The Hunt

In many ways, my mana-vision was incredibly powerful, allowing me to seem nigh omnipresent within my rocky dungeon. On the other hand, I was still learning how to split my attention to focus on multiple things at once, so that I could truly take advantage of it. I had decided to use the Lampreys hunt to help practice with this. Seeing as how I had created five lampreys, I forced myself to maintain focus on all five of them. Some instinct deep within me was telling me I would eventually need to keep an eye on multiple floors at a time. With that in mind, my efforts redoubled.

The majority of them were swimming rapidly through the underwater tunnels, seeking out the pods of Glowmouths that weren't created by me. Because of my split attention, I noticed immediately when the first one found her prey.

A Streamer Lamprey's body was a long, sleek tube of muscle that was two feet long on average. Beneath, its mouth was rings of teeth and muscle to eat its prey. Four tendrils one foot long each, streamed backwards as it swam, insidious hooked venom injectors hidden in the tips. As the first Lamprey found one of the Glowmouths, I could see the fish try and swim away. However, the Lamprey was just the littlest bit too fast for it. After a few seconds chase, I could see the tendrils start flexing as the muscles within prepared to whip them forward and latch onto the Glowmouth. The fish thrashed when the tendrils landed, but no matter what, it couldn't seem to dislodge them before the venom pumped into it.

It was a matter of only moments before the paralysis took hold. Once it had, the Lamprey began reeling it down towards its mouth. Even I had to admit a little pity for the paralyzed Glowmouth getting eaten. Unfortunately for it, my instincts and I both believed rather firmly in survival of the fittest. And so, I only watched as the rings of teeth went to work. Once the Lamprey was finished, it began to swim forwards once more, searching for the next Glowmouth that wasn't Dungeonborn.

It was roughly half an hour of slow methodical slaughter later that the majority of my attention drifted from that first female Lamprey. The pair that had teamed up caught my eye when they began crowding a pod of Glowmouths into a dead end tunnel, allowing them to take victims as they pleased. All while the two of them kept the pod from ganging up on either of them alone. While the other two Lampreys that were solo were still doing well, it was one of those three that I thought had the greatest chance of winning the hunt in the end.

I took a short break from watching the hunt to check on Kyr. The cuts the Lynx Kit had inflicted on him were getting close to being healed. The combination of his body's natural minor mana generation and the mana I'd given to help heal him faster, was returning him to whole much faster than he would have otherwise. Satisfied that he would only slumber for another few hours before healing completely, I returned my attention to the hunt happening below the surface.

To my surprise, I found that the female Lamprey had apparently decided that the Glowmouths weren't enough. She'd started hunting after one of the few other Lamprey's that had washed in through the river. Swimming carefully behind one, I was surprised to see she'd grown ever so slightly from her hunting beforehand. She had a few inches in length on the one she was following, and I imagined that might have been why she decided to try it. While I could feel that I could just touch her mind and see why that was, I didn't want to interfere or distract her, so I simply let it go on. Weaving through the rocky tunnels, it was only a matter of time before the Lamprey being hunted noticed. Once it did, it paused as it decided between running and fighting.

In that moment as it decided, she'd surged forwards and flicked her two forward-most tendrils in an aggressive attack. Realizing it had to fight, the male swam to meet her, flicking his own tendrils forward as well. What ensued was a mess of tendrils and hooks that even I had trouble keeping track off at times. Halfway through, I decided she was probably winning, given how the other's movements were slowing down more than hers due to their venoms. Even though she seemed to be winning, she couldn't pull back or there was a chance it might be able to find a way to fight back more effectively. It took me a moment to realize the core of a fight between Lampreys.

All that mattered was the venom. Whichever Lamprey was affected more, or was affected first, would lose. Chances were, they'd both wind up paralyzed and drifting. But the one that shook off the effects first would be the winner. As the hunted slowed more and more, I watched as with vicious movements, she managed to cripple two of its tendrils, effectively sealing its fate. That's why when it suddenly thrashed as hard as it could, I was shocked to see one of her tendrils that had been hooked in deep was torn almost completely off! Despite the sudden, and devastating damage to one of her tendrils, it seemed that the final thrash had been its last real resistance, as its body slowly locked up.

