The scene John was viewing would have been darkly comedic if it wasn’t completely grisly. Lenny had engaged in Three Stooges level antics before coming up with the creative idea of dropping the Slime on the adventurer's face, and the Slime was now joyfully hopping around, seemingly proud it had completed its task. However, what the Slime had done had just added to the gore of the scene. Besides a leg almost completely separated at the knee with bones sticking out at both ends, there was also a melted face. Even grosser, during the face-melting process, the eyeballs had melted and begun running down the cheeks. The whole scene was grotesque, and even though Lenny had been able to remain calm when the trap had almost ripped the adventurer’s leg off, Lenny was now off to the side, retching. Even Gwen had her hand over her mouth and was paler than her usual shade of amber. As Lenny finished, John got Lenny to grab the loot from the drop to bring to the adventurer when he respawned and began absorbing the body. Since nobody seemed to feel like talking, John figured now would be as good a time as any to start going over the notifications that had piled up lately. To distract himself, John also decided to listen to some music and pulled up Yer Not The Ocean by The Tragically Hip as he began going through the notifications.

Research Completed

Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers (Movie), Inception (Movie); John and Gwen

Unlocked: New Templates, Mental Defenses (10 R.P.), Dream Machine (100 R.P.), Dream Realm (1000 R.P.)

Mana To Electrical Power Conversion

Description: Gives the Dungeon the knowledge of how to convert mana into electricity.

Research Cost: 5 R.P.

Benefit Of Research: Allow dungeons to use mana in place of electricity in electrical circuits.

Parent Research: None

Research Unlocked: Electricity To Mana Conversion

Dungeon Ability Unlocked: None

That was a decent amount of new Research being unlocked, so John decided he should look at the descriptions of those before he forgot about them checking the other notifications.

Electricity To Mana Conversion

Description: Gives the Dungeon the knowledge of how to convert electricity into mana.

Research Cost: 15 RP

Benefit Of Research: Allow dungeons to absorb electricity as a source of mana.

Parent Research: Mana To Electrical Power Conversion

Research Unlocked: None

Dungeon Ability Unlocked: None

Mental Defenses

Description: Allows the user to adopt any Mental Defence techniques, giving them stronger resistance to mental effects.

Research Cost: 10 RP

Benefit Of Research: Mental Defenses unlocked.

Parent Research: None

Research Unlocked: None

Dungeon Ability Unlocked: None

Dream Machine

Description: Allows the user to access the Dream Realm, a Realm adjacent to the Multiversal Gestalt. Effects of actions taken in this realm may be felt across the Multiverse, and a significant amount of knowledge, power, and ability is required to gain access to it.

Research Cost: 100 RP

Benefit Of Research: Dream Machine Blueprint Unlocked

Parent Research: None

Research Unlocked: None

Dungeon Ability Unlocked: None

Dream Realm

Description: Allows the user to access the Dream Realm, a Realm adjacent to the Multiversal Gestalt. Effects of actions taken in this realm may be felt across the Multiverse, and a significant amount of power is

Research Cost: 1000 RP

Benefit Of Research: Allows access to the Dream Realm for multiple purposes.

Parent Research: None

Research Unlocked: None

Dungeon Ability Unlocked: None

The Dream Realm sounded quite interesting to John, but it was definitely out of reach for the time being. He was also appreciative that the System seemed to agree that visiting someone else’s dreams could be exciting and fun but had decided to limit how the Dream Machines from Inception could be used. John was also glad that Mental Defences was low cost so that he could unlock it quickly. Though John hoped there wasn’t much to be worried about when it comes to mental defences, he would rather err on the side of caution when it came to possible mind control. It also made sense that since he had unlocked a way to turn Mana into electricity, there would also be a way to reverse the process and recover Mana using electricity. The next set of notifications appeared to be level up, and Ability unlocks related, so John went ahead and checked them.

Soul Space Level Up, Current Level 13

Absorb Level Up, Current Level 18

Domain Level Up, Current Level 10, Novice Bonus Unlocked

Dungeon Ability Unlocked, Dungeon Music

Creatures Absorbed

3 Apocrita Types, 1 Beetle Type, 1 Bat Type, 3 Ipinoaves, 3 Diptera, 2 Lepidoptera

Blueprints Acquired

Armour, Clubs, Blades, Home Electronics

Humanoid Template Updated

Monster Evolution Available

As interested as John was in checking all that he had gained with this update, he first needed to look at the changes to the Domain Ability with the Novice bonus. He could suddenly sense a lot more area and felt he had a much more significant degree of control over the actions he could take in his Domain.

