I need to make it stronger!

“Boom!”

I need to make it faster!

“Boom!”

I need to make it smarter!

“Boom!”

And now I need to make more squirrels…

Bastill had tried using his new ability Forced Evolution by injecting mana into characteristics. Each attempt so far had ended up with an exploding squirrel, which was quite disappointing. However, he did get the ten mana for each deceased squirrel. He didn’t however gain back the mana he had tried injecting. He had tried 10 the first time, but seeing it go to waste, he started using just one point of mana. After he created a half a dozen more squirrels he went through each characteristic with just one mana to see the results, which all ended up being quite explosive. He conclusion was injecting mana into characteristics either needed a better creature or he just wasn’t skilled enough at it yet. With this in mind he reread the abilities description, “Ability to see inject mana into a creature body part or characteristic, which will evolve the creature and raise its level and abilities.”

Creature Death

11 Fleas x .05

Learned Flea

3 Ticks x .05

Learned Tick

Apparently, the squirrels also had some parasites on them. He wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do with them. With the new Learned creatures put to the back of his mind for the moment he went on with his next task. It seemed that he would have to try injecting it into body parts and hope they didn’t explode. However, he wanted to have a more eclectic arrangement of creatures to test with. Before he started he created a Red Fox, bringing his mana total to ninety-nine. He told it to go out and bring back smaller animals that he could use. With the fox off on its excursion Bastille looked at all the animals he had learned.

Creatures

Grey Squirrel:10, Common Spider:.1, Blue Bird:15, Red Fox: 35, Flea: .05, Tick: .05

He could see some potential in the Common Spider, and the Red Fox. If he could get the spider large enough it would be just like the old stories of oversized spiders. Not to mention that they also scare the living crap out of humans. Spiders had never bothered him, but he knew some people that would leave if they saw one. Not to mention their armored outer exoskeleton. The fox happened to be a member of the dog family with its ancestry connecting to the wolves. With a bit of changes, he imagined he could turn them into a tertiary consumer. This simple Red Fox wouldn’t hunt smaller prey but be a mighty defender. It also helped that they were rather smart to begin with, since he didn’t want to explode it by adding Intelligence.

Bastill was wondering what on earth he would be able to create with the remaining creatures. The ticks and fleas were just so small. He wasn’t sure he would be able to make them big enough. Meanwhile the bird had such a fragile low bone density to help it sustain flight. He could probably make them more hawk like with sharp claws and beaks. He just wasn’t sure if it would be enough to make it any danger to help protect him. The last creature he had was the squirrel. And it was horribly obsessed with nuts. He could give it better teeth. Just then the fox brought back a living creature in its maw. The fox bit down and killed the wiggling creature, ending its suffering. It then dropped it on the ground letting me absorb it. I learned how to create a Common Gardner Snake, which cost five mana.

Bastill still had an evil flash in his eyes, or rather gem, when he thought of a great plan for the new creature. If he could make this creature bigger then it would be a decent defender. He planned for this to be the guardian of the third room. His Headless Winged Angel of Victory would sync up with this creature perfectly. Since this thing was mainly just a head and a tail, if it was cut in half anywhere it had a chance of living for up to another two minutes. That would be a frightening defender. With spiders and snakes that can fight headless he might just end up scaring adventurers away.

So far, he only had thoughts of what to make. Now it was time to see if any of these ideas would work. He had the fox stand still. Decided to make it bigger first. To make it bigger than it needs a larger bone structure. He began to slowly inject mana into the bones. The fox started whimpering. As he continued the whimpering turned into howls of pain as its bones grew and ripped the muscles and organs in place. The poor fox finally collapsed on the ground.

I’m so sorry little fox. I promise to make sure your suffering isn’t in vain.

