Is it feasible that this journey through life isn’t the struggle we thought it to be? Could it be that we aren’t doomed to a death with nothing lingering beyond? Is there something in this world to strive for? What is it that lies beyond the veils of death? Is there hope and is there any worth in hoping? I do not wish to die. More than that, I do not wish to die alone. If I must die, let it be surrounded by those I love. Let it be sweet. Let it be peaceful. Finally, let there be meaning to my life, so that I may find sanctuary and solace in death.

— The Poet of Vera

I sent them back, the two idiots. I don’t even know why they’ve been helping me. Sooner or later, they’re going to end up dead if they stick around me. So, I’ve kicked them out of my dungeon until further notice. At least until I know I’m better prepared. It’ll most likely be another month-long project, maybe two, but it will be worth it.

More importantly, with them around I just can’t think! It’s so annoying! Once he finally woke up, Nattiq started follow me around everywhere saying that he won’t let me out of his sight or something. He’ll be the one to protect me. Right, Nattiq, like that’ll work with one arm. To think I was worried about his mental state when he woke up. He’s more like a love-sick puppy. Ug! Why are you in such high spirits? What is but a flesh wound? Ha. You’re crazy.

Ah’m is no better. He’s being sour. Won’t talk, just gives stupid grunts. What are you? A hormonal teenager? You stupid whale dog. Just get over it. You’re being worse than I am. Get out of the house, go do something. Quit being so depressed. That’s supposed to be my job and you’re stealing it. And weren’t you making fun of Nattiq earlier for being so depressed? You’re just a hypocrite now. What are you even so depressed about anyway?

Sigh.

In a way, the way they’re acting helps. I’m so exasperated with them I’m in no mood to beat myself up over what’s already happened. I can only work on improving myself. So, to give me peace of mind while I work on renovating my dungeon–again–I kick them out. Leave. Go to your seal village or whatever. Don’t stick around here. You were fine without me your whole lives,

So, out. Out out out. I’m done with you now. Come back when your mood’s improved or something. Or conquered the world. Or your level reaches 900.

Scratch that. Apparently that’s not feasible. Highest known level recorded according to the System is 234, and that was a long, long time ago. Most don’t even get past 30 their whole lives. Some kind of level cap. Reaching 40 makes you an elite, and 50, well, let’s just say you’re basically a one in a million. How disappointing.

Nattiq’s doing pretty well for himself. He’s level 15 at only 15 years old. Almost a genius. It’s funny. I thought he was much older, but the more I get to know him, the more childish he becomes. More his age, I guess. But still, he’s got one of those older looking faces…

You could call me a genius, since I’m level 22, but it’s apparently not the same. Grrr. Dungeons are weird existences that don’t follow the normal rules of the world. There hasn’t even been a dungeon for thousands of years or so. And, well, my way of leveling is unique anyway, so you can’t really judge me by any of the world’s criteria anyway.

Ah’m’s not a genius either even though he’s at level 42. That’s because he’s a monster. Monsters level a bit differently from the world’s races what with being able to evolve and all. Of course, he’s got more intelligence than a lot of monsters, and he says his fighting ability is stronger than his level indicates… Considering he was running from the naitaka, I’m not sure I believe it.

Well, enough of that, since they’re gone now, I can roll up my sleeves. Well, actually I can’t at the moment. I’m in the middle of my 12 hour cool down for controlling Devin. Right now, I’ve got the golem resting against a wall in my garden room looking to all the world like she’s meditating cross-legged with me in her lap. Feels strangely like an out-of-body experience. But, I can do my work from here, so it’s fine.

First, I check [forewarn]. I’m almost paranoid that something’s coming for me, but I see nothing. I give it a good five minutes or so, just to make sure, then leave the skill running in the background, always sending it a steady supply of mana that I’m drawing in from the air. It feels weird that I can use ambient mana now to power my skills. No time to lament not knowing I could, though. I have other things to do. It’s still faster casting skills with my own mana, though. Not too practical in a fight.

As always, I’m not safe like this. My world I’ve created is too small. So, in this situation, what can I do but grow towards the sun?

I gather mana from as far away as I can reach, pulling it towards me, then surge outward with my influence like a tidal wave. I smile. It seems like I was correct. I hadn’t realized it before, but with the recent events surrounding my instincts, I noticed that because of [biome creation], my instinct regarding creating an enclosed dungeon has vanished. This means, I can create an open air dungeon so long as it is still under my influence. Of course, the further my influence is away from my core, the weaker it is, and with no way to enclose it, it tends to weaken and dissipate, but I’m willing to take a chance on the advice the System gave me. It seems like it’s trying to keep me alive at least.

