the second day, I was deeply glad to have chosen Kyr instead of some stupid Obsidian Hound. One of those would have died already, while Kyr happily and slowly absorbed small portions of ambient mana. While I spent my time focusing on building up my reserves once more, I watched Kyr. He spent a long time exploring the first floor, which was admittedly lackluster. The wait was useful for several things though, information gathering for instance.

I'd been curious about what the requirements for the first floor had been, and I'd gotten my answer. It had just needed to be bigger than my Core Room and have an entrance for "Delvers" to enter through. I gathered that normally, my instincts would have prevented me from closing the hole I'd accidentally punched, but some very special circumstances had occurred. Namely, the water. Because my entire Dungeon was subterranean and water was pouring in, the breach had been considered an entrance for only a short moment, before it was immediately reclassified as a Dungeon-Wide Natural Threat. And while I couldn't close the entrance, a Dungeon-Wide threat is something that the Core is allowed full reign to address.

When I first learned this, there was a long moment when I suddenly thought I'd accidentally stumbled on the perfect solution. If no entrance exists, then Delvers can never enter and I will be safe forever! Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Not only was it possible for outsiders to punch through into the Dungeon's first floor and create an entrance of their own, but I would also then have no creatures with which to defend myself. Which was... less than good.

By the time I had gotten my mana back, I'd come to somewhat of a solution. An idea, at least. First thing I did was call Kyr back to the Core Room, I wanted him as safe as possible before I started. Only once I had widened my column and Kyr was coiled atop it once more did I begin the next step.

When the breach had first opened, I'd realized that my mana-vision was slowly seeping out, and was affecting my control. Now, that almost seemed like a good thing. While it had lessened my sight inside the first floor, it had actually let me catch small glimpses beyond the hole I'd accidentally smashed. What was outside was just the first tunnel in a natural underground cave system, with a flowing stream within it. Before I tried opening an entrance again, I wanted to be sure I had a plan to deal with any water. And while my first plan had been simply to dig really deep pits, I also realized that they would still eventually overflow.

So instead of starting at the hole that was now destined to be the entrance, I started across the chamber, on the far end. It took me thirteen tries, but eventually I succeeded. Using the smallest amounts of mana I could, I drilled small holes through the wall, seeking to find where the stream usually flowed if it wasn't spilling into my Dungeon. My idea was, use the stream, and let it flow through the first floor. And then, to prevent flooding, let it flow right back out and back to where it usually flowed. So on the thirteenth attempt, when a small spurt of water followed the hole, I knew I'd succeeded. Quickly closing off that hole again for while I worked, I began the real work.

First, the hole I would be opening was almost eleven meters above ground. I felt a certain inward glee at the thought of the very first challenge outsiders facing being just entering my Dungeon. Nonetheless, it presented some difficulties. Before anything else, I began growing and digging through rock at the same time, trying to preserve the rugged natural feel of the room as I did. As I worked I maintained a close eye on my project. Right below where the water would fall through into my Dungeon, was forming a deep and wide empty basin. Almost twenty meters across, I made sure the soon to be pond would be ragged and unsymmetrical.

By the time I was satisfied, it was twenty meters across at its widest and more than thirty deep. Breaking out from this would be a slow, wide, and relatively shallow stream that I carved to meander across the first floor. Using the built up height of my rock pool, I managed to wind it through quite a distance before bringing it back to where it would need to flow outward. The stream was over a hundred and fifty meandering meters long. At its shallowest point it was two meters deep and it was thirteen meters at its deepest. It was shallow only relative to the rock pool.

Halfway through carving it out, I had an idea. Branching off of the rock pool, and threading beneath the stone floor, following the stream, was a network of tunnels both large and small. I wanted my waterborne creatures to have safe places to breed, but also places to vie for position among only themselves. I relied a lot of the knowledge given to me by the Glowmouth's schema to fashion what would be ideal nests and some that were only mediocre. Hopefully, this would inspire any creatures of mine to fight for the better nesting spots.

When I was finally ready to open the entrance and begin filling my new water features, I had an incredibly extensive system of underground tunnels. I'd admittedly, gone somewhat overboard, with them branching out from beneath the stream to occupy space all beneath the first floor. In the end, I'd wound up widening the rock pool even further below the surface, allowing for larger tunnels beneath the surface.

I could feel Kyr's curiosity growing as he remained coiled around my Core, but I wasn't ready to let him explore the new features until I was fully finished. As my last finishing touch, I added a rough and steep slope from the entrance to the floor. After all, I didn't want any potential creatures to pass me by simply because of the drop. Despite me making a way down, I populated it with a dozen or so angled stalagmites so that larger creatures, such as Delvers, would have to be very careful to keep from slipping and being impaled. But smaller creatures or ones more suited to the terrain would be able to easily maneuver downslope.

Finally, I was satisfied, and not a moment too soon. I didn't have much mana left after so much detailed and precise work. Still, I hesitated before opening up the entrance. Once I did it, there would be no going back. With the preparations I had, it would no longer be considered a Dungeon-Wide Threat and I wouldn't be allowed to close it off again... With the most metaphorical deep breath possible, I committed. Using a coordinated effort of mana, I broke a hole at the streams outflow, and I made a four meter by two meter entrance where I had accidentally knocked a breach before. Once again, the gush and splashing of water echoed through the first floor. The sound made Kyr tense, but he relaxed when I sent him a feeling of reassurement. Not for the first time, I wondered at just how intelligent Kyr really was...

Nonetheless, I watched with anticipation, and no small amount of smugness as the water began slowly, ever so slowly filling the bottom of the rock pool. Before long, it was starting to trickle into the bottommost of the tunnels. It took me an hour of watching to realize just how long the process of filling my massive underground network would take. I had an idea just before I went to allow Kyr to investigate my work, and to properly appreciate it of course.

In the tunnel leading to my Core Room, I dug a solid pit across the width and two meters long, eight meters deep. Across the top, I left an impossibly thin sheet of stone, just strong enough to hold its own weight, but weak enough to crack and shatter beneath anything more. On either side of this pitfall, I dug tunnels for Kyr to slither through, and halfway I made a large empty and smooth hollow for him to call his own. Before my focus shifted away, I made sure to add as many stalagmites as I could at the bottom of the pit fall. And my last detail was to round the edges beneath the stone covering while making the walls as smooth as possible. And with that final effort, I was nearly completely out of mana.

Masking the slight tiredness I felt, I sent a message to Kyr, letting him know he could go, but also what parts of the first floor were planned to fill with water, along with the pit fall and his new nest. With a short burst of acknowledgement he started making his way towards the first floor. And as Kyr went to investigate, I rested and simply watched the flow of water along with the occasional flying form of a Glowmouth caught in the current.