He felt bad for hurting the fox. He didn’t feel as bad about the exploding squirrels, because they had managed to irk him several times. He cleared his mind and focused on the little fox. It had started at about two feet tall and three and a half feet long including its tail. It had recently grown a couple’s inches however all of its muscles and organs where stretched or torn. He increased the size of its innards as he began to mend them, then further strengthening them. It went slower now as he focused on expanding the muscles along with the other organs. The finished product was a fox that was four feet tall and six feet long. It still had its sleek appearance with its red over coat and white underside. He glanced at the mana consumption. He had spent thirty mana overall to grow the fox, leaving him with an additional sixty-six mana. He wasn’t finished yet. He sank an additional fifteen mana in making the muscles superior in quality. Then he pushed another twenty mana into the creature’s retractable claws and teeth. He knew he wanted something to set it apart. He had thirty-one more mana to use but didn’t know what he could do to make it unique.

Don’t worry “Kitsune” I will make you a warrior.

New Dungeon Floor Boss: Kitsune

-Add usable catalyst

-All mana will be consumed

He didn’t know where he had pulled the name from it had just felt right. Shocked by the new notification he didn’t know what to use as a catalyst. It might be able to use some of his herbs so he decided to checked all learned items to see what he might be able to use.

Learned

Materials -1 cubic foot

Coal: 20, Dirt: .1, Agate:5, Quartz:5, Granite: .2, Marble:10,

Creatures

Grey Squirrel:10, Common Spider:.1, Blue Bird:15, Red Fox: 35, Flea: .05, Tick: .05, Common Gardner Snake:5

Objects

Door:1, Leaf: .1, Toad Stool: .1, Moon Shade: .5, Mandrake root: 1, acorn:.1, fern: .1, elder berry bush: .1, whistling leaf: .1, and elves ear: .5

Unknown

Ceremonial Blood:31+???

He noticed that the Ceremonial Blood had mana by it this time. He hadn’t tried creating any in a while, but this was definitely the first time he had seen anything about it changed. He decided it was worth a shot. He did feel responsible for the fox and hated how he had hurt it earlier. This was the least he could do. It would use every last drop of mana he had though. Last time he had blacked out from using all his mana. He decided to wait until his mana went up to thirty-two before he attempted creating Ceremonial Blood. Once it went up he started creating the catalyst. He had never struggled creating anything before, but this was an enormous strange straining. He watched as his mana slowly drain as he continued to try to create it. 32, 31, 30, 29, 28, 27, 26, 25, 24, 23, 22, 21, 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. A small drop began to form in the air, and then his mana hit 0. Bastill fell unconscious as the drop of ceremonial blood fell onto the fox.

** ** ** Alice Everglade ** ** **

Alice had traveled back to the City of Azul taking three days to return. She stored her horse in the stables near the guild and started on her way to give her report. As she walked towards her destination she took in the sight of the city. It wasn’t the bustling hectic sight you would see at the capital city on Aldian. Instead it had a pleasant feel with a slow and steady stream of lives walking to and from there own ending destination. Some stopping along the way to seek out shopkeepers before the end of the day. The sun had just passed over the horizon which signaled the night life to take charge, bringing out darker beings with detestable desires. This was also the sign for the miners to switch their shifts. You could see energetic men and women heading to the mines with their picks in their hand as well as those tired souls heading back home or to the tavern for a drink.

The city wasn’t crawling with criminals, but like every city it did have a thief guild and a couple gangs. Thief Guilds were one of the lesser guilds. They weren’t inherently bad, but they made profit by being paid for their marks. If someone paid them to steal from a good man they would just as easily as they would an evil man. The Thief Guild only acted out of business, while the gangs in the city were cruel and merciless. They played a similar game, but their game involved torture, murder, in addition to stealing. They weren’t paid to do anything. The gangs simply looked to gain power. As long as you stayed out of the sketchier parts of town and didn’t purposely walk into dark ally’s alone, then you were generally safe. The gangs mainly fought amongst each other.

Alice quickly moved herself through the city and arrived at the Adventurer Guild’s Building. It was a two-story building with the purpose of housing the Guild Leader on the second story while leaving the bottom floor for adventurers to pick up and drop off assignments and chat. They had access to the city’s housing at a discount and free use of the training grounds. The building was just where you filed reports and gathered intel.