The bigger a territory, the harder it is to rule. Take care when conquering. – A Ruler’s Almanac

Congratulations! Your influence stretches over miles.

[Influence VII]: You’ve dominated an enormous area. Your influence will dwell more thickly in places you have concentrated your efforts on. Slowly, your domain will begin to defy the laws of nature even without your guidance. (+10% to creature conversion rate; +10% to environment conversion rate)

I frown a bit. Defy the laws of nature? Doesn’t this world already do that? If not, what is mana? What are skills? What are auras?

Pushing the thought aside, I sigh and lock on to my little volcano in the ocean below. I pull on the magma, building up the volcano as I weaken the ice above it. As I build, it shoots up and breaks through the surrounding ice and creates a mini volcano island of molten lava. Slowly, it spreads across the ice in a viscous, glowing puddle. Steam fills the air as the ice evaporates where it touches. It’s not enough though. I need more.

I reach below the crust of the planet and grab whatever magma I can, directing it on to alternate routes. More lava geysers come shooting through the ice in various directions around my tree. I wince once I noticed I accidentally cooked some of my plants and animals below. Their souls float up to the river of lights above.

“Forgive me. I didn’t mean to,” I say, wincing again. My sliver fish excitedly eat at their remains. My guilt compounds, but there’s really nothing I can do about it. In the grand scheme of things, they would have been eaten by something anyway. All I can really do, is be careful not to kill anything while renovating again…hopefully. I try to usher my creatures away from my work, but a few minutes later they just come back. It’s like trying to keep kids away while you’re testing out fireworks. Something’s bound to go wrong.

I sigh and continue pulling up the lava, trying to cast [aura of protection] on as many fish I can, but it doesn’t quite work as it should, since the lava I’m manipulating is no longer considered part of the environment.

“Gosh, dang it! Stay away from the glowing pillars of death, will you? You stupid little things. You’re worse than moths to a bug zapper!” I shoo them away again. “Have some self-preservation! Why are you so interested in it? You weren’t before I started messing with it.”

Soon, the area around my tree is covered with a lake of rapidly cooling lava stretching several miles in every direction. In the ocean below, the pillars of lava rising up from the ground were already cool, creating massive columns of obsidian rock. I harden them.

I start shaping the pool of semi-cooled, jelly-esque lava covering the ice. I pull it up straight, continuing the columns from down below, raising them high into the air, even higher than my tree. Thick large pillars cooling into glistening black obsidian.

It looked like an alien mountain range rising into the sky, like myriads of massive fingers jutting out of the ice flow. Some were packed together in a row, looking like the edge of a knife. Others stood proudly, like long thin needles. They created a strange maze with their rising bodies. One with multiple paths that seemed to go everywhere and nowhere at once in a disorienting display of grandeur. Mist gathered and settled over those paths.

I left rivulets of lava flowing from cracks in the jagged mountains, several of which created bright lava-falls that flowed into little lava lakes or to cracks in the ice, keeping the air moist and damp at the bottom of the mountains despite the chill. It brought about the feeling of a freezing yet hot rain forest that I liked. I casted my standard set of auras on the whole thing to preserve it. Perfect.

Changing my attention to a quick side project, I raised one last pillar below my own tree, rising it above the clouds. It was thicker than most with a crater at the top to accommodate my little lake, which at this point, turned into more of a series of stepped lakes similar to those of mountain terrace rice paddies. The bridge turned into a series of bridges zigzaging down the terraced steps. I switched out the island of ice in the middle of the lakes with more obsidian, but kept the tree ice. The tree trunk I grew longer and twisted around the pagoda before letting it rise into the sky in a gentle spiral. The pagoda I made much bigger than it was, adding several stories, and continued the series of little lakes to its steps. Looking at it, it seemed as if it were a sitting on a mirror, nestled in the arms of my tree.

As for the hole that the naitaka created, without the tree’s roots, it looks strangely bare. The roots are actually twisting through the top of the mountain, creating a series strange caverns inside that glowed with the pulsing lights decorating roots. The hole itself was nestled right up against the side of the mountain. I guess it’s alright for now, though.