Domain

Description: Dungeon can establish a domain outside their dungeon. Initially, this is the size of a building on top of the Dungeon.

Prerequisites: Establish a first room and an entrance.

Novice Bonus: Domain becomes the surrounding city blocks. The Core’s Ability control in a Domain is now closer to the level of control in the Core’s Dungeon.

That explained it; not only was his Domain not limited to just the area around Sorenson Station anymore, but it had also now wholly engulfed the surrounding blocks. John could also sense the mana saturation in his Domain going up, which was likely why he would have better control over his Abilities in the Domain. John had a suspicion that this increased level of mana saturation would also lead to increased numbers of people Awakening to the System, as he had only confirmed one user so far. It appeared that levelling his Domain to 10 and expanding it into the surrounding block and buildings had generated another set of notifications. However, before he dealt with those, John wanted to test an idea he had come up with following the absorption of all that sports equipment and finish up with the other parts of the previous set of notifications, especially the new Ability, Evolution, and Creatures. As John thought about his idea with the intent to send it to the System, he was glad to see that a new Research option had opened up, so he opened that description along with his new Ability.

New Research Available

Arena

Description: Allow for Arena competitions to be held in and rewarded by the Dungeon

Prerequisites: Rules and equipment required for each Arena type

Subskills: None

Research Points Needed: 10

New Dungeon Ability

Dungeon Music

Description: After absorbing and listening to enough music sources for the Codex, music in the Codex can be used in the Dungeon in various ways, such as general background music or music for Boss Rooms.

Prerequisites: Listen to at least 10 hours of music from the Codex.

Subskills: None

Research Points Needed: 0

John was thrilled with both of those abilities. While some might only picture bloodsports when thinking of an Arena connected to a Dungeon, John was sure that he would also get to set himself up as a sports multiplex besides those kinds of Arena games. Since the multiplex wouldn’t take up any valuable space in the city, it would hopefully help endear him to both the locals and local government. They would be able to use his Dungeon for practical, economical, training, and recreational purposes, which would hopefully mean they would be less likely to want to threaten him in any way. However, those ideas would have to wait a bit, so he could get both the equipment and abilities to set up those arenas properly. Baseball and soccer were likely currently in reach once he Researched the Ability, but he felt he would need more technical equipment or magic to set up a hockey rink. John was almost equally as excited about the Dungeon Music Ability as he was about the Arena Ability. As he looked into it, it looked like John would be able to set any music he had in the Codex as background music in his Dungeon, either a looping song or as a playlist. John was excited about the possibilities for setting moods for different floors, and boss fights this would allow. As he looked further into the ability, it seemed like he would even be able to set sound effects for some actions in the Dungeon, including picking up a loot drop. When he got around to Researching some video games, John was hoping that he would pick up some of their soundtracks and sound effects, making fun easter eggs for those exploring the Dungeon.

John decided to check on the new Creatures obtained by Lenny before evolving the Slime. If he had unlocked all of the types of another Creature, John wanted to plan his next floor around that kind of monster and his evolved slime, as he would likely move the evolved Slime to the next area if it were too strong for the first floor. As John pulled up the descriptions of the Creatures he had unlocked, he noticed something a bit odd.

Apocrita

Element Affinity: Neutral

Subtypes: Ants, Bees, Wasps, Hornets

Abilities: Hive Mind, Sting (Pain Toxin, Poison Toxin, Caustic Toxin), Flight (Insect Wings), Colonies (Bugs), Exoskeleton, Mandibles, Stout Strength, Panoramic Vision, Litters, Hovering

Cost: 10 Mana per Colony, 0.5 Mana For Non-Colony

Beetle

Element Affinity: Neutral

Subtypes: Ground Beetle, Water Beetle, ???

Abilities: Mandibles, Flight (Insect Wings), Exoskeleton, Burrowing (Ground Beetle), Stout Strength, Venom Bite (Water Beetles), Buoyancy (Water Beetles), Swimming (Water Beetles), Panoramic Vision, Litters, Hovering, ???

Cost: 1-3 Mana

Bats

Element Affinity: Neutral

Subtypes: Common, ???

Abilities: Binocular Vision, Flight (Wings), Echolocation, Communal Nesting, Disease Bite, Hovering, ???

Cost: 3-7 Mana

Ipinoaves

Element Affinity: Neutral

Subtypes: Songbirds, Jays, Crows, ???

Abilities: Binocular Vision, Panoramic Vision (Songbirds), Flight, Gliding, Sharp Beak, Advanced Tool Use (Crows), Advanced Intelligence (Crows), Migration, ???

