Progress & Acquisitions

I waited for a day and a half, letting my mana slowly recover. One thing I had definitely confirmed was that the death of creatures within my dungeon did indeed give me a measure of mana. Looking back, I could tell that the taking of mana from an intruding creature was related in some way with how I gained their schemas. However, when a dungeonborn creature died, I could tell that I was simply receiving back a measure of the mana that I used to create them.

Thankfully, this slow but consistent process helped me regain that mana somewhat faster than I would have otherwise. On the other hand, spending so long simply waiting and watching my dungeon did show me a number of oddities and entertaining interactions that I simply hadn’t paid attention to in the past.

The first thing I noticed over my time waiting, was the very odd sparring matches that started taking place. My new Gladiator Skorpion had taken to fighting Leira whenever it wasn’t hunting. Just through my own knowledge of the two of them, I could tell that Leira could kill it. However she didn’t, seeming to find more amusement in simply play-fighting.

Instead of letting her claws rend through its carapace, she would tap them against it, infuriating the Skorpion with the knowledge that she could. All the while it was fighting to get in more than glancing strikes. I did wind up admitting that it seemed to be formidable. Unfortunately it just didn’t seem to be the equal to Leira’s empowered form.

I’d noticed that the Earth mana the emerald had flooded through her was almost entirely going into her claws, sharpening and toughening them faster than before. But just the sheer weight of mana flowing through her seemed to be passively enhancing her speed, strength, and resilience all on its own. Unfortunately for the Skorpion, this meant it was even further out of its league.

Equally entertaining was the swarm of Glowmouths that the Giant Glowmouth had gathered. It had gathered a number of pods around it, swimming in a stately swarm. The Lampreys spread throughout the tunnels left the entire pod alone. They’d found out the hard way that the giant pod of Glowmouths were much more likely to band together and pummel a predator to death.

The pod did have some bad luck when they ran into Huntress. The Kraken-ling simply shrugged off the few Glowmouths that attempted to ram her and raked in the small fish until she was full. They stayed as far away as possible after that.

Halfway through my time waiting, Kyr finally decided to move up and investigate the first floor once more. When getting there, he didn’t seem particularly interested in much. He wound up evicting a number of Rock Skorpions from a large hollow they were occupying. Afterwards he merely coiled up and waited for the next intruders, having sensed my intent to have him fight the next ones.

It wasn’t long after that when I started watching a number of Stone-Tailed Rats that I could feel were close to evolution. My attention had been drawn by the feeling of so many of them so close. Seven of the Rats were close, and they were traveling together, along with almost seventeen other rats that weren’t close to evolution. I was paying particular attention to the one female that seemed to be leading the group.

I finally discovered why they were so unique when other Rats hadn’t even gotten close. When the roaming group went to get water and food from one of the rock pools, a Rock Skorpion struck out and its tail skewered into one of the newer Rats to the group. I expected them to run, but instead they all swarmed towards the Skorpion.

I had watched in fascination as the group used their tails to beat down on the Skorpion and used their teeth to rip at whatever vulnerable joints or small unprotected parts they could find. The group lost another three before they eventually succeeded in killing the Skorpion, but they did it. There were only six close to evolution left after that, but I could feel the dramatic rise in potential as they finally brought the predator down.

I made sure to make a note of those creatures in my mind, wanting to pay close attention to my options when it came to their potential evolutions.

Despite all the interesting little interactions going on throughout the first floor, I still had the second floor to work on. By the time I had most of my mana recovered, I began slowly threading Earth mana out of my own emerald gem, collecting it for when I was ready to begin. I’d managed to create fifteen new tunnels after thirty minutes of gathering together mana. That’s why, an hour and a half later, I felt confident to begin work once more.

With a short check that I indeed had 223 of 225 potential mana, I set my sights to the second floor once more. I made sure again that none of my creatures were in the second floor, and set to work.

Reminiscent of not long ago, a third tunnel began to form where the first floor transitioned into the second. The rock corridor expanded down and out, twisting and snaking through the stone. Finally, I began carving out another hub, identical to the first one I had constructed previously. Before I began expanding tunnels from there as well, I created a fourth, and then a fifth tunnel leading to more hubs, more places that would serve as points for my labyrinth to interconnect. To copy the look of the others, I constructed an identical hub along the path of the first tunnel I’d made, the one that led to my core room.

Only once these five initial tunnels and hubs were set up, I began weaving tunnels between them all. Diving down, soaring up, twisting left and right, the corridors all looked almost identical. Almost without thought, I began having them pass through one another, providing smaller places for Delvers to make wrong turns and get lost.

I could feel the immense amount of Earth mana I’d siphoned from the emerald slowly being used up as I ground and carved through the stone and rock. First one, then two, four, twelve, twenty-two, finally I ran out of the gathered Earth mana after I’d weaved eighty-three new tunnels through the rock.