I left repairing the rest of my villages under the tree for later, as well. It can wait. I need to work more on the ambiance of my mountain range. Having a good, mysterious ambiance does a lot for inspiring awe, respect, and a sense of wariness. Hopefully, with those, I’ll be less likely to be attacked.

At this point, it’s already been more than a week of me just sitting there working on my mountain range. Not needing to eat or sleep really puts a damper on your sense of time. I’m not sure I like that I can go ridiculously long periods of time without stopping. Makes it feel like I’m not very alive anymore…

I enter my golem and stretch, my bones popping. I feel a little stiff, so I stand up and go through some stretches before turning to my next project: my plants, which I haven’t touched in a long time. More specifically the crying fern.

My garden hasn’t changed a whole lot. I mean, my plants have grown quite a bit, but there’s still not a whole lot of them. It consists solely of a banana tree, the crying fern, a rose sagebrush that my pigmy bunnies are nibbling at, and the rock covered in winter lichen. That’s it. They’re doing really well. They look healthy and fresh and large, especially when you consider the environment they’ve grown in. But there’s still only four of them. Forgive me, my plants! I have neglected you!

I increase the effect of |aura of warmth| on my plants while thinking about how much stronger my auras were when I directly controlled them. As I watched, my plants visibly grew. The banana palm became a few inches taller, the winter lichen grew thicker on the rock, the crying fern produced thick droplets of water as its leaves spread out, and the rose sage produced a flower. The little rose bloomed, then drooped, its petals falling to the ground. In its place grew a small oblong fruit, a rose hip.

The fruit of the land is the fruit of commerce. – Ba Lei, Merchant

Congratulations! Your domain is able to support fruiting plants.

[Plant Growth II]: You’ve grown your first fruit. Your plants are now hardier, able to thrive harsh environments. They are difficult to kill. (+10% to plant growth speed)

My goal? What is any herbalist’s goal? We all strive for one thing: the creation of plants–of life–purely through mana. Aren’t scholars the same? – Tenten Rill, therian herbalist

Congratulations! Could you survive without your auras?

[Ambient Aura VIII]: You have grown used to utilizing auras effectively. (|Aura of the Seed|: By combining the effects of |Aura of Warmth| and |Aura of the Soul|, a new aura has been born. You are now able to create a seed using mana and a base material (ease of creation and amount of mana used dependent on knowledge of seed))

Ah! This is great! This is so great! I can have more plants now! Perfect! Because what I need are more plants. I grab a massive amount of dirt from the ocean floor and a handful of small pebbles. I roll the pebbles around in my hand as I scatter a thick layer of dirt through out my mountain range while still leaving various patches of ice as well as the lava rivers alone. Once the dirt was spread, I turned to the pebbles, activating my new aura.

Different than my other auras, which have their own individual sources inside my core, I can feel this aura drawing upon two other auras. It feels like something hot and something cool swirling together to make something alive. It’s strange, but not unpleasant. The aura and a piece of my mana slip into one of the pebbles.

I feel the life from my aura latch on to the pebble with the help of my mana. It begins to push out, and soon, a little leaf pokes out of the newly created seed. It’s adorable! I fiddle with the seed a bit more, willing it to grow healthy and strong and produce lots and lots of water. The seed was a crying fern. I created many, many more of them and planted them everywhere in my mountain range, but especially on the cliffs. I concentrated my |aura of warmth| on them to make them latch on properly and grow faster. Soon, they began crying, and violà, waterfalls! Rivers! Lakes! Irrigation for other plants! Hurray!

I even plant some in my little lakes under my tree. As they cry, water pours over the edge of each stepped lake and eventually over the side of the mountain itself, creating a nice series of waterfalls all around its edge.

I create more seedlings of my other three plants, planting them all over the place. My mountain range begins to come to life. Little groves of banana palms sprout up on the ground and standing precariously on the sides and peaks of mountains. The rose sagebrush, too, dot the valleys and mountain sides. Winter lichen sporadically covers the faces of the of the towering pillars.

I’ll need more plants, and these ones are still young and tiny, but for now, it’s good enough. Except for one thing. I focus and strain for a couple of hours to create a seed for grass, soft and flexible, drawing heavily on the underwater grasses in the ocean below. Finally, I make it and plant it. The next few grass seeds are much easier to make. I scatter them throughout the valleys.

Mom! Look mom! The date tree has dates! – Fenrand Sorenson

Congratulations! Your domain is flourishing with plant life.