A short time passed as the female Lamprey was heavily affected by paralysis venom as well and only barely managed to finish detaching the already almost completely amputated tendril. I watched as she slowly began shaking off the worse effects of the venom. To ensure she'd be the only one with the time to shake it off, she swam over and hooked her prey with tendrils once more and gave it a fresh dose to keep it subdued. Another short wait went by before she began the gruesome process of finishing off her prey.

Even though she was down a tendril, I could sense the intense pride she felt at having taken down an equal. Nevertheless, I turned my attention back to the first floor as a whole.

Compared to just days ago, the floor was bustling with life. Filling the waters were pods of Glowmouths and hunting Lampreys. Aboveground had Stone-Tailed Rats running to and fro, both them and Humming Flyants feasting off of the Bluecaps. And yet, looking over it all, I could clearly see three missing slots.

I needed an apex predator in the waters, and another on land. And I also needed an intermediate predator for the Stone-Tails, that would in turn be hunted by the land-based apex predator. I spent a couple hours just watching the floor, deciding what I could do to finish it, to fill those slots.

Finally, I was broken from my thoughts by the conclusion of the Hunt. The Dungeonborn Lamprey’s had finally finished their hunting of natural Glowmouths and Lampreys. For the first time in quite a while, everything on the first floor was Dungeonborn.

With anticipation, I informed them of that, letting them know that their time to fight each other had come. Almost instantly, the two that had partnered turned on one another. What I recognized as their combative embrace of tendrils flickering through the water. I laughed within my core when I saw a Glowmouth go to turn down that tunnel, only to swim back around when it saw their fierce embrace.

Almost in spite of myself, I instead followed the now distinctive female Lamprey. With her three remaining tendrils, she began what I knew to be her now fourth hunt for another Lamprey. Of the six natural Lampreys, she had killed four of them, and in doing so had grown to about half again the size of any of the others. I couldn’t deny being impressed.

One thing I had noticed, was that most of the time, when two of the underwater predators fought, the winner would usually come out relatively unscathed. Due to the paralyzing nature of their fights, no real damage was done until one of them had the other completely paralyzed and unable to fight back. After watching more and more fights between them, I realized that the event that ripped away one of the females tendrils was more a one-off fluke, than the rule.

I made sure to keep an eye on the entrance while I watched the end to the Lampreys competition and combat, but nothing seemed interested in entering. The number of competing Lamprey’s was brought down from four to three when the partnered ones finished their combat. While I had created five, one of them had died in the fights against their natural counterparts.

One of the other two survivors ran into the female I’d been following, and at first I thought it was almost certainly dead. She’d displayed a certain growing proficiency in hunting other Lamprey’s after all. And evidently the other though so as well, when he almost completely froze in the water.

Instead, to my surprise, she darted away from the other, down a twisting tunnel. In mere moments, I realized why. I’d seen her corner the last Lamprey in that very same winding tunnel, forcing it to stay deep within or be forced to fight her.

Even as I watched, I felt my opinion of the female Lamprey rising when, after turning a tight corner, she shot up and into a dark crevice in the tunnel ceiling. The other that had turned to hunt after her, assuming her to be weakened somehow, simply rushed past and deeper within. I reached out and touched the surface of her thoughts, curious at what she was feeling.

Immediately a surge of glee at her, admittedly primitive trap, working flooded through that connection. But underlying it, was a constant slow hunger, and… something else.. Just below that, was a feeling of almost being complete. For a long, long moment I was surprised at the depth of her intelligence, knowing that she hadn’t displayed such earlier in her life.

It took me a few glances both inside her anatomy and at the schema she was born from to find out what had happened. This particular species of Lamprey’s brain grew not only larger but more complex as their physical form grew. And since she had had such success at hunting, growth, and a larger environment that any natural Lamprey would have found in the caves outside my dungeon… She’d grown to be much smarter than she had started. Still nowhere close to even half of myself, but enough to set rudimentary traps and short plans.

