The first thing that John wanted to work on was the Mana To Electrical power upgrades. The Research results had allowed him to create a crystal that would absorb ambient mana, store it like a battery, and then convert it into electrical energy when something attached to it tried to draw electricity. These crystals were magic in nature and seemed to be governed by specific rules from the System. For example, John had tried to absorb one of the pinkish tetragonal protopyramid crystals filled with mana to see if he could restore mana from the mana stored in the crystal. John had recovered the mana used in creating the crystal, but the mana stored in the crystal had been lost or dissipated, assuming there was some sort of conservation of mana Law. It was likely the System’s way of stopping him from gaming his current mana capacity, though he had a feeling there was probably a different kind of crystal that may be able to be used for mana storage.

The mana crystal’s other magical properties were also shockingly useful, and any Electrical Engineer or someone who designed electrical systems would salivate at hearing them. John had discovered these properties while testing out the crystals in his Soul Space. The first was that the crystal could be attached to any kind of electrical node by merely willing them to connect, and the crystal would adapt itself to the components. Wires, sockets, and all sorts of plugs, the crystal would adapt itself to whatever it was connected to, be it a standard three-prong plug or a light bulb. Even more amazingly, when the crystal attached in such a way that a standard connector would end up causing a short, the crystal did not cause a short. In other terms, the crystal seemed to act as both a conductor and an insulator simultaneously, which would typically be impossible and showed this crystal is a magical material. The other fantastic property of these crystals was that multiple devices that required different amounts of power and current draws could be attached to the same crystal. The crystal would be able to handle all of these vastly different power needs simultaneously, which again is something that would typically be impossible without specialized circuitry for each subsystem to adjust the power source to the needs of the receiving systems.

John’s other tests with the crystals revealed that the amount of mana he used in creating the crystal would effectively set its capacity. For each mana point of capacity the crystal had, it would power electronics attached to it for roughly an hour. These limits were only the case where the crystal was in areas with low ambient mana; in areas with high ambient mana, the crystals converted the mana around it into electricity at a rate that allowed an almost infinite amount of running time. Of course, this was only for home electronics, for a couple of devices, and running more than that from a single crystal would most likely cause overconsumption and brownouts of these devices. John was able to mould the crystals into some basic shapes with his abilities, though it looked like more complicated shapes would also have to wait until he got the Mineral Working Subskill for Creation. That Subskill gave the feeling that it would allow him more precise control over working with gems, crystals, and stonework for masonry.

While John had been experimenting with the new crystals, Gwen had also stopped by to check on him. John had barely noticed himself leaving the viewing area, but Gwen seemed understanding about the situation and expressed that she had been in a bit of a state of shock herself. They had both been upset about what had happened, not necessarily the temporary death itself, but the frankly horrifying nature of how it had occurred. They had talked a bit about how they were feeling, and John had explained a bit about the characteristics of the crystals, but Gwen did not find the subject as fascinating as John did and left after giving him a quick kiss before going back to her projects. After speaking with Gwen, John had also checked on Lenny and saw that Jake appeared to be trying to cheer Lenny up. To try and help out, John had sped up his crystal production, creating a main crystal using all of his mana, which after the adventurers trip through the Dungeon was currently 500 in total. After, he had put wiring connected to this main crystal through his First Room and the adjoining rooms, along with 20 mana point crystals at any junctions in the wiring as back up should the wires become damaged somehow. As John did this, he also put in lighting and T.V. screens in the different rooms, along with some game systems in Lenny’s room. John ended up creating two Switches after talking to Jake so that Jake and Lenny could play Animal Crossing: New Horizons together.

The ability to fill in crystal in the empty spaces of the Switch to essentially supplement the battery of the system inspired John to do this with the other similar electronics, including his laptop and phone. John added the crystal to his computer and booted it up to test if it was working. As he booted up the computer, John received some notifications from the System that some of his laptops and its program’s abilities had been added to his Crafting and Creation Abilities. For Creation, his drafting programs had upgraded his Blueprints, allowing him to run simulations on his modifications to see where the stressors would be and what he could do to strengthen the objects in his Blueprints. John would also be able to run similar simulations when first creating objects using his Crafting abilities. As he closed those notifications and looked at the results of adding the crystal to the phone, he was surprised to see a new notification pop up.

Adventurer’s Tool candidate found. Possibility to upgrade through the Dungeon’s actions found. Would you like to set smartphones as your basis for the Adventurer’s Tool?

