The Other Side of Evolution

I was... a little surprised at how little of a threat the Delvers seemed to have presented. I could feel the smug satisfaction practically oozing from the Kraken-ling and the Lynx Kit. The Skorpions and Lashers were just happy to have some extra food, mostly. And it seemed Kyr was just happy that they were gone when I let him know the Delvers were dead. All in all, it was somewhat anticlimactic.

I spent a good few moments looking at each of the Delvers more closely. Or, the ones that you could still see closely anyways. The one the Kraken-ling had happily taken to her nest, was an absolute mess. Looking through their things however, I found that they had a weird predilection for wearing other creatures' hides..? They also had a bag of some kind, holding things that they probably thought were valuable. I quickly carved a hole and another chamber into the side of the Kraken-ling's nest wall, letting her throw those things into the chamber before I sealed it back up, except for a small hole to maintain mana-vision through.. I'd look through them more carefully later.

Moving on to the one who had fallen into the pitfall, this one was the most intact still. Looking through this one's things, I could find a number of stones that seemed to almost radiate mana. More than interested, I went to raise up the stone beneath their body so Kyr could drag them back to me, but I decided to check how much mana I had first, just in case.

Obsidian Dungeon Core - Sybas

Names

Mana

Mana Regeneration

2 / 3

59 / 225

+4.5 / Hour

Evolutions

One Slot Available

Titles

Awakener,

I froze for a short moment. O- Oh. OH. OH!

Very suddenly, I remembered that I had just gone through what was termed, "Your First Evolution". It appeared like it had some effects. Poking through the numbers on the screen, I decided that it had just given me another name slot, which I was beyond excited for all on its own! Being Named had increased mine and Kyr's powers considerably. I was almost trembling with excitement to find out what it would do for the Kraken-ling. Besides the new Naming slot, I had also gained another 50 base mana and another full point of mana regeneration.

More than any of that though, the new part of my status fascinated me. With a little trepidation, I prodded at the words, "One Slot Available". Almost instantly, another message appeared in my mind.

Congratulations on reaching your First Evolution!

Please Select one of the Evolutions below!

Mana-Boost : Mana is the key to a Dungeons power. More powerful schemas require more mana, shaping the dungeon requires mana, everything you do requires mana. With this power, your base mana expands by 200 and you gain a permanent 50% boost to your mana capacity.

Mana Regenerator : Mana may be important, but every Core is limited by the speed at which they can work, and thus the speed with which they regenerate mana. With this power, your base mana regeneration expands by 5/hour, and you gain a permanent 50% boost to your mana regeneration.

Stone Shaping : Born beneath the surface, deep below ground, the Obsidian Core known as Sybas has shaped stone and rock all its life. With this Evolution, the ease with which stone may be molded, carved, and shaped is greatly improved. Shape your dungeon into a monolith of stone and rock, and let Delvers tremble before the majesty and scope of your Dungeon Floors!

Knowledge of the Dead : With Sybas' home deep below the ground, it can be hard to come across new creatures, or different ones. With the Knowledge of the Dead, you may take the hide, meat, or any substantial amount of a dead creature, and gain a schema from it, allowing you to populate your Dungeon with ever more diverse creatures. Delvers shall bring you your creatures!

Born Namer : Sybas was born, and within the first day, not only named himself, but also his first Guardian creature. The influence and power of Names was known to Sybas from his birth, letting him value and treasure them. As a Born Namer, you gain an additional Name slot immediately, and you gain new ones more easily!

Fated Awakener : The first evolution to take place in the Obsidian Dungeon, was one that would shape it forever. It bestowed the Title, Awakener, and the Infantile Kraken-ling. Fate itself seemed to show that this was the path for Sybas, allowing a creature from myths and ancient legend to be reborn in the world, and in the Obsidian Dungeon.

Elemental Influence : Dungeons and their Cores can be influenced by many things, the material their Core is made of, the location in which they are born, or the creatures they find. In this case, it may very well be by the Nascent Elemental Egg brought into its Dungeon. Should the Egg be cared for properly, an Infant Element-Kin may be born. Should it be brought into maturity, into a full Elemental, the dungeon would join the ranks of Legendary dungeons. This Evolution will increase the speed with which the creature develops and grows, as well as the ease of caring for the Egg.

Awakener

None

I could barely think for a long, long minute. I.. What? How the hell am I supposed to choose only one of those?! Going over them again, I could almost imagine what pain must feel like as I realized again and again I couldn't choose all of them at once. I was so torn by having to decide on one, that I actually had to send a pulse of calm to Kyr and the Lynx Kit. As the two closest creatures to me, they were the most closely connected as well.

After I got over my initial pulse of shock from reading my options, I had a number of things to do first. The first thing I did, was scour my entire dungeon for the Nascent Elemental Egg that was supposedly in my dungeon. It said it was brought into my dungeon, so I assumed it was on one of the Delvers. For a few long minutes, I went over every last inch of the Delvers, not finding anything, anything at all that seemed even remotely close to something that could be considered an egg.