[Plant Growth III]: You’ve raised several crops from seed. Your plants now have faster reproductive rates. (+15% to plant reproduction rate)

A good ruler pays attention to the people growing his crops. Crops make up the bulk of your economy. Let the people caring for them suffer, and your kingdom may as well be a desert. — A Ruler’s Almanac

Congratulations! Plants are the army of your domain.

[Green Thumb II]: You have become proficient at caring for plants. Plants are more responsive to your mood. They come alive when you are in danger. (15% to plant aggression, flexibility, and strength when there are signs that you are in danger.)

I feel like the rewards for the skills are getting stranger and stranger. Oh, well. Ug, looks a couple of days have passed while I just created plants. That sure took a lot out of me. I enter my golem again and stand up, rolling my neck and shoulders. I check [forewarn] again, but it hasn’t notified my of anything while I was working, and it doesn’t say anything new now. I sigh in relief.

I can’t stop now, though. It’s actually physically impossible for me to stop. The reason being I don’t actually have a path to my tree, where I’ll be spending most of my time. And, according to stupid dungeon instinct rules, I must have a path open to my core at all times. Plus what I have now is just the basis of my defenses. If possible, I’d rather people just get lost and never make it to me rather than setting up lethal traps. Let’s go with that. I’ll probably still put traps in though, but if I can avoid killing people… I think I still want that. It’s hard to tell after all that’s happened, but I feel like I still want that.

I start with the mountains. I carve the insides with confusing mazes of rooms which sometime lead to open air bridges connecting the mountains. There were multiple bridges spanning between the mountains, creating so many paths that lead to dead ends that it would be hard to figure out the right one. More often than not, the paths through the mountains would dump you right back at the beginning. The traps would, too. Only one path through the mountains actually lead to the mountain with my ice tree, and the entrance was one that was in a hard to find, out-of-the-way place, a nook about eight feet off the ground almost completely hidden behind crying ferns. If one was careful, they could find it, but if they weren’t paying attention, then they wouldn’t. I feel myself settle a little when I finish that path.

I set my creations with my auras, especially |aura of the lost| which I lay heavily over everything. The aura immediately made everything confusing. The rooms, the bridges, the entrances into the mountains, and even the mountains themselves all began to shift in a way that wasn’t obvious, but somehow you still knew they had moved. No landmarks were set in stone here. Whether you found the right entrance to my tree or even found the exit to the mountain range all depended on luck. Well, that and your disposition towards me. The mists blanketing the valleys don’t help either. Nor does the fact that most of the mountain tops rest above the clouds.

For added measure I even made wards. I made all four of them and scattered them randomly about. I know I’m not really that proficient at them. The stupid gwisin blew right through them and it still makes me angry, but well, every little bit helps. So, randomly throughout the mountain range one could stumble upon the repelling barrier of {banebury}, the relaxing {juniper}, the memory-inducing {elderberry}, or the most common of all, the disorienting {bittersweet}. |Aura of the Lost| made it so their positions were never concrete either. Hehe, I’m evil.

Well, with this, hopefully no one will have to die, and I won’t have to fight anyone. It’s a win-win for everyone. So, if you come knocking on my door, just get lost. Literally. Please. I’m begging you. If you can’t find me, no one gets hurt.

Strength is necessary for wards. If wards aren’t strong, things come through. — Higher Wardsman of Oi’ufe

Congratulations! The strength of your ward determine the strength of your domain.

[Warding II]: You have improved upon the basic runes of warding. Their effectiveness increases (5% to effectiveness of wards)

Good. I think my dungeon has improved. Hopefully…

Another week has passed while I carved the paths through the mountains. I feel like I’ve been in and out of my golem a lot. It’s rather annoying, but sometimes to get precise details, it’s easier to have an actual body. So, I just have to deal with the stupid time limit that broke. Sigh.

I lay back on a bed of grass. All my plants have been furiously growing. They cover most of the valleys now and much of the mountains. A banana tree sways in the wind over my head. Since it’s night now, and for night for most of the day, I decide to add |aura of light| to all of my plants so there’s light. They make my mountains glow like some kind of magical fairy forest or something. It’s weird, but also kind of cool. It’s also strange to think that all of this is just sitting on ice… What a strange world I’ve come to.

