Chapter 3: Skill shop

I’ll… just ignore my level, I thought I was level 2, not minus three… But I guess my soul’s state being like that of an old fishing net might have negatively contributed…

I try to expand my size and it still hurt a little less, even if a little less I have to admit. Let’s just check the changes according to the status. Oi blue window, status, please!

Name: Dungeon of the great mage Azorious

Level: -1

Essence: 2

Creatures in your sphere of influence:3(1 follower)

Size:50 m^3

Skill points:2

Mmmhhh, it’s keeping a nice watch on my surroundings, it doesn’t count my puppets but counts the 2 worm-like creatures that got caught up in my little expansion, they wiggle trying to escape back inside the earth, little do they know that every surface in my cave is harder than steel thanks to the mana overflowing in my “veins”.

I decide to let them be, they might be useful for what I’m planning to do. Recapping a little, I think about how I levelled up and the way it healed part of my soul; If I had more creatures to absorb essence from, I could level up again and hopefully finally repair my soul.

Naturally, i don’t think that infinite amount of little creatures would just pop into my room by itself, I needed to attract them. If I could I would plant something, a place rich in mana such as this would grow amazing crops that would no doubt attract herbivores, and herbivores would attract predators. In no time I would have an ecosystem to provide me essence indefinitely.

Now let’s pray that the skill shop has skills to attract animals or grow plants, I cross my fingers and call out the window, open the skills shop!

Welcome! Because this is your first visit to the skill shop you will receive a 50% discount on your first purchase.

An almost infinite list of skills appeared before my eyes, high-sounding names such as [create volcano] or [summon dragon guardian] appeared with likewise prices, 6000 and 10000 skill points each, and that was with a discount!

Can you please show me only the skills I can afford to buy? The list shrank to only a few dozens each costing from 1 to 2 skill points.

Entrancing smell: gives your dungeon an entrancing smell, increase the chances of monsters being interested in your dungeon. Cost 1 SP. Soft ground: makes your dungeon have a soft layer of soil, comfortable to walk on and ideal to plant. Cost 1 SP. Foul stench: gives your dungeon a foul stench, decrease the chance of monsters being interested in it. Cost 1 SP (SP=Skill point)

And so on it continued, from the absolutely worthless skills to actually useful ones, after a bit of pondering i decided to risk it all and bought two 1 point skills, Soft ground and Mana feeder. The moment i bought them the visions came back.

In the first a farmer was swearing at the hard ground while using a multitude of tools to break it, pickaxe, shovel and hoe hit the ground in turns softening it a little more with every strike.The vision sped up, the man kept working while swearing during rain, hails and night. Finally after an amount of time had passed the ground was soft enough and he started to plant.

“The fields are like women, if you want them to soften you must never stop treating them with love and dedication. Do this, and one day you will live off their fruits. - Valarian farmer. Due to your actions you have gained the skill: Soft ground (first level).

That was bizarre, how is cursing at the ground and hitting it with a shovel defined ‘treating it with love?’ … before I can use the skill, the second vision comes by itself.

A woman wearing a green tunic walks by herself in a forest, the most noticeable thing is her green skin and the branches sprouting out of her clothes. She kneels down with a seed in her hand holding it gently like a baby and feeding it mana with a finger, the mana drips down on it, drop by drop, at every drop growing bigger and germinating on her hand. She finally places it inside a hole in the ground and the moment she covers it with soil it breaks out, growing a stalk. The vision continues until it fully blooms, the woman gathers some petals and goes away, in a matter of minutes the flower withers without being fed any more mana.

“Give me a seed and I’ll grow a flower. Give me water and I’ll grow a tree. Give me mana and I’ll grow a forest.”- Druid Illysia Due to your actions you have gained the skill: Mana feed.

So that’s why I never heard of this weird kind of spell, they are not human made! Besides the weird soul user of my first vision, I’ve heard of forest spirits able to grow plants in seconds and animate trees to fight for them.

Ok, no more dilly-dallying, it’s time to start. First, i’ll split my room, as long as the size is the same no matter what shape I take I don’t feel pain. My walls move with a grave rumbling sound and the ground shakes like an earthquake but I finally manage to complete my work. Now there are two rooms, the first one is where my heart lies, it's 3x3 meters with a height of 2, the second room is a 4x4 with a height of 2 meters. They are linked by a small corridor which uses my remaining space.

Now I spread a layer of soil in the second room that from now on I’ll call garden room, the soil emerges from my super-reinforced floor like water from a spring and in a few seconds is already 30 cm tall, should be enough for now, now it’s time to plant!

I use my mana feed on the ground, my soul may be still torn, however, i have access to an infinite amount of mana, and thanks to god the skill takes the place of my soul gathering and using mana in the most efficient way.

However even after giving the soil enough mana to level a hill nothing still happens, I frown a little and then realize, There are no seeds! How could I be so stupid! However, even if I understand the problem, how am I gonna get seeds? As if reading my mind the loyal captain of my rat guard squeaks to attract my attention, he touches his chest and points to the exit.

Since when is a rat able to perform those gestures? Or even think like that? Blue window, anything to say?

Since you have linked your souls everytime you level up yours, all the creatures you have linked up to will level up theirs.

Oh! I stared at the rat and he did seem a little bigger than before, my other puppets seemed the same instead, I guess devouring isn’t the same as linking, oh well, the more you know.

I clear my imaginary throat, “Sir rat, are you ready to lead our armies to the outside world and face its dangers to bring me back precious seeds?” the rat squeaked in affirmation and ran out of the cave, the moment the puppets tried the same tho I just felt our link sever, I yelled stop! And managed to save just one mole, the others had already stepped out, I could see them breaking apart in front of my entrance.

Note to self- soulless puppets can’t venture outside.

I called back my mole puppet and had him dig some holes where I would place my precious seeds, meanwhile, i wasted time watching the worms fill their bellies with my mana-rich soil, they seemed to love it.

I kept waiting for the rat to come back with seeds for hours, I knew he was still alive because I could feel our link, but he as too far away I couldn’t see what he was doing. Right at that moment, a new window appeared.

Upkeep for linked monster has been paid -1 essence, essence from life forms in the dungeon has been gathered +0.02. Warning, if your essence goes below 0 you will start to weaken and possibly die.

W-what?! Who said that the blue window never gave me bad news!... oh, it was me.