Y/N

John could see no reason to reject this question, as smartphones were pretty versatile, and he couldn’t see them going away anytime soon. As John accepted, he saw another set of notifications. These notifications were letting him know that because of the programs he had on his laptop and selecting smartphones as the basis for Adevntureer’s Tool, he could create apps designed for Adventurers, both through his work and through Researching for inspiration. It also notified that some Apps had already been developed based on the smartphone apps present, including a Mapping App that would auto-update as the Adventurer explored and added drawings, pictures, or videos of the area around them. A Journal App that would supplement the Quest log in their status by allowing them to add notes was also included, along with an app that would store any Recipes the Adventurer found. Finally, there was a Registry app. This app’s purposes were not apparent at first, but as John looked into it, it would keep track of what an Adventuring party did while Delving a Dungeon or Adventuring. The party could collect loot using the Adventuring device instead of handling it themselves and could use the tool at a checkpoint to spawn the loot there, rather than carrying it through the Dungeon. The app would also automatically split up the drops according to need, usefulness, and value to the different party members. Further rules such as contribution to battles could be considered when diving loot.

John could see how useful these apps would be to any Adventurers, so he would offer one to the Adventurer in exchange for his services when he respawned. John also decided that he should at least know the names of people he was making deals with; John asked Jake what the Adventurer’s name was and got back George. John watched as Jake and Lenny seemed to be enjoying playing Animal Crossing together, though it looked like Jake had done some time travelling to unlock the Museum for Lenny and him. However, since Lenny appeared to enjoy giving Blathers things and the Museum’s added exhibits, John forgave Jake for teaching Lenny blatant cheating. Seeing the Museum and its exhibits reminded John of one of the other ideas he had come up with for the Dungeon. And now that John’s Domain contained an empty lot that would turn into an expansion to the nearby courthouse eventually, he decided to see if it could work.

As John concentrated on the empty lot, the System informed him that it was now available as the basis for new rooms in the Dungeons. John also tried doing similar things with the buildings in his Domain. However, he received a notification that they would not be available unless he negotiated with those currently occupying the building or absorbed the building entirely and wholly replaced them in a piecemeal fashion. However, he was able to obtain a copy of the green space park in front of City Hall but was notified he still had to get some of the plants present to copy them in his Dungeon. John then sent his intentions to the Dungeon, and it allowed him to set up an alternate Portal that leads to another area instead of another floor. John used the empty lot as the basis, but he had this Room react to what he was putting in the room, rather than controlling everything in the Room. After he placed the first set of Creatures, the Dungeon responded and let him know that John had created a Dungeon Zoo. As John finished putting a couple of each of the available Creatures in their areas, the Zoo reacted and created an appropriate environment for each type of Creature.

John was also able to set up an area for both kinds of Slimes in the Zoo. As the notifications he had received when setting up this Room let John know, when he placed Creatures in this Room, the Dungeon would set up an environment that would provide for their needs and allow visitors to observe them. John also had the Dungeon place a plaque below each exhibit, giving information about each Creature or Monster and who had donated them. A not-insignificant amount of the plaques had Lenny’s name on them, along with a cartoonish outline of his head. For entry to this Room, John was also able to set a couple of rules. Visitors could purchase memberships or passes for specific periods and frequency, or they could earn a lifetime membership by donating new Creatures to the exhibit. Seeing how much Lenny enjoyed playing Animal Crossing, John let Jake know about the new Room in the Dungeon so Jake could bring Lenny to visit. As John was letting Jake know about the Zoo, he also received a notification that Lenny and Jake had completed some Research.

Research Completed

Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Video Game) (Partial); Jake And Lenny

New Templates Unlocked, Codex Entries Unlocked, New Adventurer’s Tool App Available (Bestiary)

As Jake watched over Lenny as he excitedly explored the Zoo, proudly pointing at the exhibits that featured his name before watching the Creatures contained with fascination, John instead looked at what the App that had been unlocked did. It was similar to the Mapping and Journal apps; Adventures could take pictures or videos and make notes about the Creatures and Monsters they discovered and observed. It looked like the app would record the general strengths and weaknesses of that Creature or Monster, and if any Abilities were found, they would also be added. John thought this could also be a possible way to use the trading cards once he unlocked them. Besides playing games with the cards, adventurers would perhaps be able to update information about Creatures and Monsters using the cards they dropped. As John finished up his thoughts on this development, he noticed that Jake was holding Lenny from rushing outside of the Dungeon to capture more Creatures for the Dungeon, which was causing Lenny to pout. John told Lenny that he would have to wait until night time since it was now early morning and Lenny heading out at this time was sure to cause some issues. Lenny was reassured that he would get to go out later and seemed to perk up when John offered for him to be the one to greet George, who was just about to respawn.