Chapter 5: Return of the rat and his seedlings

As I wondered about what happened to many of the people I knew during my absence I remembered. I have 10 Skill points! Status, am I right?

Name: Dungeon of the great mage Azorious

Level: -1

Essence: 1.2

Creatures in your sphere of influence: 21

Size:50 m^3

Skill points:10

Yes! I was right! Now it’s time to do some shopping! I rubbed my imaginary hands together. Skill shop! Again option upon option appeared in front of me. I asked for something to light my interiors, plants need sunlight after all.

Miniature sun creation: a small miniaturized sun with its own nuclear fusion core, generates adjustable amounts of heat and radiations. Cost 5000 SP

General room illumination: gives a perfect illumination from every angle inside a room. Cost 200 SP Sun crystal creation: Gives off solar light and a small amount of heat. Cost 50 SP Torch generation: adds a self recharging wooden torch. Cost 10 SP

Mmmhhhh, even the cheapest method of illumination is out of my reach, what about water generation?

Waterfall generator: produces copious amounts of water able to sustain a river. Cost 500 SP Water creak generator: produces a little source of fresh water able to sustain a creak. Cost 90 SP Droplet generator: produce minimal amounts of lukewarm water, useful to give your dungeon a humid look. Cost 5 SP

Perfect! We found the first skill, just a few droplets of water every time should be enough to fill a room given enough time, wonder if i could use it to rain inside, it would actually look very good, especially in a forest setting… but those are thoughts for the future.

What more can I look for? I look at my beloved, if a chance exists is in here. I want a skill to resurrect the dead.

Goddess’ grace: As long as you have an intact body you can ask the goddess to give you back its previous’ owner soul back from the dead. One use limitation. Cost 1000 SP

This… if I had eyes I could tear up. But the cost of 1000 SP… if I got 2 skill point for level I would take really a lot of time to reach there, but as long as there is hope. I. WILL. SUCCEED.

But for now it’s no time to save on points, I need something to help me now, hey do you have anything to generate essence?

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Guess it’s a no? How about… I look around the dungeon, the small worms are growing into something slightly scary, they are somehow able to eat the mana infused ground that makes my floors and walls, if I just knew what they were I could somehow control them…

Atlante Universale: contains all the knowledge about the multi-world. Cost 100000 SP, xxx access restricted. Read all: analyze all information about the target, ignores all kind of illusion magic. Cost 1000 SP Appraisal: identify and gives a basic description of the target, ignores low-level illusion magic. Cost 100 SP Bestiary(basic): Contains information about low tiered monsters. Cost 5 SP

Oh! the dungeon identified that as a query? Well, I’ll just stop even considering high tiered options from now on, but the bestiary could be useful, especially since I’m planning on having a lot of creatures in my dungeon. Ok let’s prepare mentally for the visions. Breath in, breath out, remember you have no lungs and repeat.

I bought the skills and the first vision waited no time before assaulting me. I found myself in the sky on top of a cloud, I had never been so high before, the scenery was beautiful to look at. I looked around for this time's master and I noticed only a small crystal inside the cloud, mana was gathered from the aether and then converted in water dropping down from the crystal. Only then did I notice thousands of other crystals hiding in the surrounding clouds.

“I swear everything was just normal besides some weird looking clouds, then it started raining. After a few hours the streets were flooded, then our houses, the fields and the animals. Oh my god, I can still hear their screams as they drowned.” Survivor of the great Amarani flood. Congratulations! Due to your actions you have gained the skill: Water Droplet generator

That was unsettling, to think someone could use rain like that… my thoughts get cut short by the second vision. A hunter sits upon a tree, bow and arrows on his back and in his hand's parchment and paintbrush as he drew some kind of 5 legged llama eating purple leaves from a shrub.

“The key to a successful hunt is knowledge, study your prey’s habits, what it eats and where it sleeps. When the moment comes be prepared and you will be the one going back home with dinner.” Huntsman and ecologist Lus Paini

Congratulations! Due to your actions you have gained the skill: Bestiary (basic)

And this one was short, so short, I hope this skill works. [Bestiary]! A leather book appeared out of thin air and opened itself on an index, I tried skimming through names of weird beast and animals but this could take seriously forever, who knew so many animals existed! What is that! I yell at the book pointing to one of the worms lazily munching on a wall. The book’s pages flip and finally stop on a chapter about worms, I recognize my little beast immediately.

“Arachnocampa luminosa, also called the star worm, it uses its natural bioluminescence to attract and confuse preys, often found in crevices and other dark places where it forms small communities. Seen from afar they can resemble a night sky. Danger evaluation 3”

Wow, the descriptions sound a little too beautiful for these worms munching on dirt, thanks to god they took a fancy to the mana in the ground, otherwise they would have probably left to hunt small insects like moths already.