Cost: 1-10 Mana

Diptera

Element Affinity: Neutral

Subtypes: Mosquitos, Housefly, ???

Abilities: Flight (Insect Wings), Exoskeleton, Litters, Parasitic Drain (Mosquito), Mimicry (Hoverfly), Hypodermic Proboscis (Mosquito), ???

Cost: 1-5 Mana

Lepidoptera

Element Affinity: Neutral

Subtypes: Moth, ???

Abilities: Metamorphosis, Gliding, Hovering, Flight (Butterfly Wings), Scale Shedding, Poison, Migration, Camouflage, Celestial Navigation, Magnetic Field Sense, ???

Cost: 1-5 Mana

The discrepancy that John noticed was that he had fewer types of Creatures in Ipinoaves, Diptera, and Lepidoptera than he calculated he should have. However, as John looked into this, it appeared that it was for a couple of different reasons. For Ipinoaves, it was because the Magpie Lenny had brought him actually fell under the category of Crows, and it was now available as a kind of alternate skin for his Crow creatures to wear. Both of these skins had the same Abilities and physical capabilities, and the differences were only aesthetic. For Diptera, he had again gained two overlapping species of flies, the Housefly and Hoverfly. However, the Hoverfly skin had the unique Mimicry Ability that was likely tied to the fact that it looks like a bee or hornet. A similar but different thing had happened with Moths under Lepidoptera, as one species he had absorbed was able to shed irritant scales as a deterrent to predators, and another had a poisonous body. However, whichever variant John used to create a Dungeon Creature, either resulting Creature would have both of the Abilities. As John finished looking over the new Creatures, noting that he had completed Apocrita and the resulting monsters would likely complement his Slimes for a second level of the Dungeon themed around an underground cave, he decided to begin the evolution of the Slime. Since Lenny returned to the First Room of the Dungeon while John looked over the notifications, the Slime had returned to its cave at the end of the First Floor, continuing to bounce excitedly. As John okayed the Slime evolution, it stopped moving and began to glow with white light, and as the light started to dim, a notification popped up for John.

Stealth Slimes

Element Affinity: Neutral, Basic, Advanced

Subtypes: Elemental

Prerequisites: Evolved Slime with Stealth Skills

Abilities: Iridescence, Biological Network, Asexual Reproduction, Acid, Regeneration, Vibration Sense, Vibration Probe, Pseudopodial Movement

Cost: 10-100 Mana

From the Description and Abilities of this new Slime, this evolution appeared to be more of a lateral move over an upgrade. John was in no way unhappy with this, though, as it seemed that John would now be able to get a wider variety of elemental slimes in the future, along with more possible evolutions stemming from both this Stealth Slime and the basic Slime. Besides changing some of the Abilities of the Slime, this evolution had changed the Slime’s appearance. Whereas before it was a translucent blue sphere with a shimmering iridescence, this slime had a dark gray colouration with less colour overall and was ellipse-shaped with a flat bottom rather than spherical. As John looked closer, there also appeared to be matte black spots spread throughout the slime’s body, and these seemed to be absorbing light rather than reflecting light, making the Slime even less visible in the dark cave. As John observed these spots, he noticed that the spots in the light appeared to be smaller, while the ones in the darker areas appeared to be larger. As the Slime moved around the cave, he first noticed that the Slime’s flat side seemed to have sprouted a multitude of tiny pseudopodial limbs that were allowing it to crawl around the cave exceptionally quietly. After that, John noticed that the black spots inside the slime seemed to be reacting to light changes, meaning that they must be photoreceptive, hopefully meaning that the Slime now has some kind of primitive vision. The type of ambush predator this Stealth Slime seemed to be would fit better as part of the second floor, rather than as the First Floor’s Boss, so he would be moving the Slime after completing the Second Floor.

Now that John had finished with the older notifications, he moved on to the Notifications that had popped up with his Domain’s levelling up. As John read them, he found that they pertained to the type of building that was now enclosed in his Domain. However, to make more use of them, John would have to set up an agreement with the owner or renter of that building, where both would benefit. Typically this would fall to someone in Jake or Gwen’s position to handle. Still, John had a feeling either would not necessarily elicit favourable reactions in the everyday citizens of Red Deer, so maybe he could set up another deal with that adventurer. Speaking of him, John noticed that he was not in the Dungeon currently, though John also had the feeling that he had also not yet left the Dungeon. As John looked into it, he found a countdown timer for the adventurer to respawn at the Checkpoint pedestal. Since John would have to wait anyway, he decided that he should get to work on the couple of things he currently had on his plate. These tasks included making the first floor traps a bit less lethal, integrating his mana to electric converters, and building his second floor.