My focus turned from my musings when the two others inevitably ran into each other in the dead-end tunnel. I watched with the female as their tendrils tangled with one another's, paralyzing venom surging into each other. I knew the contest was over.

When they both drifted, paralyzed and waiting to see who would recover first to defeat the other, the female lazily swam forward. Even through the passive connection I held with all my creatures, I could feel the sudden surge of fear that shot through them.

With barely any effort, she began pumping her own venom into their bodies, ensuring that they wouldn’t be able to fight back in any way whatsoever. All that remained was the grisly task of truly finishing them.

I took the time to check on Kyr, finding him almost completely healed now from his difficult fight with the Rock-Lynx Kit. Through the more complete connection I held with him as a Guardian Creature, I could feel that he was close to waking. I had to keep myself from trying to hurry the process, not wanting to interfere and potentially set him back. No matter how much I would need him to help me deal with any land-based intruders into the dungeon.

Finally, I saw the female finish her cannibalistic meal, and felt the surge of satisfaction as she truly won. At almost the same time, a dull, powerful white glow began to emanate from her. Both she and I began to worry and panic before a spate of messages passed through my mind. Reading them, I pressed feelings of calm and understanding towards her, calming her while I read.

Your creature, a Streamer Lamprey, has reached the threshold for evolution!

Please Select your desired evolution!

Giant Streamer Lamprey (Uncommon) : Streamer Lamprey’s thrive in underwater tunnels, however their cramped environments often don’t lend themself to large bodies. Nonetheless, sometimes one gets lucky and finds itself in the right environment. This Streamer Lamprey is massive for its species, beware its sight.

Hunter Lamprey (Uncommon) : The Hunter Lamprey is a twice-over hunter. It hunts both other lampreys and any other prey foolish enough to stumble into its hunting grounds. The Hunter Lamprey is distinguished by its twice potent venom and the shift from the typical lamprey mouth, to a more aggressive jawed version. Taken into account with its faster swimming, and it is a threat to be reckoned with.

Infantile Kraken-ling (Mythical) : Who knows how this creature found the hint of this ancient terror in its bloodline. Be it the tentacled appearance, vicious appetite for hunting, or its abnormally high intelligence, it has awakened some small hint of this heritage. Should it awaken it fully, and descend into this, the oceans shall tremble. Run, run for the Kraken has been released.

I was stunned. No more or less to it, simply, and utterly stunned. There was no real choice here, there was only the one true option. With no small amount of trepidation, I selected Infantile Kraken-ling.

I watched with anticipation as the dull white glow began to brighten, and brighten, and become a blinding white light. I felt an odd calm come over her as the change began to take place, and I couldn’t do anything but watch in fascination. My influence kept everything away from where she was evolving, letting the process continue without any possible interruptions.

When it finally finished, almost an hour later, I couldn’t help but admire her new form, and also how radical the change had been. Her dark-grey, shadowy surface had remained, but almost everything else had changed. Nine thick, suckered and hooked tentacles now spread out from the base of her new main body. A thick, barrel-like main body narrowed to an arrow-point at the top, and on its very base, hidden between the tentacles, was a hard, almost metal-like beak that led to a lamprey’s circular tooth-filled maw.

Each tentacle started at almost 4 inches thick, and slowly tapered down to one inch thick down their entire two meter lengths. From tentacles tips, to the top of the body, she was now almost three meters long, and close to three fourths of a meter thick. And just from a quick impression from the connection I was holding to her, I could sense her vastly increased intelligence. If I had to guess, I’d put her either on equal footing with or slightly smarter than Kyr.

The sudden feeling of excitement running through me was surprising, not much had led me to experience such powerful emotion, and the next message that crossed my mind didn’t do anything but heighten it.

Congratulations on earning your first title!

This title will both grant you a special effect based upon its nature, as well as increase your Base Attributes!