Now, for our second skill… I call upon thy rain! [droplet generator]! I can feel the mana focus on a point and after 5 seconds form a small water tear. This is gonna take forever, I use the skill another 8 times, now it looks like the neighbour upstairs is having a leak, it should be enough to water the place but not drown the worms.

Now let’s wait for that damn rat to come back.

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Tales of a rat linked with a dungeon part 2:

Under the soft glow of the surrounding plants a battle ensued, the two opponents being a rat covered in vines and a water spirit. The spirit compressed his mana in two sharp icicles and propelled them forward, the rat feeling the danger of skewering opted for evasive manoeuvres jumping between the stalactites in an attempt to get some cover.

The icicles penetrated the stalactites breaking them in half and with a whizzing sound tried to reach the target who, unfortunately, had already left. The rat jumped out of his cover and rotating on himself launched a rotating kick to the spirit face, its tail and back leg managed to reach the spirit’s face, but beside enraging the spirit it had no other effects simply passing through his water body.

The spirit retailed turning his body in a sharp water whip and swinging it at the rat who somehow rolled below the spirit body. Conscious he had no means to win the fight the rat changed his target, he ran straight to the closest plant and, while avoiding the barrage of attacks stole one of the fruits, a sphere glowing in a soft blue.

The spirit roared in rage and transformed itself in a rain of needles very much inclined to help a rat evolve into a porcupine, even with the advanced evasions skills of the rat two needles found their way into his body piercing his body and leaving a big cut on his back, squeaking in pain the rat held the berry in his mouth and turned around to escape the cave. Originally he had only meant to take a few fruits and vines, however, the water spirit didn’t appreciate a rat barging into its domain and stealing its food.

Even while injured the rat managed to find its way out of the cave, the sun stuck his eyes with blinding light the moment he came out, its warmth somewhat comforting his injuries.

Congratulations! For escaping with your life against a monster of a superior tier, you have earned an achievement, upon evolving it will affect your future possibilities.

The journey home was not a long one, 1-day short trip, so he started to walk back wondering how he would be rewarded for his achievements. His trip back was mostly safe, exception made for some humans cutting down trees not too far away from his home. They made a game of trying to hit the rat with rocks and almost hit the injured him.

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Congratulations! Your subordinate has come back, he shares with you the essence he has gathered during his journey: + 20 essence; thanks to his achievements evolution is now possible, would you like to evolve him now?

[Yes] [No]

Congratulations! You have accumulated enough essence to level up your soul. Perform Level up?

[Yes] [No]

Wha-? I turn my eye to the entrance and I can see the stupid rat has finally came back, he has a few cuts on his brown fur and something that resembles an ice needle in his arse, what the hell have you been through just to gather a few seeds? We are in the middle of a forest basically, why did it took you so long?

Then I notice what he is holding in his mouth, a frost berry, a fruit infused with elemental mana of the water, it grows only when a water spirit is presently guarding it. Did he battle a water spirit to get me this berry? Well, count me as impressed. As for the vine on his back it looks like some strand of ivy i’ve never seen. Oh well, “hey rat, place the berry in the middle of the room and the ivy next to a wall.”

Ok, before starting our little gardening session let’s both level up, you first lil one. I click the yes on his window. The change is quick, he gets surrounded by a skin cocoon and melts down, very much like a caterpillar transformation to a butterfly. As I watch the cocoon I wonder if I could give it a little boost with mana feeding, it worked well enough the first time, well the second not so much but shush, let’s be optimistic. Besides, what could wrong?

I infuse my rat friend with mana and I can see the cocoon glow, I can feel how the rat is gonna come out, something that the bestiary describes as dungeon rat, let’s see if I can change this, no matter how strong, a rat is a rat. First, I work on his limbs concentrating my mana on them to elongate them while strengthening the muscles, after I think the result is good enough, I switch to work on his fur strengthening it and spreading it over his tail, I hate that brown skin thing extending from behind him.

I put some more mana in the hardness of his teeth, however, I can feel that if I tried to put any more he would explode like the earlier worms, this evolver trait sure is useful, even telling me when to stop.

I leave the cocoon alone and perform my own evolution.

Congratulations! You have reached level 0! Skill point awarded: 3.

I can feel my old rooms to be stifling so I expand my garden room, giving it a small raise to the roof and extending the walls to a 5x6, in total my lil room is around 60 cubic meters. I can see my soul regenerating like crazy, more than two thirds healed.

And now, we can finally start gardening.