With my mana-vision expanded throughout the new tunnels, I could see the twisting paths and nigh identical corridors. The way the rock looked would create a confusing and disorientating maze to become lost in. When I was finished, I was pleased to discover that siphoning and directing the borrowed Earth mana had only dropped me from 223 to 205 of my own mana. I felt a surge of satisfaction at the shape my second floor had taken, the way its design was finally realized. I quickly turned my attention to the stone pebble I’d managed to infuse with Dark mana as an experiment, before my evolution.

It had taken me almost ten mana to infuse just the pebble, and it could only take enough to put out a haze of darkness, not true, blinding dark. Fortunately, only one of these was a problem. I didn’t want true darkness, just the haze. The mana cost of doing it however, was prohibitively costly.

I had, however, a solution. With short expenditures of mana, I managed to manipulate the onyx gem that was flooded with dark mana over to my pillar. Raising it up to the same level as the emerald, I opened a slot and settled it within its own spot.

I took a moment to appreciate the elegant maneuver Huntress had just used to catch another piece of prey. Shaking away the distraction, I focused my mana-vision around the crystal of onyx. Unlike the rigid, unchanging feeling of the Earth mana, the power within the onyx gem was… different.

Instead of repelling my mana, it seemed to simply absorb it. Pulling back my own mana for a moment, I was surprised when a chunk of Dark mana came with it. I realized that I had once more, accidentally stumbled across a solution.

The Dark mana had been in the process of absorbing and converting my own mana, but by pulling back before it finished fully, I could take some of it with me. A silent chuckle floated through the ambient mana. Kyr, Leira, and Huntress all paused for a moment, turning their attention towards the core room for a moment, having sensed the fluctuation in the ever-present mana.

Ignoring the momentary reaction from my creatures, I shifted a small amount of my mana into the onyx gem, before quickly pulling back once more. Again, proving my realization correct, a chunk of Dark mana came with it.

I wonder why this is so much easier and faster than with Earth mana? Is it just the difference between rigid stone and the ethereal quality of darkness? Or is there something else?

Despite my wonderings, I quickly had gathered up a sizable amount of Dark mana. Despite the ease and speed of the process, I had actually discovered a downside. It actually took more mana to take Dark mana than Earth. The way parts of my mana had to be absorbed before I could take it for myself meant it was a more expensive process.

After a more substantial amount of mana being used up, I had managed to gather together quite a lot of Dark mana. Without a moment’s hesitation, I began to replicate what I had done to the pebble through the tunnel walls.

Unlike with the Earth mana, I didn’t need to use the mana throughout the tunnel. Instead, I simply needed to create a vein of this Dark-Attuned stone. Slowly, ever so slowly, the first of the five tunnels began clouding over with a dark haze. Once it was difficult to see far but not close by, I began working my way farther down the tunnel. A continuous vein of Dark-Attuned stone, exuding a haze across the corridor.

To my surprise, it wasn’t long before the first tunnel was finished. Relatively little of the pure Dark mana had been used in the effort. When I’d infused the pebble before, I’d been weaving my mana straight into the patterns and flows that created Dark mana. But in this case, I was simply imbuing the already created Dark mana into the stone.

Realizing this after completing the first tunnel, I quickly moved on to the others. Small, thin lines of black stone winding downwards along the walls. Before long, the initial five tunnels leading into the second floor were shrouded in a dark, mist-like haze.

Moving on from there, I began infusing the five large hub chambers at the end of each, letting the haze spread throughout those rooms as well. I encountered a short-lived problem in that the haze being exuded from the walls, floor, and ceiling didn’t reach the center of the room. It didn’t take too long to solve however, with me making a vein of Dark-Attuned stone lead along a stalactite so that the haze would extend into that empty space.

After that, the work took on a repetitive quality. My focus never wavering, but weaving this new stone through each and every tunnel I could. I wound up having to go back and gather more Dark mana, costing me another chunk of my own mana, but in the end I wound up completely shrouding the second floor in this dark haze.

I let my attention flow through the labyrinth, examining it from top to bottom to ensure that it was all almost identical seeming. Once I was assured of that, I went to turn my focus back to examining the other elemental gems I’d gathered. Before I could however, the familiar feeling of wrongness burst through me, and then again.

My mind immediately shot to Delvers. So when my attention came to the intruders, I relaxed quite a bit. Perched atop a rock outcropping, was a large winged creature. With a sharply angled head, and all black coloring, the winged creature was sending out constant high-pitched sounds. After another moment, it took to the air, flying around for a dozen moments before landing atop another outcropping.

The other intrusion however, was waterborne. Having washed in with the stream, I examined it closely. It had a meter and a half long body, muscled and strong. Its body was sharp and angular, with powerful fins. Its mouth however was the most eye-catching feature of it. The jaw was incredibly powerful, with multiple layers of muscle supporting it.