You have created an additional wonder. Three more and your achievement, |Creator of Wonders!|, will rank up to |Creator of Marvels!| – Create several things classified as wonders of the world. Each additional wonder is also designated as a pilgrimage site. (+5 path points; +10 path points to {Ingenuity II} and {Architect I} Paths; 25% less danger traveling to your wonder during a pilgrimage) Your wonder has been named: |«Sanctuary of the North»|

Strange indeed. Sanctuary. I like that.

I breathe in and close my eyes. It’s quiet except for the rustling of plants and the sounds of the waterfalls. There should be insects, I decide. Birds, too. Right as I think that, something lands on my nose. I open my eyes and jolt up. Whatever it is flies off with a high-pitched screech. Several more screeches sound around me.

I panic a bit before realizing that [forewarning] never triggered, and whatever it was, it was tiny. I feel a nip at my finger tip and look down. It was a dragon! A tiny white dragon about the length of my thumb.

Congratulations! A flock [12] of snowdrop dragons have integrated into your domain. While small and often considered household pests, fae dragons play an integral role within an environment pollinating plants and scattering their seeds. Take good care of them.

One need not always have force when taming a creature. Sometimes feeling alone will do the trick. – Wala Halem, tennin tamer

Congratulations! What was once an enemy is now a friend.

[Tamer III]: You have tamed a creature that was antagonistic towards you through words alone. (+5 path points; +20% chance of creatures understanding your meaning even if they can’t understand your words.)

Listen son. There’s no need to kill every monster out there. Not every monster is out to get us either. There are plenty of peaceful monsters, ones that can even help us in our daily lives, just like this wampus cat protects out home. – Xander Gren

Congratulations! A domain isn’t a domain without creatures.

[Tamer IV]: Your first species has reproduced. (+5 path points; +15% to creature reproduction rate)

Lords are difficult to tame. Not many in the history of the Tennin have managed to make a contract with one. They are proud beings. — Tennin Historian

Congratulations! The stronger your monsters, the stronger your domain.

[Tamer V]: You’ve integrated a lord into your domain. (+10 path points; +5% chance of evolution; +1 evolution attribute slot)

Bah! Fae dragon, necessary but annoying. Still, they work better than bees and birds and butterfly. My fields have never produced more now that a flock of ’em started nesting in them. – Ent farmer

Congratulations! As your domain grows, it will naturally draw creatures in.

[Tamer VI]: A species has naturally integrated with an environment you’ve created. (+10 path points; +5% to domain’s productivity)

Luck sometimes isn’t good or bad. Sometimes it just is. – Caoyan’s Musings

Congratulations! Luck is ambiguous. There is no predicting it.

[Karma III]: Your system has encountered a glitch as luck would have it. The skill [Tamer I] has not leveled as it was meant to, but as such, rewards have increased. Your luck is an unusual thing. (+10 path points; 20% in luck reversal; 15% in luck remaining good; 5% better System rewards)

Eh? Wait what?

Status Menu Name: Haven [Locked]–Devin Race: Legendary Dungeon Level: 22 Attribute: Green Health: 64/313 (2.75/min) Mana: 427/631 (4.1/min)* State: Damaged -- (-2.75 health a minute) Biomes: 6* Floors: ?%Ξ] Named Monsters: 4 Monsters: 36* Animals: 75,321* Plants: 1,144,000+* [Ξ] Path Points: 50* Paths: {Beginner V (0/20)} {Ingenuity II (40/60)}* {Valiant II (0/120)} {Defender V (0/50)} {Architect I (10/50)}* {Strategist III (0/95)} Skills: [Influence VII]* [Incorporation IV] [Ambient Aura VIII]* [Plant Growth III]* [Green Thumb II]* [Tamer VI]* [Karma III]* [Natural Projectile V] [Core Teleportation] [Epithet] [Elemental Manipulation X] [Biome Creation] [Fluid Floors] [Golem Creation] [Loyalty] [Tranquility] [Warding II]* [Forewarn II] [Mana Absorption] [Standstill I] Achievements: |Ingenuity!| |Powerful!| |Dauntless!| |Against the Odds!| |Crack Shot!| |Breeder!| |Safe Guard!| |Creator of Wonders!| |Leader!| Causes: |«Against the World»| — 4 [Ξ] Auras: |Aura of Light| |Aura of Warmth| |Aura of Fury| |Aura of Souls| |Aura of Protection| |Aura of the Lost| |Calming Aura| |Aura of the Seed|* Fire: Main, Magma Water: Main, Ice, Acid Earth: Main, Plants, Minerals, Metal, Wax Air: Main, Toxic Gas