Then, I remembered the items the Kraken-ling had shoved into the separate chamber. Using the thin stream of mana-vision to look through the things sequestered away there, I finally found it. A smaller tied-up bag within the first held a veritable treasure trove for me.

A ruby with Fire-Attuned mana, a gem of citrine with Lightning-Attuned mana, two diamonds with Light-Attuned mana, one onyx crystal with Dark-Attuned mana, one gem of pyrite with Metal-Attuned mana, and two dark, deep green emeralds with Earth-Attuned magic.

Most valuable to me, were the last two. Shining with a soft, white glow, was a crystal of rose quartz that was absolutely filled with Healing-Attuned mana. And even more valuable than that, was the Nascent Elemental Egg. It looked like a massive, pale sapphire, brimming with massive amounts of mana. I barely even had focused on it before recognizing it as Ice-Attuned mana.

I stared at the egg, watching the currents and swirling eddies of mana carefully. Even from a cursory glance I could feel the cold emanating from it. Somehow, someway, that group of Delvers had happened across a Nascent Ice Elemental Egg.

With grim humor, I thought, Well, if they had that much luck, then I guess the misfortune of finding my creatures was just equalling it out…

I knew I was incredibly lucky to have evolved when I had. Without the option that had stemmed from this circumstance, I would never have known that I would need to care for the egg specifically. In fact, I was afraid I might not even have recognized it as an egg in the first place.

I opened the small hole in the wall carefully. While I did so, I began preparing a very special place for the egg. I created a small chamber set off of my core room, with room for a small pool of water in it. I winced at already needing it, but I used the water that was slowly building up in my reservoir to fill this chamber. I carefully dammed up and reinforced the thin opening I’d opened for the water to reach the new Egg Chamber. All the while, I’d had the Kraken-ling carefully pulling the egg out of the small space I’d had her store the Delver’s things.

With a quick expenditure of mana, I opened a new tunnel for the Kraken-ling to follow to the Egg Chamber. My attention was wholly on the egg and Kraken-ling, following their progress through the temporary tunnel with razor-like focus.

When she arrived, I realized that the Kraken-ling had never actually seen or been this near to me. I could feel her curiosity at my appearance, but quickly redirected her back onto task. Quickly, she placed the egg in the small divot I’d made for it in the small pool of water. After that, I quickly had her make her way back to the first floor underwater network, closing off the temporary tunnel behind her.

I sent her a powerful feeling of gratitude and pride. She swam faster for a few seconds, buoyed by the praise. While I knew she probably hadn’t known that the Delver had been carrying those treasures, she’d still been the one to kill them. Not only that, but then collected their things and kept them in her nest until I awakened once more.

Turning my attention back to the egg, I carefully watched it, helping as I could to let the natural chill it let off permeate through the small water pool. I used the small bits I was learning from watching the abundance of Ice-Attuned mana to help chill the waters to a glacial cold. More and more cold, more and more freezing.

While I didn’t know anything particular about the proper care of an Elemental Egg, I could easily enough guess that an Ice Elemental Egg would need the cold. And so, I was letting the egg chill the pool of water to make the water as cold as it could. Only once I couldn’t feel it getting significantly colder, did I finally relax back slightly.

A Nascent Ice Elemental Egg. That’s… I reflected on the insane luck that would lead to this finding its way to me.. Nonetheless, I wouldn’t let it pass me by. But those thoughts inevitably lead me back to my choice of Evolution.

While having an Ice Elemental was incredible, I didn’t know if it was worth using an entire Evolution on… Going over the message again, I noticed that all it said was having the Ice Elemental would be powerful, it didn’t say anything about the Evolution itself making it more powerful. All the Evolution would do is make it develop faster, which was valuable yes, but not quite worth the choice in my opinion.

I also ruled out both Mana-Boost and Mana Regenerator. They both would be massive increases in their respective areas, but they didn’t seem as important as the other options. Nor did they expand what I could actually do like the others could. And besides, I’d already had my mana capacity and regeneration increases time and time again, it didn’t seem too uncommon.

That left me with four.. Very tempting options.. I assumed that Fated Awakener would increase the effect of my title, letting me awaken bloodlines even more easily. I was very nearly swayed by that, simply looking at the Kraken-ling I could feel the potential she held. And yet, it hadn’t actually helped much yet. It hadn’t seemed to have even very many opportunities to help even. With great reluctance, I ruled it out.

Stone Shaping was tantalizing in the extreme. Even with the massive increase in efficiency given to me by my Name, the vast majority of my mana was used in making my floors. Being able to do that easier, or even just to make bigger and more intricate ones, was incredibly tempting. Unfortunately, I just didn’t necessarily need it. While I could feel from the Kraken-ling that I would need to create massive floors eventually, I just didn’t quite yet. So unfortunately, it was out too.

I was about to start weighing the pros and cons of the last two Evolutions, Born Namer and Knowledge of the Dead, when I realized something. These last two were the only viable options, and there was no real competition. One was simply far more powerful than the other, far, FAR more powerful.

And so, I selected Born Namer.