The flying creature continually flitted from outcropping to outcropping, staying away from the nearest creatures that tried to get close to it. As I watched, I realized that it was showing me a massive vulnerability I had. I had no creatures to fight a flying enemy. Of course, the second floor fairly negates the ability to fly, but not all my floors will boast the same…

On the other hand, the clearly predatory intruder was slowly swaying through the water, moving in a stately motion. My focus on it sharpened as I saw one of my lampreys come across its path. This one wasn’t too much smaller than the creature, its body only about half the size. When its tendrils reached out and connected to the beings body, I suddenly discovered two things. One, the rough, almost grinding skin was tough enough to dislodge three of the four tendrils. And two, the venom from the one that did find purchase seemed to be having no effect on the creature.

Instead of slowly succumbing to the paralysis venom, the creature flicked its powerful tail and surged forward. The sudden acceleration was more than the lamprey could swim away from, and the jaws clamped down hard on the lamprey. Almost instantly, I could feel the lamprey die. The creature managed to rip a large chunk away and began eating, swimming in a large circle before coming back around to get the rest.

On the other hand, above ground, the flying creature was continuing to frustrate my landlocked defenders. It flew fully across the chamber, landing on a new outcropping. For a moment, I would have held my breath if I could. Ever so slightly faster than it could react, it happened.

Right beside the winged being, was a curled up, disguised Rock Skorpion. A few moments after its landing, the Skorpion's stinger whipped forward and punctured into its short leg. The intruder let out a loud screech before wrenching itself back and away, immediately taking off.

Meanwhile, below the ground in the underwater network, the other intruder was quickly making its way through the tunnels. It had made quick work of another lamprey and wasn’t even bothering with the Glowmouths it came across. Before long however, I could see the approaching form of Huntress. She was quickly making her way through the tunnels, flinging her eight meter long form through the waters.

While the intruding creature was apparently a dangerous predator for my glowmouths and lampreys, I had very little doubt that Huntress would be more than up to the challenge. She’d grown almost another full meter since her Naming, and was an absolute tyrant in the waters. I doubted she’d take kindly to a new challenger.

The flying creature, on the other hand, was slowing down. Whether due to exhaustion from having to flee my creatures constantly or because of the venom from the Rock Skorpion, I couldn’t say. All I knew, was that the exhaustion pushed it to what would be its last mistake. It had apparently realized that the outcroppings it had been flitting between were all occupied, and so decided to land on a stalagmite instead.

Unfortunately for it, that stalagmite just happened to be one of the lashers. Almost before it had finished settling its weight, the sphere of darkness had slammed into place. A wet thudding sound emanated outwards as the three spiked tendrils whipped out and slammed through its body. A moment later, I watched the lasher start pulling the body towards its make-shift mouth slash foot.

You have gained the schema for : Giant Bat

Giant Bat

The Giant Bat is a staple of underground caverns, tunnels, and environments. Their echolocation, size, and flight help them escape many predators. All without mentioning their tendency to gather into large swarms on occasion, using their numbers and size to overwhelm any predator who is hunting them more than usual.

At almost the same time, Huntress was almost upon the underwater intruder. After a few more moments of its languid swimming pace, Huntress emerged into the same tunnel as it. While the creature may have been able to easily deal with my other underwater creatures, it wasn’t at all up to the level of a Young Kraken-ling.

When Huntress used a rock formation to help propel herself towards the new challenger, I could easily see the shift in the creatures attitude. It immediately began to turn and try and swim in the opposite direction. What I didn’t expect was the sudden heavy burst of speed it put on. Apparently it usually held back, choosing to swim slowly instead of constantly using that speed.

Unfortunately for it, Huntress was faster still. Using the still new Water mana in her, she was able to push through the water easier as well as have it propel her slightly. It was no contest, and before long Huntress’ two longest tentacles had reached out and snagged the rear fin of the creature.

She pulled back hard, forcing it towards herself, wrapping more tentacles around it all the while. Its tough skin may have held back the lampreys hooks, but Huntress’ were not so easily defended against. With ease, she shredded through it and began pulling it towards her beak.

Almost insultingly quickly, Huntress had killed the waterborne intruder.

You have gained the schema for : Darkwater Shark

Darkwater Shark

The Darkwater Shark is commonly near the top of underground aquatic foodchains. Their tough skin helps protect them from many attacks. Their speed combined with powerful jaws let them deal great damage to those that they deem a meal. Unfortunately for them, they often fail when encountering more exotic enemies. Their lack of any kind of mana tends to leave them at a massive disadvantage when facing a magical foe.

I slowly relaxed as the two intruders fell to my creatures. I could sense the smugness emanating from Huntress, along with the frustration from Leira. Interestingly enough, Kyr wasn't actually frustrated. Instead, he'd spent a while simply watching the bat flying through the room. I regarded Kyr's form for a moment as he slithered back to his chosen resting spot.

Hmm.. Interesting...