Awakener

You have awakened a Mythical Bloodline. Either by chance or purpose, the feat is impressive no matter the way it is achieved. In the future, you will have slightly improved chances to awaken dormant bloodlines in your Dungeonborn creatures.

I was positively giddy!

The Watch-Temple; Verendell, Capital of the Merfolk Nation of Ceritev

Dalnagg was outwardly stoic and impassive, a result of harsh training by the Temple Guards. But inwardly, he was ecstatic. He’d been working for thirty years to qualify for the Temple Guards, and he was finally on his first shift. He could do his duty at long last, and help protect the sacred sites of his entire people.

And so, he drifted with his tail flicking through the water occasionally, keeping him on station. His navy blue stained armor fit him snugly, and his slightly clawed hand grasped his trident firmly. Like his three fellows guarding the door to the off-limits section of the Temple, his head was swiveling constantly. No potential danger or threat would escape their gaze, and they would not fail in their duties.

No merfolk would ever survive the sort of disgrace such a thing would bring. Instead, Dalnagg swept his cold eyes over the slow moving crowd in the Temple. The beautiful building was made from lapis lazuli, with dwarven stained glass windows, letting through the light that was magically allowed to reach this far below the surface. Countless scenes of Merfolk history, religion, and culture were splayed out across the stained glass, each and every window a masterpiece in lighting and workmanship. Merfolk and Nioceans both swam easily through the water filled room, the supernaturally beautiful forms of the Mer startling beside the drab and predatory, fanged visages of their distant cousins, the Nioceans. However, some of the surface races also walked through, gazing in awe at the sights, wearing enchanted items to allow them to move and breath in the water.

All in all, it was simply another day in the Temple, watching the seemingly endless crowds and the continuous tending of the Priests. That's why the sudden shock of the door the four of them were guarding flying open drew every eye in the room. Dalnagg's head shot to the side, his body automatically bringing up the trident, before relaxing slightly. One of the older Merfolk Priests drifted in the doorway, wide-eyed and crazed looking. His head swiveled from side to side, his chest heaving as he drew in mouthfuls of water.

"Warn them! WARN THEM ALL, DEAR GODS WARN THE-!" He shouted into the silent room, his voice echoing like the roar of a great Doomwhale in the quiet. His exclamations were only cut off by his hand shooting to his chest and his eyes rolling back. Dalnogg and another of the guards made it to him at the same time, carefully supporting his weight as he began seizing in their arms. Dalnogg could hear the cries for a healer, but he could feel the mer's body, it wasn't going to be fast enough. It felt like an icy hand was squeezing his heart, as he looked down into the face of one of the Priests, and felt the life drain from his body.

Dalnogg only looked up when he heard Querin, the other guard holding the now dead Priest speak, "What.. What did he mean, warn them?" Dalnogg just looked at him, uncomprehendingly. A moment later, Querin looked into the dark hall the Priest had come from, an expression of fear crossing his face, "Wasn't.. Wasn't he on Watch today..?"

With those simple words, Dalnogg felt his breath leave him. He dropped the body fully into Querin's arms, and without looking back or listening to the calls after him, began swimming down the hall. The guard wasn't supposed to enter this part of the Temple, but if what was possible was true.. Then it wouldn't really matter in the end. He turned the corner and shot through the water into a bare, unadorned room. On the opposite wall was the only thing in the entire room, and the entire purpose of the Temple. A small mural, depicting an ancient battle of the Mer and Niocean against their most fearsome foe, and the only one to ever force them to fight together. And in the center was a large, rune covered sapphire. It was a warning stone, the most powerful, most expensive one beneath the waves, aside from the sister-stone that the Nioceans held.

And it was glowing. The soft blue light suffused the room, flowing through the water, and shining across Dalnagg's features. He could feel his own heart stop for a moment, his breath leaving him again. His trident drifted to the floor, his hand shaking in fear so much that he lost his grip on it.

Somewhere, the blood of the Kraken had awakened. And all of Mer and Niocean civilization was threatened once more.

"Gods help us..."