Not even a moment later, I felt something within me… Change. The runes and sigils across my surface shifted slightly, grew ever so slightly more complex. In some of the larger blank spots, new connections formed between sigils. I could feel some part of me unlock, opening up as though it had been there all along and I just hadn’t noticed before. Only once I felt the changes settle down, did I risk opening my status once more.

Obsidian Dungeon Core - Sybas

Names

Mana

Mana Regeneration

2 / 4

9 / 225

+4.5 / Hour

Evolutions

Born Namer,

Titles

Awakener,

I looked at the two new Name slots, and felt excitement rising. Kyr and I got so much more powerful, how much more powerful will you two be? The Kraken-ling and Rock-Claw Lynx Kit both felt my gaze on them, the weight of my ambient mana-vision ever so slightly heavier to their senses.

It was almost like they could tell what was about to happen, could almost sense the Names they would be given. For the Kraken-ling, I drew her name from the way she evolved, the way she hunted and killed until she had become what she was now.

For the Rock-Claw, I didn’t know her quite that well. I’d fallen into my own Evolution not long after she’d been created after all. Instead, I did the same thing I’d done with Kyr and myself. I just chose a name that felt right.

The Kraken-ling happily embraced the feeling of me pressing the feeling and weight of her name into her identity, impressing it onto her very being. Huntress.

The Rock-Claw Lynx Kit simply looked towards the core room from where she was lazily eating her prey, nodding her head in slight acknowledgement. Leira.

After a moment, I could feel the names click into place, locking onto them, filling some part of them that had simply been waiting for it. The familiar white glow engulfed their forms, one in her nest and the other in a long tunnel.

For almost fifteen long minutes, the glow maintained itself, blinding any creatures that came near even before I shooed them away. While I would normally be impressed with any creature that managed to kill one of my now three Named creatures, I would not let them do it while they were immobilized and vulnerable during Evolution or Naming. When the glow began fading, I was happily surprised to see significant changes similar to those that had happened in Kyr.

Huntress had been almost three meters long, three-fourths of a meter thick, and with nine different four-inch thick tentacles. She was now over seven meters long, a meter and a half thick, with eleven different nine inch thick tentacles. She’d over doubled in size, just from the name. As her mind slowly came back, I could feel her satisfaction at the changes when she inspected herself and moved about.

Somehow, I just knew that she was no longer an Infantile Kraken-ling. No, Huntress was now a Young Kraken-ling. She was still young, and the prespecies before being considered a true kraken, and yet.. She was already one of the most lethal creatures in my entire dungeon. I could almost feel the shivers of fear going through the rest of the waterborne creatures, somehow knowing that their most dangerous predator had just grown yet more dangerous.

Leira was changed very similarly. When she stood slowly from where she’d laid down, I inspected her entire form. Where before she’d been a meter and a half from nose to tail, and over half a meter tall, she was now much larger. She was three and a half meters from nose to tail now, a long rippling muscle filled body. With close to a meter and a half of height, she was no small Kit any longer. She had jumped straight to an Adolescent Rock-Claw Lynx.

She yawned and I could see the razor sharp fangs that populated her mouth. WIth my mana-vision I could see the previously small currents of Earth-Attuned mana had strengthened more and more. A torrent of mana poured into her claws, sharpening and strengthening them each and every moment.

A burst of pride flowed through me at the new, powerful forms of my creatures. For a long moment, I wondered why they had increased in size so much more than Kyr had. Then I realized that Kyr’s name had also given him his mana-generating scales along with some growth. That ability to help sustain himself was more than worth the trade-off in size.

For a brief few seconds, I had a fantasy of a dungeon full of Rock-Claws and Krakens. It was quickly shut down though. I’d been experimenting with what did and didn’t give schemas, and I’d quickly found that it was rather limited.

I didn’t get a schema for the form of any creature that evolved, or for my Guardian creatures. I could feel that there was a way to gain evolved schemas naturally, but I hadn’t found it yet. Until I found that, all I had was the schemas I gathered from those that died in my dungeon. With a burst of sudden inspiration, I tried looking to see if I’d gained a schema for any of the Delvers.

My sudden franticness died down slowly as I couldn’t find it. Oddly enough, they were the only things I couldn’t get a schema from it dying in my dungeon while originating from outside it.. I didn’t quite know why that was..

Huh, I can figure that out later. I looked at where each of the Delvers had died, plotting their course through the first floor. I thought about it as I raised up the Delver that had fallen into the pitfall. Leira paused in her meal, quickly listening to my instructions and beginning to bring the manastones towards me as I considered.

They.. Probably weren’t all that dangerous.. It looked like one of them got taken by Huntress, and then they just ran. Seeming to get picked off as they went.. And even still, one of them, almost two, made it to the second floor. Which right now just leads straight to me!

I need more space between me and Delvers… I need to finish the second floor quickly, as quickly as I can. Once the third is in place, I can start feeling a little more comfortable.

I spun another thin, breakable rock place over the pitfall, resetting the dungeon to before the Delvers even arrived. Time to get to work.