She entered in and noticed some of the other new members that had come in this month with her as well. There was Jack, who was training in the sword, Zaine, who was an amateur magic user focusing in water, and Jemmet who was training the shield and spear combo. To be blunt, they were shit heads. When they saw her, they began whispering ill remarks and laughing at ribald humor. Alice just ignored them and went to the assistant in charge. Today it was one of the members of the Adventurer Guild Council for Azul City. His name was Daniel Langton; He was a phenomenal dual sword wielder and an A Guild Ranked adventurer. He was one of the few that respected her here. “Hello Miss Janet,” Daniel said, “I hear you have been stuck on the wonderful flower gardening for a while now. I could try convincing some of the senior members to let you tag along on a higher mission, or maybe move up your testing Guild Rank date”

Any other day that would have been music to her ears. Rank in the guild allowed you to take on more difficult missions. Normally they would pair you up with decent teams to let you develop faster and safely. Zaine, Jemmet, and Jack had already been taken on several. The reason she hadn’t was due to the majority of the seniors in the guild not trusting her in combat due to be a female. They didn’t mind if you used magic or were a healer but focus on a blade and they don’t want you. Janet was her alias as a last name currently. It had been her mother’s maiden name. Guild Rank wasn’t equal to your actual rank, which confused a lot of people. They instead add you level and skill proficiently to determine you Guild ranked. This helped prevent too many adventures from dying. There were still tons of deaths each year. It was a dangerous profession. Lots of people joined every year and they were weeded out by their own deaths. They tried to reduce the deaths with the Guild Ranking system.

Having Daniel offer to help her get into a better mission or a moved up date was a real blessing, however she had more pressing matters to attend to at first. “You know I’d really love to have the test moved up sooner, but for now I need to see the Guild Master. I found a new dungeon that is three days from the city during my last gardening expedition,” Alice replied.

Daniel’s eyes clearly widened when she mentioned the dungeon. He quickly broke out into a broad grin. He began speaking, “Well Janet why don’t you follow me up to the Guild Master’s office, while we talk. That’s a very impressive find I must admit. Any details you can spare me?”

They began heading up the stairs to the office as she replied, “Well I actually didn’t realize that it was a dungeon at first to be honest. The first room seems to be a safe room besides a couple pitfalls. There is also the most beautiful sculpture in the middle of that first room, but even more amazing is that it gave me a bonus percentage to all my characteristics for twenty-four hours after I gave it a offering. It said it was the Goddess of the Dungeon.”

She didn’t mention the bonus she was promised. Since no one else would get it she didn’t want to become a target. They had arrived at the door when Daniel spoke, “That is absolutely astounding. That is a truly unique find. I haven’t heard of the Goddess of the Dungeon before. I hate to change topics, but if you would like to wait here for just a second. I like giving the Guild Master a heads up before bringing in members. He hates people catching him while he is drooling.”

Alice muffled her laughter as Daniel quickly knocked and entered. He opened the door five minutes later letting her in. As she walked in he left and closed the door behind him. The guild master spoke, “So I hear you found a dungeon. Rest assured you will be properly compensated. Please tell me everything about it and the location.”

No one really knew the Guild Masters rank or name. They all referred to him using his title. She occasionally heard people refer to him as E, but they were always higher ups. The Guild Master wasn’t rude like other elders were in the city. He was just too busy to notice the younger generation, because he was busy working on Guild wide projects and running this city branch. Alice relayed her story and indicated on a map where it was. She also answered several questions that she didn’t understand or think of. Like did she pay attention to the sounds in the dungeon or animal tracks outside or the aura it gave off or if she felt like she was being watched. He seemed content as she tried to answer them to the best of her ability. She mentally promised to keep those questions in her mind in the future to help give her an edge. At the end he seemed satisfied as he said, “Very good, very good. Daniel has your reward that you can pick up on your way out. Speaking of Daniel, I gave him the mission to investigate the dungeon. He spoke very highly of you. Would you like to join his team for this mission?”

Alice was absolutely ecstatic. She had to mentally stop herself from jumping up and down. She spoke as calmly as she could, “I accept the offer sir. Thank you very much Guild Master.”

He smiled for the first time, “They leave first thing tomorrow morning, meet here before first light. It’s pretty late but try seeing if you can talk a shop keeper into outfitting you with armor and my friends just call me E. You have a bright future Janet.”